Dec 22, 2009

Black Boy | Themes

Prejudice and Tolerance
Race and Racism
Racism is not as much a theme in this novel as it is an environmental condition—an integral part of the setting. The novel tries to expose the ethical effect which the Jim Crow system had on its subjects, both black and white. Black Boy is a novel about individual positions within a racist mind-set. That is, the world in which Richard must live is racist, and within that world prejudice against blacks is all-pervasive. However, Richard occasionally meets with tolerant persons. Furthermore, Richard himself must be...