In the following excerpt, Adams offers his interpretation of Wright's Black Boy, arguing that its historical inaccuracies have deliberate, metaphorical purpose.
Like the autobiographies of Gertrude Stem and Sherwood Anderson, Richard Wright's Black Boy, published in 1945, has confused readers because of its generic ambiguity. For many readers, the book is particularly honest, sincere, open, convincing, and accurate. But for others, Black Boy leaves a feeling of inauthenticity, a sense that the story or its author is not to be trusted. These conflicting reactions are best illustrated by the following representative observations by Ralph K. White and W. E. B. DuBois. White, a psychologist, has identified [in "Black Boy"] "ruthless honesty" as "the outstanding quality which made the book not only moving but also intellectually satisfying." But DuBois notes [in "Richard Wright Looks Back"] that.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 2,350 words. This
study guide contains 24,482 words (approx. 82 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our Black Boy Access Pass.
