"I wanna walk"(xxii)
The quote above came out of Richard Wright's "Uncle Tom's Children" and is said by Richard at one of the many oppressive times of his life, while dealing with an act of racism.
In this scene Richard has been offered a ride home from a white man and his friends. He accepts the ride and gets in the mans car because his bike is broken. Problems soon occur however when Richard makes a huge mistake -- forgetting one of his life lessons. After being asked if he wanted a drink, which the men around him were having, Richard stated "Oh no!"(xxi). The calm atmosphere became tense immediately. Richard was crashed to the ground and beaten, simply because he forgot "t' say sir t' a white man..." (xxi). The idea of superiority is demonstrated in this passage and an on going struggle, seen in the character before continues, as the difference between pride and staying down is of much importance by Richard. While down Richard states "I wanna walk". Showing his yearn to be free-- to stand up for himself.
Murder during Freedom Summer
These three men, (from right), Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner were abducted and murdered in Mississippi in the summer of 1964 because of their involvment in activism related to Freedom Summer. National attention was directed to this spectacle, as an alarming indicator that the sacrifices of the movement weren't exclusively black. White segregationists in Mississippi sought to make an example of Goodman and Schwerner to frighten other whites involved in the struggle. It didn't work.
2 comments:
That's Interesting! It's kind of like the part in the story where Richard was afraid to say "thank you" to the white man for fear that the white man would think that Richard thought that he was receiving some personal service from the white man. It's like they can never assume that a white man will do something nice for a change. They have to always be on guard.
wow!!! That was amazing. I never thought that he meant I wanna walk in that way. I just thought that he wanted to go away form the situation he was in. Also I think that he was also striving to get up and strive with the pride he had left in him. I think that one should always stand up and walk because then a person can learn how to keep going in life when they are down. Wonderful quote.Q: How did you feel when you read this quote?
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