Big Boy Leaves Home by Richard Wright - Analysis

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Themes and recurring elements

·       Making fun of each other's mothers
·       Singing about food
·       Singing about freedom
·       Big boy is shrewd
·       Fighting techniques
·       Segregation
·       White prejudice against blacks
·       Whites have swimming pools and blacks don't
·       Children playing
·       Automatic suspicion of young black boys
·       Killing
·       Lynching
·       Mutual help within the black community
·       Corn pone


Style and Devices

·       Reported speech of blacks is phonetic
"Whut it say?"
"NO TRESPASSIN," read Lester.
"Know whut the mean?"
"Mean ain no dogs n niggers erllowed," said Buck.
"Waal, wes here now," said Big Boy. "Ef he ketched us even like this thered be trouble, so we just as waal go on in."

·       Trains recurring

·       Repetition
“Nobody but the good Lawd could hep now. They wuz crowdn all round im n when they hada big crowd theyd close in on im. Then itd be over . . . The good Lawd would have t hep im, cause nobody could hep im now, nobody”

·       Contrasting harmless songs blacks sing to mean evil songs whites sing


Keywords

·       swimming hole
·       swimming words
·       train
·       blood hound
·       lynching
·       snake
·       kiln


People and Places

·       Buck
·       Bobo
·       Lester
·       Big Boy
·       Swimming hole
·       Mississippi
·       Vicksburg
·       Harvey
·       Jim
·       Bertha
·       Saul
·       Lucy
·       Brother Sanders
·       Brother Jenkins
·       Elder Peters
·       Will
·       Chicago
·       Morrison
·       Bullard's Road

Richard Wright

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