Wright leaves Jackson Mississippi at the age of seventeen
and arrives in Memphis to get work, make more money, reunite is family, and
then plan his further trip north. He makes accommodations at a boarding house
that belongs to Mrs. Moss. Wright's southern upbringing and his naivety to city
life is apparent by all those his come in contact with him and he even becomes
the victim of a minor scam. But Wright learns quickly. He also sees that people
in Memphis, though still racist, are more warm toward blacks than in Jackson.
They are more tolerant of blacks making mistakes.
One of the biggest trials Wright faces is actually between
him and Mrs. Moss' daughter. Mrs. Moss continually tries to push her daughter
onto Wright, insisting that they should be married. Wright is astounded by
their forwardness and looking back on Wright's life in Jackson, women other
than his mother and grandmother are rarely mentioned. Wright is clearly not
comfortable with the openness that the Moss' have. Throughout his stay there,
Mrs. Moss' daughter and Wright have a tomultous relationship. At some points
the daughter throws herself at Wright, when he declines her offers she says she
hates him, and at other times she teases him for his eating habits.
As Wright has a goal of bringing his mother and brother to
Memphis and later to take them all to Chicago, he develops a rough financial
budget which only allows him to eat a certain amount of food so that he can
save. When he is caught by Mrs. Moss' daughter eating out of a can, she teases
him, aggravating the deep sense of pride Wright has. " 'Don't disturb
her,' I said, knowing that she was going to tell Mrs. Moss about my wanting to
eat out of a can and feeling my heart fill with shame. My muscles flexed to hit
her" (Wright 236).
The affects of discrimination on the personal life of blacks
is an apparent theme in this book. The isolation blacks experience from whites
because of Jim Crow Laws seems to carry over into personal problems. How blacks
interact with each other is influenced by segregation. In some cases it appears
that a bond is created through mutual experiences. Many southern blacks harbor
the same resentment and those feelings of deep-seeded hatred toward whites
connects them all. But in Wright's case the pain from the continual attacks on
his pride and manhood isolates him a step further. His intellect, his pride,
and his keen awareness of the interpersonal affects of racism also make him a
social pariah in regards to the other blacks of his community. This isolation
carries over into his new life in Memphis.
When making new friendships and relationships with people in
a new city, it is normal to ask some personal questions to get a better sense
of a person's character and personality. When Wright experiences this, he
immediately puts up a brick wall. When asked about his home life, he reacts in
a cold manner, "I stiffened. I did not like that. She was reaching into my
inner life, where it was sore, and I did not want anyone there" (Wright
237). Despite Wright's hard and calloused outward demeanor, the condemnation he
received during his childhood, from both whites and blacks, left him
emotionally scarred. Not only was he mentally abused by whites, but his
relationship with his family also took a toll on him as well, "I had come
from a home where feelings were never expressed, except in rage or religious
dread, where each member of the household lived locked in his own dark
world" (Wright 238).
To let someone into his inner life would mean, to him, to
allow them to further hurt him.
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