Big Boy Leaves Home by Richard Wright - Summary

I

Four black boys, Buck, Bobo, Lester and Big Boy are walking in the woods making up dirty songs. They lie down and bask in the warm sun. They hear a train and sing a song about it. Someone farts and they tease each other. They want to go swimming in the creek but Big Boy warns that they could get lynched. They want to go anyway so Big Boy distracts them by jumping on them and telling them he is hungry. They sing a song about food. To retaliate, the three boys maul Big Boy. He catches Bobo hard, and tells the other boys to let go of him or Bobo suffers. They back off to save Bobo. They keep walking. Big Boy explains the technique behind his defense: pick on one member of a gang to make the others let off.

II

The boys arrive at the swimming hole. Everyone but Big Boy is reluctant to go in. Big Boy reasons that they would be in as much trouble swimming as they are near the water, so they might as well go in. Big boy dares them to go in. He begins stripping and the boys follow suit (heh) until they are naked. Bobo wants to back out, citing the water's coldness as his reason. Big Boy tries to wrestle him into the water and Lester and Buck push the two fighting boys into the water. The latter two boys are hesitant for fear of being caught. However they are soon convinced and slowly edge into the water. They soon begin a water fight.

They talk about how whites have swimming pools and blacks don't. They pretend to be hippos, then grow tired and sit on the bank. They are very cold and begin to dry off. They discuss what they would do if Harvey, the pool owner, caught them. They hear another train and note that it is "number seven, headin fer up Noth". They say they will go North, where blacks have equal rights, one day.

As they relax, they see a white woman. They are still naked, and debate getting their clothes. They hesitate for fear that there is a man with the woman. They see that she is scared. Big Boy makes a step and she immediately calls for Jim. The other boys urge him back, but he goes to the pile of clothes which is three feet from the woman. The woman becomes frightened, yelling at Big Boy to go away and calling for Jim.

Suddenly there is a crack- Lester has been shot. A moment later, Buck too is shot. Big Boy and Bobo desperately try to point the gun, still in Jim's grasp, away from their selves. Jim is in military uniform. Big Boy manages to get the gun. Jim demands that he give him it. Jim lunges for the gun and as he does so Big Boy fires the gun, shooting Jim. He is dead. They dress and then run, leaving their friends' clothes behind. Bobo cries, frightened. Big Boy drags him along.

III

They stop running at the edge of the woods. Bobo fears they will be lynched. They see a horse-drawn wagon driven by a white man, and hide. They travel through cornfields. Big Boy pauses, and separates from Bobo. He says he is going home and for Bobo to do the same, and maybe his parents will help him run away. Bobo begs to go with Big Boy but Big Boy refuses. Bobo was back in the woods, running.

Big Boy arrives at his own home. He bursts into tears and tells his mother, hardly coherently, what has happened. He is frightened and panicked. His mother calls the entire family into the kitchen. They are all panicked at the thought that Big Boy has gotten into trouble with white people. He tells his father exactly what transpired, and that nobody saw him and Bobo.

His father Saul sends his mother to call some members of the community over. Saul berates Big Boy severely for going to the woods instead of to school in the morning. He asks Big Boy if the children touched the woman. Big Boy answers no. He asks more questions about the occurences and Big Boy tells him. Several times, his mother repeats: " Nobody but the good Lawd kin hep us now".

The members of the community begin arriving. Big Boy expresses his terror of being lynched/killed to Brother Sanders. Big Boy wants to catch a freight train, but Jenkins says they are under close watch. His father asks the others if they can give him money, but they cannot. They wonder how to help Big Boy. Elder Peter arrives and tells that the man Big Boy killed is Harvey's son, who is on leave from the military, and the woman is the son's wife. Peter advises to get Big Boy out of there immediately or he will be lynched. Sanders suggests that Big Boy go with his son Will who is driving a truck to Chicago at six the following morning. Big Boy suggests that until then, he hide near a place where Will will pass in the morning, where he and his friends build some "kilns" big enough to hide him. The family agrees to this plan. His family gets him shoes and a hat and food and his mother urges him to pray. Big Boy takes off, shouting for his family to inform Bobo of the plan.

IV

Big Boy runs toward the kilns, the railroad tracks guiding him. Suddenly it occurs to him that they may have put blood-hounds on his trail and is filled with fear. He arrives at the kilns. He chooses the biggest, one he and his friends recently dug, and a snake comes out of it. With fury and determination he kills the snake, checks for others and goes in.

He hears train number nine whistling in the distance. He remembers how they built the kilns, and built fires in them, pretending they were driving trains. He remembers times with his friends, and worries that God would punish him for bad acts he's committed. He mourns his friends' death. He waits for Bobo to come. He regrets not having gone to school. He thinks back on the day and thinks of the things he'd have done differently. He chokes imaginary mob members who come to get him.

Big Boy hears two people looking for him and talking about him outside. They say they went to his house and couldn't find him, and then set his house on fire.

He hears more feet outside. It is more white people looking for him, and they have tar and feathers and gasoline. He hears a dog. The dog finds the snake he killed. He hears many more dogs. He peeps out and sees many men and women outside, come to witness the spectacle. They yell that they've found "him", which must be Bobo. They enjoy his capture immensely. He peeks and sees a black figure amongst the whites. They light a fire. He sees a barrel of tar, smells tar. He recognizes Bobo. Someone has taken his ear as "a souvenir". More white men come. They bind the struggling Bobo. They pour tar on him. He sees him in the flames, and hears him scream, until he stops and his body turns small and black. Big Boy is numb. It starts to rain.

A dog begins barking at the mouth of the hole. He chokes it. Everyone leaves and the rain stops.

V

He wakes up to sunlight, stiff. He sees Will's truck stalling. Will helps him into the truck, and asks about Bobo. Big Boy tells him. At a filling station Will brings him some water. The truck heads North.

Richard Wright