Griggs

When Griggs tells Wright to "learn how to live in the south" it essentially means that Wright is too independent. He needs to learn to put his head down and obey, and not question authority. In the south, there will be racism, and Wright can not fight against it, so if he is going to live there he must deal with it because that is the only way he can get by and stay alive. Wright naturally has a very questioning personality, and he is very aware of the racism that is happening aroung him. The fact that he "doesnt seem to notice" when a person is white or black is a great charachteristic nowwadays, but during that time period- and in the south- it was something that could get him killed. Griggs, as a friend, thinks he is helping Wright.... and in a way, probably is, just like the principal- because he knows that there is no way Wright will be able to keep a job or keep away from violence if he doesn't understand the danger of trying to see himself as an equal to a white person in the south. The fact that he did not tell Mr. Crane about the harassment and instead took his money and walked out shocked him a little bit because he realized that he was beginning to bend to what the southern society wanted... subservient black people. the fact that not only the white people wanted this, but the black people also seemed to tell him to act in this way, was scary to him. no wonder he wanted to go north.

speech

Wright is and he isn't justified in refusing to say the speech. I wanted to agree with him because as valedictorian, he should have a right to be able to say his own speech. In modern days, he definitely would have been justified. However, it seemed as though his school and that time period was all about appearances, and it seemed as though the principal simply wanted to make him look good by writing the speech for him. the principal thought he was doing Richard a favor by writing the speech,and Richard was angry because he was tired of people trying to control his every action, and he would refuse to deliver a speech that he did not write because he did not want people to believe he was a way that was different from his true self. For this reason, Richard is justified. Though his speech may not have been as skillfully written, it was truer to the deliverer, and Richard knew that was important. Also, the principal mentioned something about how it was going to be delivered to both white and black people- and it is possible that it had an element of submissiveness that Richard did not want to label himself with.

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.

Writing

I'm not entirely sure why Wright would have felt gratified after showing others his writing, except that when someone has created something that they are proud of, showing it to someone is always gratifying. Also, in a way, his writing was sort of like a miniature triumph over his aunt and grandmother. The fact that he was supposed to be praying, and he had made it very clear that he did not believe in the religion of his family was extremely frurstrating, and the writing was sort of a way to vent the frustration and use it in a productive manner. Also, his writing was something more mature and intellectual that he had begun- something he hadn't really been involved in in the past. Though he had loved to read stories, he had never actually created them, and the feeling he got from reading stories was very gratifying. The fact that he was now creating stories and had the hope that sharing them with someone else would make them have the same feeling he got from reading stories would have been very exciting.

Paralysis

After his mother had a stroke, Wright was afraid to go in and see her. He didn't want to see her in her weakened, paralyzed state because she was so frail. She was the only true authority figure that Wright had growing up, and the removal of that was extremely frightening to him. He had always viewed his mom as very powerful and strong, and when she is paralyzed and sick he suddenly sees a side of her that he has never seen before, realizing that all authority is still only human and can suffer and be weakened just as he. He becomes very afraid of not being accepted into the family of an aunt or an uncle, but when he does end up living with his aunt and uncle, he is unhappy (partially because of the "dead boy's room") and begs to go back to his mother. because he has not known anything but her authority, it is very difficult for him to adjust to any other type of lifestyle, escpecially with his desire to care for his mother but inability to figure out how to help her in any way.

Jews

It seems as though most of the racial tensions in Wright's life have to do with his heritage. People aren't born inherently racist- he demonstrates this when he describes the "white" and "black" people in parentheses, such as the part where the white man beats the black boy and Wright assumes that it is because the man is the boy's father. Same with the Jews- though he isn't in contact with too many Jews except the store owner and his family. In fact, he even saysthat the reason that he felt such racism against Jews is because it had been taught in his religion. Jews were considered "Christ-killers" and there was a lot of anti semitism at the time. Also, he felt the divisions of race very strongly because he was beginning to feel the divisions between himeslf and white people. The fact that Jews are generally white also probably caused him to feel more distant from them than if they were black. The fact that he was scapegoated and blamed for things as a black caused him to want to put someone else below him, which is human nature, so he did that to the Jews.

why is Wright hungry?

The simple answer to this question is that he is hungry because he is poor and therefore has no food. Since his dad brought home the food, and his dad left, he has no more food. His mom tries to get a job, ironically as a cook, (for a white family), and wright occasionally tags along to try and get scraps of food from the white family when they are done eating. What he doesn't understand is why he must wait until other people have eaten in order to eat, though he is the one that is starving. When he goes to the orphanage he is not fed. (If there was any deeper meaning to extract from that question, i didn't catch it. I figure he is hungry because his dad left and there is no food, plus it is harder for his mom to find a job because she is black and a woman, and he is not treated as well or fed as well because he is black.)