Theme: The autobiographical account of Richard Wright takes place in the south from 1900 to 1945, and his fueled hatred towards white people in the South as he grows up. Where he will find his calling as a writer which will lead him to the north wear he will follow his dream.
The book starts out with a young Richard growing up in Natchez Mississippi. Richard is four years old and living with his younger brother and his parents. At an early age Richard was faced with having to defend himself. Early in the book it tells of a story of his mother sending him to the store to get some groceries. He goes and proceeds to get beat up by a gang of boys not once but 3 times this happens. Finally the fourth time his mother gives him a stick to take with him, and Richard defends him self with it, and finally gets the groceries home. This will become a strong theme in this book, Richard is taught at a early age by his peers and himself that he will have to show his strength to fight back to get accepted. Richards's father abandons him and his mother and brother, which will begin the long traveling road for his family to other cities in the south where Richard learns the growing fight between whites and blacks. As of right now in the story young Richard is confused by the split relations between the two races. .
During the course of the book, it becomes evident that Richards's hatred towards white people is not fueled at the beginning by whites, but actually by his own family, and how they reject Richard and what he does. Richard has to constantly defend himself from all members of his family from beatings that he received for his actions. This becomes so bad for him that he sleeps with a knife under his bed for a week, because of the threats by his own family that they were thinking about killing him. Richard projects this hatred that he has towards his family at the white people that he has heard so much about doing bad things to blacks.