American Oppression in Black Boy Growing up as a black in the South in the early 1900s is not so easy, because some people tend to suffer different forms of oppression. In this case, it happens in the autobiography titled Black Boy written by Richard Wright. The novel is set in the early part of the 1900s, somewhere in the Jim Crow Deep South. It also stars Richard Wright, who is obviously the main character. The antagonist is not a particular person, as it takes many different forms called "oppression" in general. The main character overcomes this "oppression" by rebelling against the common roles of black society, Jim Crow. The character of Richard Wright was influenced in early childhood by the effects of social oppression, but he became a great American author despite these negative factors in his life. Today everyone encounters some form of oppression. One of the forms Richard is encountering is called social oppression. For example, after Richard sees a "black" boy whipped by a "white" man, he asks his mother why the incident happened. His mother says, "'The 'white' man didn't whip the 'black' boy... He beat the 'black' boy" (31). This quote shows racism, which is one way society keeps Richard Wright and all other Southern blacks down. Another example is when he is at the station with his mother, and while they are waiting for the train, he sees something he had never seen, "...for the first time I noticed that there were two lines of people at the ticket office stop, one “white” line and a “black” line,” (55). This excerpt demonstrates how this scene of Jim Crow laws keeps a certain group of people apart, which is also another form of social oppression. Social oppression occurs again when Richard "goes out" with his friends and their conversation with each other leads to the topic of war. One of his friends gets very to the heart of the topic and says, "'Yes, they send you to war, they make you lick those Germans, they teach you to fight and when you come back they scare you'" (90). This quote means that "whites" put "blacks" on the front line to defend our country, and when they return, they can't accept them, so they oppress them in different ways, which is social oppression. The last example occurs when Richard wants to borrow a library card and so thinks about asking his boss. After thinking about it for a while, he knew that he couldn't ask him, because he knows that the boss is a Caucasian Baptist, and Richard thinks that he wouldn't be able to accept the fact that a "black" boy, like Richard, would want to read and farm his intelligence. This would be considered social oppression, as he knows that his boss does not want Richard to be enlightened by books, thus keeping him away from the light of knowledge. These are examples of social oppression that Richard Wright overcomes and rises to the top on his own. Internalized oppression is a difficult thing to overcome. One of the ways Richard Wright deals with internalized oppression is when he sees a "black" boy being beaten by a "white" man, so he automatically thinks that the "white" man is the boy's father. "...Didn't all fathers, like my father, have the right to beat their children? The paternal right was the only right, in my opinion..." (31). This excerpt shows internalized oppression, as he thinks it is right for a parent to abuse their child, making the child think that hitting him is right, and only a parent can hit him. Another case of internalized oppression occurs when Richard says a bad word, and then his Aunt Jody lectures him by saying, "'Richard, you're a very bad, bad boy'" (108). Later in the song, he also says that he doesn't care about.