the careless boy

instinct

It is difficult to get a clear impression of Richard's mother. This is one of the difficulties in writing about people close to one; one is unable to see them as types. It is often simpler to treat such people only in subjective terms; that is, how does she affect me.

Richard's mother is a solid presence throughout the book. She tongue-lashes him often, beats and slaps him, and seems to be very stern, a replica of her own mother. Yet somehow one senses that Richard may have received some of his training in rebellion from her. She is not happy living in the religious household they are forced so often to inhabit, and she even rewards Richard with a kiss when he successfully revolts against his grandmother's will. Her suffering, her paralysis, and private sorrows do not hinder her from influencing her son.

One feels that Mrs. Wright is a tremendous force in Richard's life, probably the most important influence on his character. She is strong in the face of overwhelming adversity. Her anger at his behavior seems far less motivated by abstract ideas of goodness than by the frustrations of her own existence. She strikes out at him because there is no one else around to strike. Those who have destroyed the possibilities of a full life for her are people she can't touch. Abandoned by her husband for another woman, she is left with herself alone, at first, and is then dependent on her family for survival. As soon as Richard is grown, she chooses to be with him, no matter how insecure the life may be.

Although Ella Wright lives by the ethics of Jim Crow, she has a dignity which cuts across those limitations. We see her always in terms of Richard, by the way he reacts to her. The reader has a feeling that she has great spirit as she endures her daily humiliations and suffering.

It is difficult to get a clear impression of Richard's mother. This is one of the difficulties in writing about people close to one; one is unable to see them as types. It is often simpler to treat such people only in subjective terms; that is, how does she affect me.

Richard's mother is a solid presence throughout the book. She tongue-lashes him often, beats and slaps him, and seems to be very stern, a replica of her own mother. Yet somehow one senses that Richard may have received some of his training in rebellion from her. She is not happy living in the religious household they are forced so often to inhabit, and she even rewards Richard with a kiss when he successfully revolts against his grandmother's will. Her suffering, her paralysis, and private sorrows do not hinder her from influencing her son.

One feels that Mrs. Wright is a tremendous force in Richard's life, probably the most important influence on his character. She is strong in the face of overwhelming adversity. Her anger at his behavior seems far less motivated by abstract ideas of goodness than by the frustrations of her own existence. She strikes out at him because there is no one else around to strike. Those who have destroyed the possibilities of a full life for her are people she can't touch. Abandoned by her husband for another woman, she is left with herself alone, at first, and is then dependent on her family for survival. As soon as Richard is grown, she chooses to be with him, no matter how insecure the life may be.

Although Ella Wright lives by the ethics of Jim Crow, she has a dignity which cuts across those limitations. We see her always in terms of Richard, by the way he reacts to her. The reader has a feeling that she has great spirit as she endures her daily humiliations and suffering.

Richard's father is only very briefly presented in the book, but the effect of his personality is strong. Richard never feels close to him; he is only frightened by him. At first, in Memphis, his sleeping habits interfere with the boys' games and his temper is irrational. Later on, when Richard's mother tries to get some support from him and brings along the boy to remind him of his responsibilities, he is openly living with another woman.

The scene that takes place affects Richard not so much because of the embarrassment it causes him and his mother, but rather because his father and the strange woman seem to share a secret. His father is clearly more at ease with his new woman than he ever was with Richard's mother. They have a laughing, sensuous relationship which mocks all the suffering which Richard and his mother must endure.

Years later, when Richard meets his father again, it is in Mississippi and the old man is a sharecropper. He now represents much more than a personal memory to Richard. He represents a whole generation of black people who were driven off the land into the cities, where they were unable to cope for themselves, who were still the offsprings of s*****y, and who had no more understanding of themselves historically or culturally than children. Richard is able to see his father in this clear light because he knows him so little. He can make him into a symbol of all that s*****y has done to his people without having an emotional involvement interfere with his point of view. Nathaniel Wright is a victim of white tradition and white convention. His manhood can express itself in only the most elemental terms through s****l passion, through physical labor because any other avenue for self-expression and growth has been cut off from him. Incapable of having emotional bonds with his wife and children, he makes his roots in what is temporary, immediate satisfaction. Richard cannot hold a grudge against him for these attitudes because they are beyond his control. He is only what society has made him.