Uncle Tom

Wright is angry with his uncle initially because he got mad when Wright told him the time, because uncle Tom thought he was being impudent. However, as the fight continued, Wright was bewildered at his uncle's ignorance and need for power. He was tired of being beaten for things that were not worth even admonishments. At one point he makes a reference to the plantation boys, the boys that just hung their heads and did as they were told. Wright knew that he could never be one of these boys, and he was angry at his uncle for being so ignorant as to try to make him be submissive in this way. This was how white people were treating black people, and if black people just learned to hang their heads and take it without showing their own equality, this mistreatement would not cease. Wright was angry at his uncle for being too big-headed to be able to realize this, to be able to realize that Wright needed to have a spirit and a sense of individuality, and that his uncle had no right to treat him the way he was trying to.