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=Richard Wright by Danielle McLean= One of the most influential authors of the 20th century, Richard Wright, portrayed the African American culture of his time through his writing. Wright’s writing was very unique in that, it used different themes, structure, symbolism, and settings. Who is Richard Wright and why is he still remembered today? Richard Wright used trials and tribulations in his own life and what he saw to create some amazing works still read today. Richard Wright was born September 4, 1908 on a farm near Natchez, Mississippi. Wright’s father was a sharecropper and his mother was a school teacher. Since African Americans had hardly any freedom, poverty was present and schools were unavailable to blacks. Wright had to teach himself. Wright joined the Communist Party in 1932 because he believed this would establish a social revolution in America. Throughout his life he wrote several works. Some of the most common read were __Native Son, Black Boy, Uncle Tom’s Children, The Man Who Lived Underground, and The Man Who Was a Man. Most of the 1940’s he lived in Mexico. The last years of his life he lived in Paris publishing his book The Outsider__ which dealt with an urban African American victim of poverty and oppression. Wright died in 1960 after several years of illness. Wright’s literature is a reflection of his time period because during the early 20th century blacks and whites were segregated. Wright focused on the struggle of being an African American and the means of survival for blacks. In many of his works he focused on blacks in both rural and urban America. Two of Wright’s books that are commonly read, __Native Son__ and __Black Boy__ show you his style of writing, his opinion towards the world, and how he wants you to interpret his writing. In Wright’s book __Native Son__, it emphasizes on themes, point of view, the setting, and symbolism. Race and racism is imperative in this book. Wright shows the separation of blacks and whites during the early 1900’s. In the film __Native Son__ blacks are outcast and excluded from America. It teaches blacks to go for what they want and tackle the American dream. Naturalism is an important theme in __Native Son__. Naturalism is when the environment behaves as a hazard to the individual who is helpless and can not control the forces surrounding them. Bigger, the main character in __Native Son__ is threatened by the environment and his free will is being taken away from him which causes tension and drama. Violence and cruelty is also represented in this book by a rape occurring, two murders, fights, and a manhunt. The point of view is in third-person-limited structure. It allows readers to become connected to the protagonist. Wright wants the reader to be sympathetic to individuals who are excluded from the environment because of people who are prejudice. The setting is based around the environmental conditions or situations going on in the book. Symbolism is used to compare with people, situations, or the environment. For example Bigger and the rat's fight to stay alive. The rat is closely related to poverty and ghetto life. In Wright’s book __Black Boy__, he experiments with themes, narration, and his style of writing (structure). One major theme he emphasizes is prejudice and tolerance. This novel introduces Jim Crow Laws and the effect they had on both blacks and whites. Richard, the protagonist, has to learn how to be tolerant with those that are less intellectual then he is and also interacts with tolerant people. The meaning of life for Richard in __Black Boy__ is independence. He seeks answers and finds himself at odds with the world. In __Black Boy__ Richard learns to listen and observe in order to become the famous writer he wanted to be. Wright used first person point of view in order to give you his opinion and his perception about things. The structure of __Black Boy__ is quite interesting. He uses pieces of experiences/episodes in Richard’s life. Each chapter is cut away and moved into the next story. There is no definite ending. The reader is able to visualize what is going on and put yourself in the story as if it is your own life. Wright’s style of writing is different from other writers but is easy to understand. In __Black Boy__, Wright also traps the reader into being stereotypical. He wants the reader to believe that all African Americans are alike and react alike. Richard Wright’s work was based on the means of survival. Wright focuses on one of the two directions in all of his novels. He focuses on how individuals were exploited and the impact it had on the individuals. The second is the overall cultural characteristics of oppressed peoples (Margolies, “Criticism by Edward Margolies”). Usually you see authors who want readers to make assumptions about characters and emotions in novels. Wright likes to stand aside and analyze his work. Wright likes to critique himself rather than let others analyze his work because he is the only person who can actually understand the full meaning of his work. Reading parts of __Native Son__ and __Black Boy__, Richard Wright pieces together his book ver well. His book's bring conflict and suspense which keeps the reader on their toes. He has great dialogue, tense rhythms, expresses emotion very well and you get a sense of the environment and how things were around the time of segregation. Now many authors believe that Wright was not just focusing on racial injustice and social inequality. The bigger issue is the nature of man. What is man’s responsibilities and purpose in life? This question can be answered in many different ways. It all depends on the opinion of the reader. Wright used his life experiences in his novels to change not only how whites thought of blacks but how blacks thought of themselves. Wright was a great writer and paved the way for the next generation of African American authors.

Chatton, Nicola, Ed. "Wright, Richard." __Literary Lifelines Volume 10.__ Danbury: The Diagram Group, 1998. pg 184-185.
 * Annotated Bibliography**

The book __Literary Lifelines Volume 10__ by Nicola Chatton Ed, contains a short summary of Richard Wright's life. In the book's table of contents it contains a list of authors in alphabetical order and facts about their lives. I like how this book is setup because it has a summary about the authors life with a picture of them on the left. Under the picture it has what they did for example Richard Wright is an American novelist, when they were born, date of death if they are dead, and age of death. Under each short biography it has the works they did and what year the works were completed. It also includes other novelists, poets, writers etc during that time and world events during the life of that author. I plan on using this information for my American Author Trading Card and all of the information that goes on the back of the trading card. I would recommend that under the works listed of the author, that it explain what the works were about and his/her vision behind them. I would recommend this book for other students because it's easy to obtain information about your author. It is straight to the point and excellent for your American Author Trading Card.

''Criticism by Edward Margolies." Detroit: Gale, 2003.<http://find.galegroup.com

The article "Criticism by Edward Edward Margolies contains a document commenting on numerous works that Richard Wright wrote. On the GaleGroup Website all you have to do is type in your author and it pulls up many different articles. Student Resource Center is very useful because you can get information in many different ways such as reference, in magazines, academic journals, news, and multimedia. You can also send it to yourself or someone else. I plan on using this material for my wiki entry. This website is useful and I would not change anything on this website. I would recommend this to other students because it is easy to access and it is good to read about other people's criticism on your author. It is also good because you can formulate your own opinions about your author and put it into your 500-700 essay.

Milne, Ira, Ed. "The Man Who Was Almost a Man." __Short Stories for Students Volume 9.__ Detroit: Gale, 2000. pg 203-221.

The book __Short Stories for Students Volume 9__ by Ira Milne Ed, contains a variety of authors and their works. The book's table of contents contains many different works in alphabetical order with the authors name underneath it. I plan on using this information for my wiki entry. It contains information about __The Man Who Was Almost a Man.__ It has the plot summary, characters, themes, setting, narration, irony, symbolism. This book has historical context and criticis from other important literary people. These people critique on Richard Wright's work. I would recommend hey add more photographs because it makes the information more presentable. I would recommend this to other students because it is easy to obtain information you need to put into your wiki entry.

"Themes and Construction: Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth." Detroit: Gale, 2003.<http://find.galegroup.com

The article "Themes and Construction: Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth" contains information about themes Richard Wright discusses in his book Black Boy. The website contains information in many different ways such as reference, in magazines, academic journals, news, and multimedia. This website is very useful because in this particular article it describes in great detail themes such as prejudice and tolerance, and the meaning of life. It describes how Richard Wright uses narration and structures in his writing. I plan on using this information to answer the questions that will be in my wiki entry. I do not think any changes should be made to this website. I would recommend this to other students because it is easy to use this website and is helpful when you need things like critiques from other authors. By using this website, I was able to formulate opinions about my author which I will use in my wiki entry. Students are also able to learn that there are other places to get information rather than google.

"Themes and Construction: Native Son." Detroit: Gale, 2003.<http://find.galegroup.com

The article "Themes and Construction: Native Son" contains information about themes Richard Wright discusses in his book Native Son. The website contains information in many different ways such as reference, in magazines, academic journals, news, and multimedia. This website is useful because in this particular article it describes in great detail themes such as race and racism, naturalism, and violece and cruelty. It describes how Richard Wright uses point of view, the setting, and symbolism. I plan on using this information to go in further detail, answering the questions that will be in my 500-700 word essay. No changes should be done to this website. I recommend that other students use this website because it is easily accessible and can answer all the questions you are looking for. Students are able to go above and beyond what is expected and even learn more than what is needed to be put in the 500-700 word essay.

Wilson, Kathleen, Ed. "The Man Who Lived Underground." __Short Stories for Students Volume 3.__ Detroit: Gale, 1998. pg 194-210.

The book __Short Stories for Students Volume 3__ by Kathleen Wilson Ed, contains a variety of authors and their works. The books table of contents contain many different works in alphabetical order with the author's name and page number underneath. I plan on using this information for my wiki entry. It contains information about __The Man Who Lived Underground__. It has the plot summary, characters, themes, images and imagery, setting, naturalism. This book has historical context and critiques on Richard Wright's work. I would recommend they add more photographs because it makes the information more presentable.