Who is shorty in black boy

The elevator operator, Shorty, a light-skinned black man, comes to represent what Richard fears and dislikes most in the world.

Shorty lets himself be kicked and abused by the whites in the building; he makes a big joke of it in order to pick up an extra tip. He makes a farce out of the relationship between blacks and whites, reducing it to comic sadomasochism.

Richard feels nothing but contempt for Shorty, who is able to let these things happen only because he has given up hope for change or escape. His intelligence and literacy don't matter to him.

Although he hates white people, he will let them step all over him for the most trivial, monetary reward. Shorty is not the only one used by whites, however; Richard and another black boy, Harrison, who works for a rival optical house across the street, are soon used as pawns by whites. It is apparent that Richard resents this behavior, as it is not only allowing but encouraging the violence between whites and blacks for the gain of a petty profit. Wright includes this anecdote to show his resentment of how his community responds to discrimination.

Richard reflects on this occurrence: 'But under all our talk floated a latent sense of violence; the whites had drawn a line over which we dared not step and we accepted that line because our bread was at stake. But within our boundaries we, too, drew a line that included our right to bread regardless of the indignities or degradations involved in getting it…Hence, our lives were so bound up with trivial objectives that to capitulate when challenged was tantamount to surrendering the right to live itself '.

The books bring him an exciting new understanding of life, and he hungers to do some writing of his own. Richard cautiously hides his books from his coworkers, who notice that he has become distant and dreamy. Alan gets a job, and the family anxiously saves money for the trip to Chicago. Desiring to reach Chicago as quickly as possible, everyone decides that Richard and Maggie will go first and get a place for the four of them.

The other two will follow once they have enough money. Southern whites do not like it when black people move to the North because it implies that the blacks do not like the treatment they receive in the South. To minimize this friction, Richard waits until only two days before his departure to tell his boss that he is leaving.

Moreover, in order to minimize the appearance that he actively wants to leave the South, Richard says that he is leaving only to be near his mother. Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Our Teacher Edition on Black Boy can help. Themes All Themes. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel. Everything you need for every book you read.

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