Everlee Anderson

English 2 Advanced
Black Boy by Richard Wright: Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 1 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Richard’s first memory followed him for a long time after it actually happened when he
was four years old. He was scolded to stay quiet by his mother because his sick
grandmother is in the next room, and he was extremely bored. He wanted something to
do, and saw the fire in the room, and started “playing with” it. He grabbed a broom and
started putting pieces of it into the fire. After seeing the pieces of broom light up the
room, Richard decides he wants to see how the fire would look lighting up the curtains in
the room. This causes the curtains to catch on fire and soon after, the rest of the house as
well. This results in Richard getting a beating from his parents, which knocks him
unconscious and he becomes ill with a fever. The punishment from Richard’s parents tell
me that they are very unaccepting of his behavior, and were extremely angry he
disobeyed his mother’s warnings which resulted in the burning down of the house. From
the moment Richard’s parents found him, he knew what was coming, and he knew he
would be beaten. He knew there was nothing he could do to stop it, and he even says that
he doesn’t care anymore.
2. Richard first triumphs over his father by taking his father’s word seriously. Richard and
his brother brought a kitten into the house and the boys’ father, in a fit of rage about the
kitten making too much noise, said to kill the cat, and Richard did exactly that. Richard
knew his father wouldn’t whip him, because he was doing exactly what his father had
said, even though his father didn’t mean it in a literal sense. This adversely affects
Richard when his mother scares him so terribly by making him bury the kitten he killed
in the dark of night, reminded him that he still killed a life, no matter how small, and
makes him pray to God that He won’t “snatch the breath of life” from Richard.
3. Richard’s life changes shortly after the cat incident because his father leaves his family,
and his father was the one who brought money and food into the household. From then
on, Ricard associated his strong hunger with the departure of his father from his family’s
life, and whenever he was hungry, he could feel a strong sensation of resentment. After
Richard’s mother found a job as a cook, he was in charge of buying the groceries for the
family, but when he goes, Richard gets jumped by a group of boys, and again, but worse
the second time. Richard’s mother teaches him to defend himself by telling him to fight
back, and giving him a stick to fight the group of boys with. She tells him that he’s not
allowed back in the house unless he has the groceries with him, and even threatens to
whip him if he comes home without them, making him face his fear of the boys, and
making him stand up for himself.
4. Richard first feels discontent in his heart toward white people when he comes with his
mother to her job, and sees her feeding the white people. He sees that they are able to eat
 whenever they want, and he can only eat the scraps of others. Seeing this made Richard
slightly angry, because he couldn’t eat whatever he wanted, at the drop of a hat.
5. Richard entertains himself while his mother works by loitering at a nearby saloon. For
some time, he just stood outside and watched the people inside, both intrigued and
scared, but was eventually brought in by a man who constantly saw him peeping in. From
then on, the people inside gave him drinks and even paid him to say curse words. When
someone informed Richard’s mother of his recent whereabouts, she was deeply saddened
and beat Richard, but even that didn’t stop him from going inside and drinking. Richard’s
mother’s last effort was to leave Richard and his brother under the watchful eye of an
older woman, and Richard eventually loses his thirst and want for alcohol.
6. Richard’s early education consisted mostly of indirect education. He learned to read by
going through schoolchildren’s books left on the side of the road while they were
playing, and learned to count to one-hundred from a coal delivery man. Eventually,
Richard started going to school, although it was at a later age than the other students.
When it came to his first day, Richard was so painfully nervous that he couldn’t even
speak, and had to have his classmates explain to the teacher who he was and where he
lived. At noon, he hung around the older kids, and they taught him the meanings of the
curse words the people in the bar told him to say. After his first day at school, Richard
went home and found some soap and began writing those words on his neighbor’s
windows one after the other. A woman found him and brought Richard back to his
mother and his mother gave him some water and a towel and wouldn’t let Richard back
home until he cleaned all of the words he wrote off of his neighbor’s windows.
7. Richard’s mother challenges Richard’s father in court to try to get child support for
Richard and his brother. Richard’s father is very confident and is somehow able to
convince the judge that he is already giving all that he has. Richard admits that while he
doesn’t hate his father, he doesn’t want to see him or talk to him. Richard’s mother puts
her two sons in an orphanage because she is no longer able to provide for them. During
this time, she goes to work as much as she can to get money. At the orphanage, the boys
are forced to pull the grass as soon as they have something to eat in the morning. The
boys only get two meals there. The woman who runs the orphanage, Ms. Simon like
Richard, and calls him to work in her office, but once he gets there, he freezes up, like on
his first day of school. Ms. Simon gets angry and tells him to leave. Richard runs away
from the orphanage, but is found by a police officer who brings him back. Richard’s
mother takes her sons out of the orphanage and is able to convince Richard to go to his
father’s house to ask for money. Ricard’s mother wants to use this money to move
Richard, his brother, and herself to her sister’s house in Arkansas. Upon arriving, Richard
and his mother see another woman in the house, his father’s mistress. Richard’s father
laugh in their face and his mistress tells him to give Richard a nickel. Richard’s father
laughs but offers it, and Richard is conflicted about taking it. Eventually, Richard leaves
the coin and he and his mother leave the house, and that was the last time Richard saw his
father for 25 years.
CHAPTER 2 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Richard and his brother are taken from the orphan home by his mother who wants to take
the boys to live in Arkansas. On the way there, the three members of their family visited
Richard’s grandmother in Jackson, Mississippi, and live there for some time. There,
Richard and his brother would tell all the other neighborhood kids stories of what it’s like
to ride trains or in boats, and knowing this information made Richard and his brother feel
better and superior to the other kids. Richard’s grandmother is renting out a part of the
house to a schoolteacher, Ella. Richard had been wanting to ask her about the books she
reads for quite a long time, but was too nervous. One day, Richard finally asks her, and
she tells him about the story she is reading, but Richard’s grandmother finds them and
tells Ella to stop because he is a young boy and that book contained “Devil stuff.” When
Richard’s mother becomes ill, his grandmother is put in charge of giving the boys a bath.
After Richard keeps playing around with his brother instead of actually washing himself,
his grandmother tells him to get out and come to her, and she will wash him. She was
washing Richard’s backside, and a terrible thing slipped out of Richard’s mouth while he
was unaware that what he said was something bad. Richard told his grandmother to
“When you get through, kiss back there.” Richard’s grandmother was completely
stunned, but eventually started beating him with the wet towel. Awakened by the
commotion, Richard’s mother comes and asks what’s wrong. When his grandmother tells
his mother, she is utterly surprised and denies the possibility. Eventually, Richard’s
mother is chasing after him, and he stays hidden under the bed. They even brought in
Richard’s grandfather, who he is extremely scared of, but eventually, everyone leaves
him be under the bed. When Richard finally does come out, his mother is waiting for him
at the door, and gives him the beating. When asked where he learned to say that, he
genuinely doesn’t know, but his grandmother assumed it was the schoolteacher Ella, and
Ella, in tears, moved out.
2. Something unusual about Richard’s grandmother is that she looks white. Richard’s
mother tells Richard that his grandmother is of Irish, Scotch, and French descent and “in
which Negro blood had somehow been infused.” Richard is very curious about this,
because he notices the difference between “Black” and “White” people, and on the train
ride to his aunt’s house, Richard asks his mother many questions about the way his
grandmother looks, and why she looks like that. This is confusing to Richard because he
senses that the way “White” people are treated are better than the way “Black” people are
treated, and he questions if his grandmother really wants to live with them, because they
are “Black,” and she is “White.”
3. The train trip to Arkansas reveals the line between Black and White people because as
soon as he got there, he realized there were two lines at the ticket booth, one for Black
people and one for White people. On the train, there was a separation between Blacks and
Whites, and naturally, Richard was curious to go see what it was like for the White
people on the train, but his mother wouldn’t let him. In Arkansas, Richard’s knowledge
of the distinction between White people and Black people is strengthened when his Uncle
Hoskins was shot by White men, and the entire family was put in danger. Richard’s Aunt
Maggie wasn’t even able to take legal guard of Hoskins belongings. Eventually, too
 scared to stay in Arkansas, Richard, his mother, his brother, and his Aunt Maggie all left
to Granny’s house in Mississippi.
4. The significance of Richard’s encounter with the soldiers is that he is able to understand
what is going on in the world. Richard asks why these men are there, and his mother tells
him that they are soldiers fighting in the war, and answers all his questions about war.
The significance of Richard’s encounter with the chain gang is, again, the difference in
the way White and Black people are treated. Richard realizes that most, if not all, of the
men chained are Black, and when he asked his mother, she told him that the White people
are harder on Black people than on other white people. Richard asks his mother why the
Black people don’t try to fight the White people, because there are more of them, and
Richard’s mother tells him they can’t because the White people have guns.
5. Richard’s mother decides to leave Granny’s because she was growing tired of her
mother’s overly-religious ways. During the new move to West Helena, Richard
experiences prostitution from the apartment next to his. The landlady caught Richard
looking into the apartment and she was so enraged that when Richard’s mother came
home she demanded that Richard was to be beaten, but Richard’s mother refused. After a
long argument with the Richard’s mother and Aunt Maggie, the landlady demands that
they leave, and they do so, happily. Also during the time in West Helena, Richard
experiences a new “Uncle.” Richard’s “Uncle” is hiding from the police, and comes and
goes only during the night. Richard and his brother are given gifts in exchange for their
silence. One night Richard wakes to crying and finds his mother packing a trunk, his
Aunt Maggie crying, and his “Uncle” explaining why he had to set fire to a house, and a
woman inside it. Richard’s Aunt Maggie and “Uncle” left to the North that night and
Richard was sworn to secrecy about ever knowing the man he called his “Uncle.”
CHAPTER 3 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. The “touchstone of fraternity” that binds the Black boys together is their hostility toward
White people, and the amount of honor they put on each race. Richard and the boys
demonstrate the “touchstone of fraternity” by making it a popular topic of discussion.
2. Church life wasn’t very important. On Sundays if they’re clothes were nice enough,
Richard’s mother would take him and his brother to Sunday school. The boys didn’t mind
much because they didn’t really care about the word of God, they just wanted to be with
their friends and fool around by, for example, switching the words of a song.
3. Richard’s mother became ill again and could no longer work. Richard was forced to take
up an assortment of low-paying jobs, but over time the rent for the house became too
expensive, so they moved out the house to the outskirts of town. Soon after, Richard’s
mother had a stroke and became paralyzed. Even though the neighbors are helping
tremendously, Richard writes to Granny for help. He realizes that he can no longer act as
a child, and goes through the days not believing it had actually happened. Granny calls to
her eight other children for money and to help around Granny’s house, which Richard,
his brother, and his mother just moved into. It was decided that Richard and his brother
would be separated and live with an aunt or uncle. Richard’s brother moved to Detroit to
live with Aunt Maggie, and Richard was told he could pick who he wanted to live with.
 Richard picked to live with his Uncle Clark because his uncle lived the closest to
Granny’s house.
4. At first, Richard is adjusting well to the move, but one day, the person who lived in his
Uncle Clark’s house tells him that his son died in the very same bed and room that
Richard sleeps in. Richard is so scared that he is unable to sleep, and begs to be able to
sleep on the sofa, but his Uncle is trying to get him out of that fear and tells him to get
over it. After many days of not being able to sleep out of fear, Richard asks his uncle if
he can move back with his Granny and mother, and at first, Uncle Clark says he can, but
only at the end of the school term, but then one day soon after he says that, his Aunt Jody
hears him curse, and tells on Richard to Uncle Clark. Uncle Clark whips Richard, and
Richard tells him he wants to go home. Uncle Clark sends him home that weekend.
5. After Richard returns to Granny’s, his mother, Ella, has to have yet another surgery.
Eventually, they were able to take Ella home but she remained sick. She stayed that way
for ten years, never getting much better, and always relapsing back to her paralytic state.
Richard is forced to grow up a lot faster than the other kids his age, and has an extremely
different outlook on life than he did just months before. His mother’s sickness set the
tone for his life, a very complicated one. Richard said his life made him “strangely tender
and cruel, violent and peaceful.”
CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Life at Granny’s house was very different from how Richard was previously living. In
order to be able to live there, Richard had to worship the same God as his grandmother.
The days were filled with religious words, prayers, and sermons and his grandmother’s
superstitions, like how she once told him the reason Ella was sick was because he was he
was faithless. AT Granny’s, there was also lesser quantities of food. Ricard was back to
feeling hungry and found himself obsessed with 5¢ vanilla wafers from the corner store.
He found a trick that he used a lot when the hunger was too much to bear. Richard would
drink until his stomach would fill, which would subside his hunger momentarily.
2. The Seventh-Day Adventist School was run by Richard’s Aunt Addie. From the first day,
Richard did not want to be there, but his mother, aunt, and grandmother decided he would
go there instead of a regular school. Richard thought the people in the school were boring
because they didn’t start fights with one another. Aunt Addie didn’t want the other
students to know that they were related, so she treated him colder than she treated the
others. She accused him of eating in her class when it was really the student in front of
him, but he wouldn’t tell on the boy. After, Richard accidentally calls her “Aunt Addie”
instead of “Miss Wilson” like she instructed him to, making her even madder. Aunt
Addie then beat him in front of the entire class, and after she was done she told him that
she wasn’t done, and would finish later at home, but when they got home, a fight ensued.
Richard pulled a knife and soon Granny and Ella heard the commotion and stopped the
fight. Aunt Addie was so embarrassed after that, that she stopped talking to Richard.
3. Richard said that religion attracts him, and if he had lived a more religious life from the
start, he would have accepted it more than he does now. Richard is unable to connect to
and understand the religion, and therefore doesn’t believe in God, and is unaffected by it.
 He also says he cannot believe in something he can’t see or feel, no matter how hard he
tries. This, of course, affected Granny the most. She tried time and time again to show
him God, but when he embarrassed her in front of the entire church. Richard told his
Granny the only way he would believe in God is if he saw an angel, but Granny
misunderstood and thought he said that he had already seen an angel, and told Elder.
When asked if he actually did see an angel, he refused in front of the entire church and
said Granny heard wrong.
CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Aunt Addie and Granny changed toward Richard because they thought he was dead to the
world, and they became cold and hostile towards him. This alienation affects him because
the two people who he was in the care of while his mother was sick won’t help him out.
For example, now that he is going to public school, he needed textbooks but Granny
wouldn’t buy them for him, because she considered them “worldly.” Also, he had to
wash and iron his own clothes, because they wouldn’t do it for him anymore. At this
point, Richard only went to school to get away from the people at home.
2. Granny isolates Richard from his peers by not letting him get a job. The only time he can
get a job is on Saturdays, a day you are forbidden work in Granny’s religion. All of his
peers had jobs with salaries that let them have enough money to buy food and hang out at
the corner store together. Since he can’t get a job on Saturdays, he is told of a job selling
papers, which he takes.
3. Aunt Addie confronting Richard and trying to place blame on him leads to Richard’s
second knife confrontation with her. After interrupting their Aunt Addie’s and Granny’s
conversation, Granny tries to slap Richard, but when he dodges, she falls down the stairs,
becoming unconscious. Aunt Addie blames Richard for this and tells him “I’ll get you
when you haven’t got a knife.” Richard is so scared of Aunt Addie that he sleeps with a
knife next to him for a month.
4. After Richard quits selling papers, he takes a job with his neighbor, Brother Mance, an
insurance agent. Richard has to accompany him on trips to the delta plantation area to
write and figure for him. For this job, Richard will be payed five dollars per week. When
Richard went back home, his mother and Granny were proud of him, and even Aunt
Addie seemed to stop her anger momentarily.
5. Grandpa is bitter towards the government because while fighting in the Civil War, he was
wounded, but never received a disability pension. While he was applying for it, the
officer misspelled his name, so there was no record of anyone with his name when he
went to collect it. There was even a rumor that the officer did it on purpose. Time and
time again Grandpa tried to explain what had happened, but even if he named people,
places, battles, and more, they still denied him and said there was no proof of him ever
being in the civil war. Grandpa was bitter towards everyone because of this, family
included, regardless if they were involved or not.
6. Richard establishes his independence from Granny by telling her that if she does not
allow him to work on Saturdays, he’ll leave. An argument ensues, and when Richard
goes to his room to pack his suitcase, Granny comes in, saying he can stay there and
 work, and that God will forgive her, but He won’t forgive him. Richard’s mother is
pleased with him because he stood up for himself and determined to get what he wanted.
CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. At his work for white people, Richard meets with extremely racist people who thinks that
Richard is stupid. At the first job that he started working, a very mean and racist women
asks if he ever staled or if he ever steals, assaulting his ego. Like this is all not enough,
she also thinks that she has a right to give him “moldy” food. One after she works for is
obviously surprised because he tells her that he doesn’t know how to milk a cow. The
second ones are really rude towards Richard and to each other. However he keeps the job,
it is not the perfect job for Richard. He only keeps the job because he steals good food
and the family never notices it, also he finally has the money to buy other things from the
corner store just like other boys.
2. Because the preacher showed like if Richard wasn’t baptized, it meant that he didn’t love
his mother, he got baptized. Richard’s mother, Ella, was a witness of these events and so
everyone. He didn’t want to embarrass his mother so, he did what the preacher and his
mother wanted. After, Richard tells that he doesn’T fell anything, or anything different to
the other boys. Surprisingly or not, other boys agree the things that Richard says.
3. Richard’s home life really changes and becomes totally different when his mother a
paralytic stroke. This whole situation just pushes Richard to feel helpless.The event that
really changed his life was when his uncle and his family, Uncle Tom, moved to upstairs
in order to pay some necessary things. His uncle moves to the house because Granny and
Aunt Addie can’t pay the things that they are supposed to anymore. The problem was that
Uncle Tom and Richard living together increases the tension in between.
CHAPTER 7 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. He was really concerned and a little confused because he realized that he wasn’T learning
anything that he could actually use in real life situations. Even Granny was hinting that it
was time for Richard to be living out on his own, but he just didn’t know how.
2. Richard’s job at the brickyard was a water boy. He heard word that the last one was
missing, so he took the job. He brought water in pails to the older men working in the hot
sun for one dollar per day. Richard would have to climb up large hills and down into
ditches to get the water to the men. After, Richard got a job in the brickyard that paid a
dollar and a half per day. He had to pick up cracked bricks and put them into a pond.
3. Richard has a story published called “The Voodoo of Hell’s Half-Acre.” He goes to the
local black newspaper, and they print it. Everyone questions why Richard wanted to write
and publish a story, and Granny accuses it of being the devil’s work, because he made up
the story. Ella told him that he needed to be more serious and stop making up stories.
Uncle Tom said the story had no point, while Aunt Addie said there was nobody to guide
Richard. It seemed as if everybody had a problem with the story, even the school
principle, except for the newspaper editor. Even then, the negativity didn’t stop Richard.
He still dreamt of moving to the North to write stories, and he was going to make that
happen.
CHAPTER 8 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. The “white death’ is the threat that hung over every black male in the South, of being
killed by white people. The “white death had claimed the brother of one of Richard’s
friends, and that made the “white death” all the more real for Richard. That day, he didn’t
look for jobs, he just sat on his front porch, staring, and thinking. Richard was scared of
the “white death” that awaited him if he made a wrong move, and at that point, he didn’t
even know if it was worth it to make a move at all.
2. Richard discovered that his Uncle Tom was telling his kids to stay away from Richard,
and was calling him a “dangerous fool.” Richard was talking to his cousin Maggie when
Uncle Tom caught them, and brought Maggie into the back room, scolding her, saying he
would break her neck and skin her if she went near Richard again. Although he hardly
ever talked to his cousins anyway, this affected Richard deeply. He was saddened that his
Uncle felt this way about him, and spent his days only talking to his mother.
3. At a point in his ninth school year, Richard’s teacher appointed him to supervise the
class, something that gave Richard hope and a little joy. The teacher even told him that if
he kept his grades high enough, he could teach in the city school system. Richard’s
brother came home, and it wasn’t long before he was feeling the same way about Richard
as everyone else in the house did. This made Richard extremely irritable and even
lonelier. Richard was appointed valedictorian, and was called into the principal’s office.
The principle tried to give Richard a speech that he wrote, but Richard refused, saying he
already wrote a speech. This made the principal angry and threatens Richard that if he
doesn’t read the speech he wrote for Richard, then Richard wouldn’t graduate. Everyone
was encouraging Richard to just use the principal’s speech, but Richard thought that was
unethical. Come graduation day, Richard said his speech, got some applause, and walked
out, to face the world in 1925.
CHAPTER 9 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. After graduating from ninth grade, Richard’s first job was as a porter in a cheap clothing
store who sold to Negroes on credit. The store was always really crowded and that gave
Richard a first-hand look at the way the white owner of the store and his son treated the
black people. Richard’s boss and his son openly pushed, kicked, and slapped the
customers, and no matter how many times Richard saw it, he could never get used to it.
2. Grigg’s advice to Richard was to “learn how to live in the South.” Grigg tells Richard the
reason he can’t hold a job is because he is impatient, rushes things, he won’t let people
tell him things, and won’t let people help him. Grigg said to Richard, “When you’re in
front of white people, think before you speak. Your way of doing things is all right
among our people, but not for white people. They won’t stand for it.”
3. Richard’s job at the optical company was supposed to be learning how to grind and
polish lenses by two white men, Pease and Reynolds. The owner, Mr. Crane also told
Richard to sweep, mop, dust, and run errands. The two white men didn’t teach Richard
for a month before Richard asked them about it. They accused him of trying to “act
white,” and wouldn’t teach him. One day, the two even have the audacity to talk to
 Richard about the private parts of his body. Soon after, Pease confronts Richard saying
that Reynolds told him that Richard called him “Pease” instead of the respectful “Mr.
Pease.” Richard, of course, didn’t, but he knew they would drive him out of the job if he
told Mr. Crane the truth. When Mr. Crane called Richard into his office, Richard didn’t
tell him what actually happened because he was scared that Pease and Reynolds would
hunt him with a mob and kill him, so he just left.
CHAPTER 10 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Richard’s loss of job at the optical company made him feel numb and less of a man than
he was. He concludes that his basic problem is not being able to keep his mouth shut at
the right times. He knew his words were innocent, but they infuriated white people for
some reason. He knew what was wrong with him, but he couldn’t fix it. He tried too hard
to focus on not saying the wrong thing that he gets distracted with the work he is actually
supposed to be doing.
2. Although Richard had never stolen anything, he does because his want to leave became
so strong in him, and he knew he could never leave soon with the amount money he was
making now. At one point, the temptation of stealing became too much for Richard. He
thought that the longer he stayed, the more of a chance he had of getting caught, and that
made him want to leave even more than he did before. Richard’s success at being a thief
makes him feel somewhat guilty, but as soon as he has the amount of money that he
needs, he leaves, telling Ella he’ll send for her.
CHAPTER 11 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Richard’s first stop on his journey North is Memphis, Tennessee. Richard rented a room
from a nice woman named Mrs. Moss at the price of two and a half dollars. He was
treated well and got along well there, and even ate with the family. During dinner, Mrs.
Moss was hinting that her daughter, Bess, should date a man like Richard. Richard was
uncomfortable with this idea, because they had just met but a few hours ago, but didn’t
say anything. When Mrs. Moss brought it up again after dinner, Richard was so
uncomfortable that he left, saying he wanted to try and find a job. When he comes back,
he notices that Bess is amazed by everything he does. Bess kind of comes onto Richard,
and although he is tempted at first, he tries to let her down easy. Bess, sensing Richard
has no feelings for her, runs out of the room, saying she hates him.
CHAPTER 12 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Richard gets yet another job for an optical company, this time in Memphis. Richard liked
the honesty of the man who owned it, and so was honest himself. He was assigned to run
errands, wash eyeglasses, take packages to be mailed, and instead of having lunch, he
would run errands for the white men who worked there. Richard was to be paid eight
dollars per week and a dollar in a raise until he got to ten dollars. The first day he worked
there, he made a dollar and a half in tips.
2. Richard’s relationship with Mrs. Moss and Bess is strained. When Mrs. Moss finds out
Richard doesn’t have feelings for Bess, she still tries to push it, and Richard kindly tells
 her no. Then, Mrs. Moss gets angry with Richard when he speaks of moving out and yells
at him saying he should. Later, she comes to the door with Bess apologizing and telling
him not to leave. Richard is apprehensive, but ends up staying.
CHAPTER 13 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Richard becomes acquainted with the writings of H.L. Mencken when he was reading the
editorial page of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. He pursues his desire to read more of
his works by asking a Catholic man for whom he had picked up books for before for help.
Richard asks him to borrow his card, and he approves of Richard wanting to read, but
says to make sure he reads the right things. He wants to help Richard, he just needs to
figure out how. He gives Richard his card, and tells him to forge a note, asking for the
books and to sign it with his name.
2. Richard’s love for reading gives him a different outlook on life, especially with the books
he was reading by H.L. Mencken. These books make him excited, and sprout something
inside of him. Richard wants to write books just like these authors do.
CHAPTER 14 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Richard and his family plan to go North and make Richard and Aunt Maggie go first to
find a place in Chicago for everyone. If they could have all gone together, they would
have, but with the amount of money they had, it was not an option. Richard tells his boss
that the reason he is leaving is because his aunt wants to bring him and his paralyzed
mother to live in Chicago.
2. The last sentences from this chapter read as, “This was the culture from which I sprang.
This was the terror from which I fled.” I think this means that Richard was leaving the
culture he had grown up with, with whites dominating black people. He was fleeing from
the terror that was his life, to start living a better life, and hopefully one he doesn’t have
to flee from.
CHAPTER 15 DISCUSSON QUESTIONS:
1. When Richard arrives in Chicago, the most important thing he finds is that there is
nothing separating blacks from whites. As soon as he gets off the train, he sees that there
are no signs reading: “For whites,” or “For colored.” This gives Richard a new hope for
what his life will be like in Chicago.
2. After arriving at Aunt Cleo’s, Richard is disturbed that everywhere he looked, he saw
“frightened black faces trying vainly to cope with a civilization they did not understand.”
Richard was, once again lonely, and felt that even though he escaped one insecurity, he
went right into another.
3. Richard’s first job in Chicago is at a deli and he works as a porter. This deli is owned by
a Jewish couple, whose words were very hard to understand for Richard. This did cause a
lot of miscommunication between Richard and his bosses, and even thinks that them
being impatient with him is because they are racist, which they aren’t.
4. Richard’s view of racial discrimination is that he thinks black people are being
dehumanized. Richard, like he used to be, is once again scared of saying the wrong thing,
 and being punished for it. He notices that other cultures are being somewhat let in by
white people, like the Jewish storeowners in a white neighborhood, but still, there was no
black storeowners in the white neighborhood.
5. When Richard gets his job as a dishwasher, he starts noticing the clear difference of how
black are treated differently in the North and in the South. In the North, black people
were treated with somewhat respectfulness from whites. Back in the South, it was the
complete opposite, like Richard was aware of before moving to the North. He was
surprised at the difference, but was happy he was being treated better.
6. In Richard’s search for success and self-identity, he realizes that his passion for reading
and writing never really left him, and he once again wants to be a writer, like he did many
years ago. The only thing stopping Richard from getting published was himself, because
he never thought any of his work was good enough.
CHAPTER 16 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. In the spring, Richard took his postal examination again, and because of his new eating
habits, this time he passed. This caused him to be able to provide a lot more for his
family, and to help them live a better and fuller life. Richard was able to provide a better
apartment, better food, and a lot more money to give to his family. The family is once
again living in poverty when the stock market crashes, marking the beginning of the
Great Depression.
2. Richard becomes friends with one of his coworkers, an Irish man, on the basis of their
mutual love for reading books. When introduced to his friends, Richard hits it off with
them right away, because they were all mutually extremely smart. After meeting them,
Richard is interested a black literary group of Puritans on the South Side of Chicago, but
after listening to them talk, finds them too sex-obsessed, as it was all they would talk
about. After the literary group, Richard meets the Garveyites. The Garveyites were
people who followed in the teachings of Marcus Garvey, a man who taught of bringing
African Americans back to Africa to make a new nation. Richard doesn’t really care
about the teachings of the Garveyites, but admires their morals and passion for what they
do.
3. The stock market crash at the start of the Great Depression led to Richard being let go
from his job at the post office. When everyone living with Richard becomes sick, he
knows he needs to find a job to provide for the four of them, and fast. Richard gets a job
as an insurance agent, and at one point in the job is forced to take part on a con.
Following in the footsteps of other male insurance agents, Richard gets into a sexual
relationship with one of his female clients.
4. The Negro Communists are somewhat like the Garveyites to Richard. He respects the
passion they have but doesn’t really care about the message they are spreading. Richard
thinks the communists, along with their ideas, are weak and juvenile, but amusing.
Richard believes these people are too ignorant to understand what they are talking about.
These black communists made Richard feel indifferent towards his people.
CHAPTER 17 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
 1. When Richard goes to the relief station for food, he senses that all of the people there,
aren’t individuals, but rather a group of people all feeling the same way and going
through the same things. He realizes he is not the only one struggling in those tough
times, and finds comfort in it. This changes Richard because he feels less alone with the
problem he’s struggled his entire life with – hunger.
2. Richard’s job at the medical institute helps Richard see that although he is still in the
North, racism is still very present. He sees that all the higher paying jobs are given to
white men, while all the small, low-paying jobs are given to black men. While he was
there, Richard did not see any black man with one of the higher-up jobs. While Richard
works in the hospital, he is one of only three black men there. Although it wasn’t as bad
as it was in the South, the racism in the North was still very present, and that made
Richard frustrated.
3. The fight between Brand and Cooke started out as just an argument about the weather but
escalated extremely quickly. A fight ensues between the two men and it ends up
knocking over a lot of the cages of the animals that were being tested. To avoid being
punished, they try to put the animals back in their rightful cages, but they couldn’t tell
which animal went where. None of the people who witnessed the accident ever told
anyone about it.
CHAPTER 18 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Richard’s initial involvement with the communist party is caused by many of his friends
from the post office becoming members. They all asked him to go to one meeting, and he
reluctantly agreed that he would go. At the meeting, he is given magazines to read, and
he takes them home that night to do so. Richard is impressed by what the magazines
promise about communism. They promise that communism will bring worldwide unity
and Richard is so impressed that he writes a poem. Ella sees the communist magazines
and is shocked at the messages that they tell, but Richard promises that the only problem
is that communists need to find a way to talk to the masses, and he will help to make that
happen.
2. Communism is the antithesis of Ella’s ideal because Ella believes in Jesus Christ, and her
strict religious upbringing doesn’t allow her to believe in communism, or any other idea
being preached, besides the ones she was taught growing up.
3. Richard’s goal as a writer for Communist publications was to make communism
appealing to everyone. He wanted everybody to understand and appreciate communism,
and to become a follower and a believer in the good outcome it would produce. He
wanted to make sure the writing in the magazine would make communism sound like the
best idea to everyone.
4. Richard is elected as executive secretary of the Jon Reed club because he was able to stop
a fight between the painters of the club and the writers in the club. He is elected against
his will, with the reasoning being that it would drive the painters’ want to be in the club
away. This causes Richard to officially become a part of the club, but it doesn’t drive out
the painters like they expected it to.
 5. The incident involving Young’s charges against Swann troubles Richard because Richard
was torn. He didn’t know who was right and who was wrong in the situation, and that
troubled him. Richard wanted to side with Swann because they are friends, but he didn’t
want that to be the only reason he was siding with him. On the other hand, Richard didn’t
want to side with Young because he would be going against a friend, but he didn’t want it
to look like he was only going to believe is friend.
CHAPTER 19 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Richard is accepted by the Negroes in the Communist unit in the Black Belt of the South
Side because he is a writer. Richard, back into his old ways, is very cautious of himself
and makes sure he makes no slip ups.
2. Ross is a Negro Communist. Richard’s involvement with him alienates him because it
makes the rest of the group think he is a very intellectual person, something they make
fun of him for. The group he is with even disapproves in him reading books, something
that Richard loves.
3. Richard finds relief from his political problems in the South Side Boy’s Club.
4. Richard’s involvement in the demise of the Chicago John Reed Club is that he didn’t
agree with the new policies, and stood up for himself, but nobody stood with him. He
eventually left.
5. Richard’s trip to New York to attend a communist writer’s conference started off with
him having nowhere to stay. He found somewhere to stay the first night, but luckily, the
next day, he found a Negro hotel to stay in for the rest of his trip. Richard was one of the
only people at the meeting fighting for the clubs to stay in use, unlike everyone else who
was fighting to shut the clubs down. At the end of the meeting, a vote was held to see if
the clubs were to be kept open or shut down, and everyone voted for it to be shut down,
except for Richard. All of the clubs were shut down.
6. Buddy Nealson is a part of Communist International. Buddy asked Richard to organize a
committee, and Richard agreed to for a month and then give a final answer, although
hesitant at first. Richard was confronted when the month was up by Nealson and Nealson
accused him of being a member of a Trotskyite group, to which Richard declined,
because he wasn’t. After the confrontation, Richard was told that he was to be publically
expelled by Nealson. Even with this information, Richard didn’t scare easy. Just like
Nealson, Richard was willing to fight.
7. Richard’s job with the Federal Negro Theater was as the publicity agent. Richard hires a
new director and together they tried to get the actors to play parts depicting how black
people were actually treated. The actors did not like the idea and did not want to perform
that. The actors threatened to have the director fired, and even go as far as to threaten
Richard with knives. When that happens, Richard requests to transfer to a different
theater company.

CHAPTER 20 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Richard’s job at the Federal Writers’ Project becomes a retaliation tool used against him
by the Communist party because, like his last job, they want him to be fired. Richard did
not know they had any involvement with his previous job at the theater. The communist
party even went as far as to protest outside where Richard was working. Richard reacts
diplomatically by asking to speak with the secretary of the communist party. Even though
he can only speak with the secretary’s secretary, Richard takes it.
2. The communist party’s final blow to Richard’s self-esteem was when they attacked him
on May Day. Someone from the communist party told Richard to march with them, and
although he was skeptical, he did. Once in step with them, they attacked and assaulted
Richard. Richard’s friends only looked on and did nothing. On his way home, Richard
can only think about how he was “blinded by oppression.”
3. Richard’s final decision was to do what he had always wanted to do – write. He wanted
the world to know how he was feeling, to understand his pain, to see his happiness, to
hear his frustration. Richard wanted to be able to “build a bridge of words,” so that is
exactly what he did.