Black Boy - What Three Characters Had the Biggest Affect on Richard's Life in the Book?

Many things, places, and people had an affect on Richard's life. Some where positive impacts, some were negative. Three were particularly important to Richard. These three are his Granny, his mother Ella, and his Aunt Addie. While his Granny and Aunt Addie were negative towards Richard, they still impacted his life greatly. His mother, Ella, was strict with Richard, but often positive towards him.

Richard's mother is the single biggest factor that shaped his life. She taught him what is ok, and what isn't. She was very strict with him, and often times, when he made a mistake, it ended with her punishing him. She often punished him by lashing him with a switch. For instance, when Richard was 4 he accidentally lit his house on fire. Ella punished him severely with a switch, even knocking him unconscious. Ella was also the one that ordered all the moves when Richard was younger, and moving constantly while you are young has a dramatic impact on your perception and personality. She was also one of the few people that motivated Richard. Like when they had moved in with his Granny and Aunt Addie, and he rebelled against the two. Richard's mother became happy that he defied them, even though she first sided with them. Another time when Ella motivated Richard was when she ordered him to go to the grocery store. After he got robbed and beat up, she told him to try it again. Eventually she told him not to come home until he got the groceries. This was a harsh way to motivate Richard, but it worked. He finally, with a stick Ella gave him, defended himself and got the groceries. From the strict punishments, the constant moving, to the harsh motivation Ella gave to Richard, she greatly impacted who he became. Without Ella Richard would have developed into a totally different person.

Another person that helped shape Richard was his Granny. She was against many of the things that Richard wanted or liked. And he was against many of her beliefs. Surprisingly, this helped Richard become fierce in what he wanted to do, and what he believed. Like when Richard wanted to work on Saturdays but his Granny would not allow it due to her beliefs. Richard kept arguing with her about it until she gave up, and Richard was able to work on Saturdays. Granny also tried constantly to turn Richard into a Christian, but all she really did was give him more reasons to dislike religion. His Granny was also much like his mother. If Richard did something wrong, she would result straight to the punishment stage, and she wouldn't explain what Richard did wrong. This made Richard think about his actions more, and wonder why he couldn't do anything the way people wanted. Granny was yet another strict influence on Richard's childhood.

One last influence on Richard's life was his Aunt Addie. She was very much like Granny, very strict and negative toward Richard. Although she didn't have the superiority over Richard, he wouldn't allow it. This made her also turn negative toward Richard. The tension only grew as Richard declined religion, as his Aunt Addie was a school teacher at a Christian school. She would often times try to demonstrate superiority over Richard, by trying to get him in trouble and beat him. Although Richard would not let himself go down to that level, and he defended himself. This is where Richard picked up his self pride. There were certain limits that Richard would not go to; he didn't like acting lowly around other people, even if they did have superiority over him. This was also shown when Richard was at his optical job in Memphis. When he watched Shorty let the white guy kick him in the butt for a quarter, Richard didn't understand. He asked Shorty why he would do that for a quarter, as that was a low Richard was not willing to go to. Another example is like when Aunt Addie got mad at Richard in school when she thought he was eating in the class. Richard let himself be beat in class, but at home he defended himself. Although on this particular occasion, Richard was innocent. So as you can see, Aunt Addie helped strengthen Richard's self defense and pride.

There were many other people and things that influenced Richard's life. But the impacts that his mother, Granny, and Aunt Addie had on him were like the roots of a tree. These three people helped Richard stand on his own, and grow his own branches of personality through experiences in the world.