Free Response to Black Boy

Black Boy was the most interesting book we've read in American Lit. so far. Unlike all the other books we've read, this one is very hard to put down. The others were just very hard to pick up... Richard had dealt with/ experienced a lot of things when he was at an age that we consider now as a young age. Just in 9 years of this life he has became an alcholic and then quit, moved several times, lived in an orphanage and was abandon by his father. How can someone so young accept all these changes and not go insane? Maybe he was too young to understand why any these things happen. I've realized later in the story that even thought he might not understand why his father left, he understood that his family needs to him to provide food or he'll starve. One thing I don't understand is why does his mother beat him whenever he asks a question? He's young and he's suppose to be curious and nosey about all the things around him. Beating him like telling him he's not allowed to learn. If I could ever interview him, I would ask him if his mother's beating affected him at all. Because in the story, he was unhappy and in pain when his mother beat him, but he never seemed to resent her for it. It could be because he's so used to being beat that he just don't feel like it's anything different. Also, I thought it was really weird how he didn't know how to count at age 6. I can't remember when I wasn't able to count. Counting felt like something I was born able to do. It was weird when he couldn't stop counting or when he said he didn't know how to. I've never seen a child who couldn't count.... Overall, I can't wait to finish this book. His life is so interesting. Reading his biography is like walking in his shoes except I wouldn't feel the pain of the rocks that he steps on.