The author of the autobiography, Black Boy, Richard Wright, makes many mistakes and gets blamed for them immediately. I think that there should be a difference between blaming someone directly or the environment. Many people get confused, when blaming someone; they don’t realize that there is a difference in the consequences when blaming the person instead of the environment. I don’t think that Richard is a bad boy; he grew up in an environment where his parents weren’t ever home to teach him properly. When someone does something out of line, many people jump to conclusions that the person knew that their actions were wrong and they still decided to take them.
Readers realize that Richard is always blamed for his mistakes before the blamer thinks about the situation, throughout the first chapter. At the beginning of the novel Richard was forbidden to make noise and he must stay inside all day because of his sick grandmother. Because of Richard’s boredom and curiosity he lights his home on fire. In this particular situation he is too young to realize that his actions of lighting the house on fire were wrong. After the house is well…gone, Richard gets beat by his father because he is so frustrated with his son. This is a situation where the person immediately gets upset with the young child when really the environment sparked his actions. Towards the end of the chapter we come along a situation where Richard has learned swear words at school so he decides to write these naughty words on his neighbor’s windows with a bar of soap. His mom beats him. This is an example where Richard was rightfully blamed because he was aware his actions were wrong yet decided to do it anyway. A time when you should be blamed and not the environment is when you know what you’re doing is wrong yet you do it anyway.
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3 comments:
Richard lighting his house on fire was his decision alone. Sure, it was influenced by his boredom and frustration, but it was Richard himself who chose to play with fire, not his surroundings.
In your response, i agree with the fact that Richard's parents "were never home to teach him properly." and that a young child should not be blamed for what he cannot control. I disagree with what you said about Oskar knowing the severity of the obscene phrases he scribbles on windows. Richard did not know what his words meant, and thought he had learned them at school.
This is a good response with some very good ideas! :)
Steph, I agree with you that Richard lives in a bad enviornment, and most of the time he doesn't even know that what he is doing is wrong. But on certain occasions, Richard is fully understanding that what he has done is wrong, and in these cases he should be punished for his actions. Very thoughtfull response!
I agree with steph on the fact that when richard lit his house on fire he didn't know it was wrong. I think since he was forced to keep quiet, and that his parents never taught him the dangers of fire, he should not be blamed fully for the out come of this particular situation. I also agree with steph on the fact that richard should be punished for what he wrote on the window. and even though he might not have know exactly what the words meant he had an idea that they were bad. very good response really detailed explanations!
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