Sunday, February 22, 2009

Welcome to the Hotel California

Hello, Internet! I'm crazy stressed right now, so no promises about the quality of this post. Now, if only I didn't have to worry about lawns...

In Black Boy by Richard Wright, the main character (Richard as a kid) complains a lot about being hungry. Today I'm supposed to talk about why he is hungry.

Richard is hungry because he has no food. Duh. He has no food because his dad left his mom and they can't afford food. He is malnutritioned, getting only tea and bread, not real food.

But there's possibly a deeper meaning to this. Richard's biggest problem, apart from malnutrition, is neglect. His mother loves him, but his mother has to work long hours and can't really take care of him. His father left his family and doesn't support him. When he went to school he learned language that made his mother mad at him. When he got put in the orphanage, the creepy beldam in charge cared for him, but in a weird way. Richard lived in fear and loneliness his entire life, and he is hungry for affection.

You can believe that if you want to. I personally think that it's BS. I know that it's what our educator wants us to write about, but common. This is non-fiction. An AutoBiography. Cool nifty little literary devices like metaphors and symbolism don't happen in real life. If Richard ate an apple in the book, it's not because he was becoming smarter, it's because a hundred years or so ago, Richard Wright actually picked up a granny smith and took a big bite out of it.

OK, so that's enough for this week. Still over the 250 word limit, but I'm getting better. See y'all later!

No comments: