Big Boy Leaves Home | Big Boy Leaves Home

At a glance:

Author: Richard Wright
First Published: 1936
Type of Plot: Social realism
Time of Work: The early twentieth century
Setting: The American South
Principal Characters: Big Boy, Bobo, Lester, Buck, Bertha Harvey, Jim Harvey, Liza Morrison, Saul Morrison, Lucy Morrison, Will Sanders
Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
Subjects: African Americans, Children, Dogs, Adolescence, Sex or sexuality, South or Southerners, Violence, Swimming or swimmers, Shooting
Locales: South (U.S.)

The story is divided into five distinct sections. The first opens on a hot day, as four adolescent African American boys laugh and play in the woods, singing and joking about sexually related matters and tussling and rolling around in the grass like young pups. In the second section, they arrive at a swimming hole, where they are determined to swim despite its no-trespassing sign, which clearly tells them that “Ol man Harvey don erllow no niggers t swim in this hole.” After playfully frolicking in the water, the boys dry themselves in the sun—black and naked....

Big Boy Leaves Home | Big Boy Leaves Home

At a glance:

The Story

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