Black Boy Essay, Research Paper

Most young people have a dream of what they want to become. Maybe it doesn’t have to be a dream, but some kind of goal that they reach for. In the book, Black Boy, Richard, the main character, also had a dream, even though he lived in the South with strong white discrimination, pressure and a bad relationship with his relatives. As a student right now, I have dreams that I want to achieve in the future, even though I really don’t know how to achieve those dreams.

Usually, when people are young, they have dreams of what they want to become. Those dreams may be being a firefighter, baseball player, teacher, pilot and so many other great jobs. When I was a child, I really wanted to become a pilot. The reason that I wanted to become a pilot when I was a child is that my father is a pilot. Richard had a dream to become a writer. However, Richard Wright’s main dream and reasons that made him have his dream are really different from mine. Richard was discriminated against by the whites, and was not treated fairly by his relatives. This terrible environment, which Richard lived through his young age, led him to seek freedom in nature. Even though he dreamed to become a writer, he had no leeway to think about dreams like that or mine. At first, he was just hungry for a better life and environment. Richard’s dream was to go up North for a better life and environment because he was tired of the discrimination and the racial distinction between whites and blacks.

Richard and I are similar in some ways. I really don’t know how to get a job or anything. It is the same as Richard for not knowing the reality of being in the North and becoming a writer. He just imagined himself working all over the place where he could find jobs as one step to reach his dream. I study here in Keio and I believe that it is a step and part of a process to be an adequate person, to gain enough knowledge to have a job in the future. My dream right now is to have a job that would let me work in a foreign country. It is similar to Richard wanting to go up North to become a writer. Richard wants to go to the North for a better life and environment to live, and I want to break free, to go around the world and work in many places and not feel trapped by Japanese society.

Richard mostly felt hunger for something throughout the book. He was hungry for food, school supplies, clothes, and education. He tried hard to find jobs and worked hard so that he could get those things on his own. I have never been hungry for the things that Richard was hungry for. I could never imagine myself working as hard as I could in such a harsh environment to get my own food or education. I have worked over the summer vacation in Japan, but I didn’t work for the things that Richard wanted. I worked for my pleasure and amusement. However, Richard is different from me and he worked hard and got what he wanted. In order for Richard to achieve his dream to become a writer, he was able to reach his first goal, to go up North.

The environment of Richard and I are obviously so different, and it really shows the difference in our two lives. Seeking his dreams, Richard worked really hard. I am being raised in a good environment where I don’t need to work to get education, food or clothes. To me, Richard is a strong and determined person. I learned from his life in the South and his experiences will encourage me to fight strongly for my dreams.