Black Boy
(Richard Wright)

Richard Wright

Richard is a hugely stubborn, outspoken, and headstrong person who finds immense value and potential in himself. Richard’s belief in his own abilities often causes him to have friction with, and disrespect for, people who do not have the same belief in him. Richard is highly defensive of his character and his ambitions, despite the resistance he gets from others.

Richard becomes increasingly interested in the relationship between blacks and whites and makes it his mission to educate the world on oppression and its consequences. He is a dreamer who is truly dedicated to the causes he is passionate about and is often discriminated against for his intelligence.

Ella Wright

Ella is Richard’s mother who is seriously sick for most of her adult life, being susceptible to strokes, of which she experiences many. She is forced to be out of work most of the time which puts a lot of pressure on Richard. Ella punishes Richard when he does wrong, yet shows an affection and love for him that no one else does.

Ella shows a fierce determination to raise her children after Nathan leaves, though, it is difficult with all of her health problems. Ella becomes a symbol of the suffering in the world for Richard, as he believes her suffering represents the suffering of the black community as a whole because she has no control over it.

Aunt Maggie

Maggie is Ella’s sister who lives with her husband, Hoskins, when she is introduced to the story. When Hoskins is killed by some white men Maggie moves with Ella and the boys to live with Granny, and then they settle in Arkansas. She meets a mysterious man who is on the run from the law who is called Professor Matthews and they move to Detroit together.

Alan is soon sent to live with Maggie and the Professor, though Maggie moves back down south after the Professor abandons her. She moves to Chicago with Richard and his family.

Granny

Granny is an extremely religious 7th Day Adventist. She believes that fiction is sinful and full of lies and thus does not approve of reading or writing of fiction in her home. She, along with Aunt Addie, is on a mission to save Richard’s soul until they decide that he is a lost cause and give up.

Despite Granny’s resentment of Richard she makes many efforts to help Ella and her sons, knowing how difficult life has been for them with Ella’s strokes. Granny gets physical with Richard on more than one occasion, though to no avail. She has no support for Richard and his desire to be a writer.

Aunt Addie

Addie lives with Granny and is equally religious. She is the teacher at a religious school that Richard is forced to attend when living with Granny. Addie is not a fan of Richard’s and is physically abusive to him when she feels he is out of line. She beats him in front of his classmates, for something he did not do, and beats him again later at home when she tells him who really did it.

Richard threatens Addie with a knife on more than one occasion, causing her to vow to one day give him the beating she feels he deserves, though, she never does.

Alan

Also, may be known as Leon, Alan is Richard’s younger brother. Alan is the favored child, as he does not cause trouble the way that Richard does. When the boys are split up because Granny cannot care for both of them Alan moves to Detroit to live with Maggie and Professor Matthews.

Eventually Alan moves back down south, and he, Ella, and eventually Maggie, team up with Richard to save money to move north together. Once they get to Chicago Alan must work to help Richard support the family, though he falls ill and cannot work for a while.

Uncle Clark

Clark is Ella’s brother and Richard’s uncle. When Granny sends the boys to live in different places because she cannot take care of them, Richard is given the choice on where he would like to go, deciding on living with Clark to be close to his mother.

Richard is ambivalent about living with Clark until he learns that someone died in the bed he sleeps in there, which caused him to have severe nightmares. Clark is hesitant to allow Richard to move back in with Granny until Richard begins lashing out on Clark and his wife Jody.

Uncle Tom

Tom is Richard’s uncle whom he is sent to with the news that Grandfather had died. Later Uncle Tom and his family are asked to come and live at Granny’s home for a small amount of rent to help make ends meet.

Uncle Tom does not like Richard and forbids his children to associate with him. Uncle Tom makes any excuse to pick a fight with Richard, such as not appreciating his tone. Richard gets physical with him, as he does with everyone who tries to abuse him, and he threatens Tom with razor blades.

Mrs. Moss

Mrs. Moss is the kind woman who allows Richard to live with her and her daughter, Bess, when he moves to Memphis. He finds Mrs. Moss to be exceedingly generous and loving, which is a different environment for him, but he feels pressure to marry her daughter Bess as he knows that is what Mrs. Moss desires, despite the fact that she barely knows him at all. Mrs. Moss and Bess are the first people Richard meets that show him there are truly kind people in the world who were not bigoted nor were they cruel.

Bess

Bess is the daughter of Mrs. Moss and is interested in marrying Richard, which is obvious in the way she tries to throw herself at him. According to Richard, Bess is very simple, ignorant, unintelligent, and naive.

Bess believes that love is all that matters in the world and all she wants out of life are to settle down and have a family. Richard is so ambitious and has such lefty goals in life that he does not understand how someone can be so simple.

Falk

Falk is one of the first white men that Richard meets that he actually forms a strong relationship and friendship with. Falk works with Richard and allows Richard to borrow his library card when he wishes to read up on Mencken.

Falk is one of the few white people who does not discriminate against black people, but rather seems to feel bad for the suffering they endure. When Richard announces that, he is moving to Chicago Falk seems genuinely happy for him, though he cannot show it in front of the other white people, for the sake of his own well-being.

Griggs

Griggs is a boy who is a former classmate of Richard’s. He tells Richard that many white people are unwilling to hire him because they have heard that he is quite the troublemaker and they do not want to deal with his attitude.

Griggs tells Richard that he needs to learn to act invisible to the white people and to just be quiet and do what he is told even if he feels it is unfair because that is the only way he will be able to hold down a job. Griggs gets Richard a job working for Mr. Crane, the lens maker.

Mr. Crane

Mr. Crane owns an optical shop in Jackson, Mississippi where Richard gets a job, thanks to Griggs. Mr. Crane is from the north and understands Richard’s desire to move there because he feels that is the only place Richard may be able to accomplish anything without racism holding him back.

When Richard decides to leave the job after a week due to some harassment by white employees Mr. Crane pays him much more than he earned in the week he worked there, hoping that he would soon save enough money to head north.

The Hoffmans

The Hoffmans are the Jewish couple who own the deli that Richard works at in Chicago. The Hoffman’s have unusually thick accents, and Richard does not always understand what they are saying, which frustrates them.

Richard mistakes their frustration for racism, because that is all he has ever known in his life, though they are not racist at all, on the contrary they pity Richard. They know he lied to them about why he missed work when he was applying for another job because he was scared to tell them. They feel sorry that Richard lives in a world of constant fear and defensiveness.

The John Reed Club

The John Reed Club is a group of young artists, writers, and politically minded men who lean toward the Communist party. Some of the men are official members of the party and some are not.

Richard joins the club through some friends he makes at the post office and is profoundly inspired by their passion. He becomes a respected and high member of the club and makes some close friends, or comrades, while a member. Sadly, the Communists decide to disband all John Reed Clubs because they disapprove of such intellectual minds.