Black Boy

This story is from Wright's autobiography. I found that out after I read the story and couldn't believe it. Wright and Harrison were treated like toys. I was deceived at first because the story sets us in a factory where a young black boy works in the same place where "At each machine a white man was...working intently" and he gets a "daily lunch of a hamburger and peanuts". To me, Wright's situation didn't sound so bad. He even says "I was at peace with the world".

Then Mr. Olin enters the scene. It makes me wonder how long all those factory workers had been concocting this plan. He's so manipulative, starting out by asking Wright "do you believe that I'm your friend?" Of course he's not!...Poor Wright wanted to be able to trust his employers but he admits to himself that "apprehension was rising in me".

All throughout the story Wright and Harrison were like puppets. I think the white men knew all along they could get the boys to do whatever they wanted if they just kept pushing. However, I hoped and hoped that they would resist. Wright and Harrison knew they were probably being playing with. They kept telling each other "He's trying to make us kill each other for nothing" "To white men we're like dogs or cocks" "They wouldn't care if we killed each other". I hate that the white men turned Wright and Harrison against each other for their own entertainment. Wright says "The hate we felt for the men whom we had tried to cheat went into the blows we threw at each other." And after the fight "I could not look at Harrison. I hated him and I hated myself." Not only did the men turn Wright and Harrison against each other but Wright against himself.