PSYCHOPATHIC PERSONALITY
AS SEEN IN THE MAIN CHARACTER OF
RICHARD WRIGHT’S
BLACK BOY: A RECORD OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
In English Letters
By
FREDY WIJAYA
Student Number: 014214060
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMEE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
Gotta find a way
yeah I cant wait another day
aint nothing gonna change
if we stay around here
gotta do what it takes
cause it’s all in our hands
we all make mistakes
yeah but it’s never too late to start again
take another breath and say another prayer
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I thank Jesus Christ for giving me the chance to finish my thesis and the chance to step up into a new harder life after college.
And for my parents, my father who always pushes me to finish my school so I can do something more real outside campuss, my mother who always tells me to stand on my own feet. For my brother who always makes a party to welcome me, my sisters who always wait for my present so I can buy them some pizza.
My much appreciation is dedicated to my advisor Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M.A for being so understanding. I will not finish this thesis without her help. And also for Miss Eliza Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum and Mr. G. Fajar Sasmita Aji, S.S., M.Hum.
For my academic advisor Miss Maria Ananta T.S, S.S. and Miss Dewi Widyastuti. S.Pd., M.Hum, I thank them in their guidance for me to take a necessary credit so I can finish my study in a right moment.
The following gratitude I refer to all my friends in English Letters 2001; Kardiman, Kukon, Nyoto, Bola, Sigit, Nova, Bima, Fembri, Tito, Bertus, Sandi, Wulan, Amanda, Prima, Meti, Dian Keriting, Dian Bangka, Sinda, Ian, Monda, Wisnu, Fara, Endra, Aryo, Erna, Petrus, Ikhsan, Gery, Deni and all of the class of 2001.
The last, I’m very thankfull to God for giving me such a amazing patner of life, who always there for me in my heaviest time, who always loves me with all her heart, who lifting me up when I was in lower place, and never gets angry when I was not there when she needed me. My beloved ima chrysanthemum.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW……… 7
A. Review of Related Studies………. 7
B. Review of Related Theories……… 10
1. Theory of Setting……… 10
2. Theory of Character………... 13
3. Theory of Personality Disorder……….. 13
- Psychopathic Personality……… 16
4. The Relation between Psychology and Literature……….. 18
C. Theoretical Framework………. 19
B. Wright’s feeling about the gap between the whites and blacks that he experienced in his society……… ………… 32
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION……… 47
BIBLIOGRAPHY……… 50
ABSTRACT
FREDY WIJAYA. Psychopathic Personality as Seen in the Main Character of Richard Wright’s Black Boy; A Record of Childhood and Youth. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2007.
Richard Wright’s Black Boy; A Record of Childhood and Youth tells about a black child who tries to change the habit of the black people who always take themselves as a white man’s slave. During his life, he sometimes deviates with his race himself, just because he does not want to act like the others who always bow to every white people. That’s why he hates his environment very much. Therefore, the writer categorizes him as an antisocial person or in psychological term known as Psychopathic Personality.
The research focuses on main character’s personality in Richard Wright’s Black Boy whose name is also Richard Wright. There are three questions related to the topic. The first question is about the setting of the story. The second question is about how Richard Wright feels about the gap between the black and the whites that he faced in his society, the last question is questioning Richard Wright’s personality that turns to Psychopathic because of the gap, about what are the causes and where he gets it.
This research uses the library research method as the primary source and internet research as the secondary source. The theories and the cricism related to the subject are used as the main basic of the analysis. To analyze the problem, the writer would use psychological approach. The reason of the writer chooses this approach because the study dealing with the development of one’s personality, so it is necessary to deal with psychological aspect.
ABSTRAK
FREDY WIJAYA. Psychopathic Personality as Seen in the Main Character of Richard Wright’s Black Boy; A Record of Childhood and Youth. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2007.
Novel yang berjudul Black Boy; A Record of Childhood and Youth karangan dari Richard Wright bercerita tentang seorang anak kulit hitam yang mencoba merubah kebiasaan dari orang-orang hitam yang selalu menganggap diri mereka adalah budak dari orang-orang kulit putih. Selama hidupnya, dia kadang-kadang berselisih dengan kaumnya sendiri hanya karena tidak mau menunduk kepada setiap orang kulit putih. Karena kebiasaan-kebiasaan itu, anak tersebut sangat membenci lingkungannya sendiri. Oleh karena itu, penulis mengkategorikannya dalam kelompok antisosial atau dalam istilah psikologi sering disebut dengan Psychopathic Personality
Penelitian ini berfokus pada kepribadian karakter utama dalam novel Richard Wright, Black Boy, yang juga bernama Richard Wright. Terdapat tiga pertanyaan yang berhubungan dengan topik. Pertanyaan pertama adalah tentang seting cerita dan hubungannya terhadap kepribadian Richard Wright. Pertanyaan kedua tentang perasaan Richard Wright terhadap kesenjangan antara kaum kulit hitam dan kaum kulit putih yang dihadapi di dalam masyarakatnya. Pertanyaan terakhir mempertanyakan tentang kepribadian Richard Wright yang berubah menjadi Psychopathic akibat dari kesenjangan tersebut, tentang apa saja penyebabnya dan darimana dia mendapatkannya..
Penelitian ini menggunakan metode studi pustaka sebagai sumber utama dan studi internet sebagai sumber kedua. Teori-teori dan kritik yang berhubungan dengan subyek menjadi dasar terpenting dalam analisa. Untuk menganalisa perumusan masalah, penulis menggunakan pendekatan psikologi. Alasannya karena masalah yang berkaitan berhubungan dengan kepribadian seseorang, jadi sangatlah berguna bila berhubungan dengan aspek psikologi.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
In our daily life, we often hear or read from mass media, such as television, radio and the press about the statement “all men are created equal”. This statement has a relationship with the right of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for every man. Then, a question appears in the writer’s mind, “what about the black people in America?” Are they sharing the same equality? Are they having the same prosperity like the whites have? Later on, the question would deal with more serious problem concerning the status of the black people within the America society.
According to Logan, the black people have more difficulties to overcome than other minorities in America. If we look back to the time of blacks’ enslavement, we can imagine how hard their lives were. They faced the condition that seemed limiting their existence as a part of American citizen. Over the years, the blacks are objects of prejudice and dicrimination because of the color of their skin. The whites always treat them as the inferior and do not respect their right of living (1957:3).
entittled The Structure of Freedom says that freedom means expression of individuality or self expression. He also states that a person is free to the extent that he has the capacity, the opportunity, and the incentive to give expression to what is in him and to develop his potentialities (Bay. 1970:15).
The writer chooses Richard Wright’s Black Boy; A Record of Childhood and Youth because he is considered as one of the most powerful writers of the twentieth
century. Richard Nathaniel Wright captured the American people with his vivid portrayals of the plight of black Americans in the modern world. Drawing largely from his own experiences, Wright "was perhaps the very first writer to give the white community explanations and themes that cut through its prejudices and forced it to look at the reality of black life in America," according to biographer Robert Felgar.
Black Boy was named among the top 25 non-fiction works on the century, Richard Wright’s Black Boy has made a strong impact on American Literature with its strong commentary on the cultural, political, racial, religious and social issues of 20th century American society. It is often describe as a superb example of subtlety – crafted narrative describing Wright’s journey into adulthood. Many critics question whether the book should be considered pure autobiography or fiction, particularly because doubt the accuracy of Wright’s recollection as well as because of its novelistic style. But, it is agreed that the book monumentalizes an important piece of American, as well as African American culture.
(http://www.classicnote.com/author/richardwright/criticism/blackboy.html)
argued that the purpose of this book "was to plant seeds of hate and devilment in the minds of every American." From 1975 to 1978, Black Boy was banned in schools throughout the United States for "obscenity" and "instigating hatred between the races."
(http://www.amazon.com/Black-Boy-American-Hunger-Childhood/dp/0060812508)
Connected to the novel that the writer chose, Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth, the writer tries to show that a black man or any other man in
general can not be restricted in any field of life. A man has the right to choose every thing that is useful for him. Because of the limitation that is given to them, makes them feel that they have to struggle in order to get what thay deserved.
supplementary descriptions are provided with each of the subtypes“. (http://www.mentalhealth.com/icd/p22-pe04.html)
The writer choses the topic in order to attract the readers to read both the novel and the thesis more and to get some information that can be useful for them about personality disorder like what Richard Wright experienced in his childhood. Richard Wright does not realize the condition he experienced. He thinks this normally happenned because the situation he faced. He often got bad treatment from the whites. This condition shapes his personality without knowing the causes. Personality disorders are characterized by enduring maladaptive patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior that lead to chronic disturbances in interpersonal and occupational functioning. For example, a person with narcissistic personality disorder has severe trouble in relationships because of a tendency to use people, to devalue or totally dismiss them when they "get in the way," to be hyper sensitive to criticism, to feel entitled to special privileges, and to become regale. Individuals with this disorder show little empathy for other people. One patient who was asked about the feelings of a woman he had just rejected callously remarked, "What do I care? What can she do for me anymore? Hey, that's the breaks -, the game-sometimes you dump, sometimes you get dumped. Nobody would cry if this had happened to me." (http://www.mentalhealth.com/icd/p22-pe04.html)
B. Problem Formulation
1. How is the setting in the story described?
2. Based on the setting, how does Wright feel about the gap between the whites and blacks that he experienced in his society?
3. How can the gaps turning Richard Wright’s personality into a psychopathic personality?
C. Objective of the Study
The objective of this study is, firstly to discuss the description of setting in the novel. The setting wil divide into social aspect and physicalaspect. The social aspect will describe the social gap and social injustice in the main character’s environment. The physical aspect will explore the condition of life of the main character.
Secondly, to find out about Wright’s feeling to the gap between the whites and the blacks, the writer explain about the boundary bertween the whites and the blacks in Wright’s society and then tell us about Wright’s feeling toward it.
Next, to identify about the ‘psychopathic personality’ which Richard Wright experienced in his childhood and youth, the writer will give an explanation about psychopathic personality and connect it with the main character’s attitudes in the book. And also explain the causes and characteristic of psyshopathic personality that the main character experienced.
D. Definition of Terms
remains attached to anyone or anything. A psychopath needs relationships, but sees people as obstacles to overcome and be eliminated. If not, he sees people in terms of how they can be used. They use people for stimulation, to build their self-esteem and they invariably value people in terms of their material value (money, property, etc..).
A psychopath can have high verbal intelligence but typically lack "emotional intelligence". He can be expert in manipulating others by playing to their emotions. There is a shallow quality to the emotional aspect of their stories (i.e., how they felt, why they felt that way, or how others may have felt and why). The lack of emotional intelligence is the first good sign you may be dealing with a psychopath. (http://www.oregoncounseling.org/Handouts/PsychopathicPersonality.htm)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
When Black Boy exploded onto the literary scene in 1945, it caused a sensation. Orville Prescott of the New York Times wrote that "if enough such books are written, if enough millions of people read them maybe, someday, in the fullness of time, there will be a greater understanding and a more true democracy. (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Boy-American-Hunger-Childhood/dp/0060812508).
Some critics have criticized Richard Wright’s Autobiography, ‘the autobiography uses techniques so well usually reserved for fiction that many experts question if these events are nonfiction. When read as such, however, Black Boy sparks many emotions that are sometimes lost in today’s society, where racism is perhaps not as overt as it used to be’. (http://www.teenink.com/blackboy.html)
Elizabeth Schultz in her critical essay entitled To Be Black and Blue: The Blues Genres in Black American Autobiography, explained that Richard Wright’s
Black Boy is the history of imagination compare to Henry James’ description on his
seeking for the organizing principle in the phenomena world. Which would give him the means for understanding and controlling it. His interpretations are inevitably emotional in terms of his delight, nostalgia, melancholy, disdain, alarm, and glory, panic (1981: 118-119). This criticism tells about the fiction aspect of Richard Wright’s Black Boy as an autobiography novel compare to Henry James’ interpretation on his own autobiography. The criticism shows Richard Wright’s Black Boy can be categorized as fiction.
Then the other criticism as quoted from the internet also gave explanation about the subjectivity and high selective of the book Black Boy, which makes it, can be categorized as fiction work. At the time Wright wrote Black Boy, he was already an accomplished author of fiction. He had published a collection of short stories called Uncle Tom’s Children and the highly successful novel Native Son. Wright chose carefully the experiences he includes in Black Boy, the ones he highlights, and the tone in which he writes about them. Many readers even think that he invents some of the incidents. Most agree, however, that Wright crafts his autobiography for the precise impact he wants.
(http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/blackboy2)
Taryl Savage from Herndon, VA in her essays gives comment that the book Black Boy gave a natural description of African American person who try to fit into
young black boy has to go through in order to be accepted in this society. Giving real life situations this book is filling everybody that reads it in on the life and times of a normal African American human. Situations were very hected during the time that Richard Wright was growing up and he knew being a black child was a top reason that he would never make it through. Strength comes from within the mind and soul and there were a lot of examples showing how strong he was. No matter what stood in his way, he never gave up. There was plenty of negativity, stereotyping, and hatred against blacks and most of that still exists to day believe it or not. Black Boy captured the attention of many individuals and gave a sense of what it was like to get anywhere in the world today as a young afro-American. Just telling of all the events that he went through shows how much one can do with very little opportunities. Overall, Black Boy is a very powerful book and should be read by teenagers all across the
country. (http://www.amazon.com/criticism/blackboy.html)
B. Review of Related Theories
Literary theory is used as the basic for the analysis in the thesis. Furthermore, it is used to support the analysis in answering the problem formulation. In this analysis, the writer uses four theories of literature to support and to give basis for the analysis, that are the theory of setting, theory of character, theory of personality disorder and the relationship between literature and psychology. They are listed as follows.
1. Theory of Setting
To understand Richard Wright’s character is to understand Richard Wright’s attitude toward the society in which he lived. Therefore, the setting of the story will be considered as the main consideration to examine Black Boy: A Record Of Childhood and Youth. Like most other autobiographical novel, the main thing that we
have to see very carefully is the aspect of setting and its relationship to character. The fact is the setting can influence the main character’s personality or his behavior and it also can contribute to the conflict of the story. Therefore, the setting is dynamic because it ‘may thrust itself dynamically into the action, affecting events and being in turn affected by them, and together with these event; setting seems to assume the role of the major character’ (Kenney, 1966:40)
In addition, Holman and Harmon report that there are some elements of which the setting is composed:
a. The actual geographical location, its topography, scenery and such physical arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room.
c. The time or period in which the action takes place, for example, epoch in history or season in the year.
d. The general environment of the characters, for example, religious, mental, moral, social and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative moved (1986:468).
There is a close relationship between the setting and the central idea of the story. The setting of the story is also important in affecting action and character as Murphy says that setting of the novel has a great effect upon the personalities, actions and way of thinking of the characters (1972:41).
2. Theory of Character
In literary work, character is one of the intrinsic elements of a literary work
such as a novel. He or she is the person in the novel that presents human personality. The author of the novel describes him or her in the experience of a number of
situation, relationship and contest. In these contexts, he or she makes sense for the readers. These contexts may be called intrinsic knowledge for them (Harvey, 1965: 31). Therefore, they can obtain knowledge from her or him.
The characters in the literary work are divided into two parts. The first is the major characters or the main characters. The second part is the minor characters or the secondary characters. Roger B.Henkle in his book Reading the Novel explains that major characters are the most important and the complex characters in the novel. They can be identified from their characterizations, the attentions of the author and the readers, the attitudes of other characters to them and the transmitting process of their characters intensity (1977: 97). The major characters also build opinion that can establish the readers’ virtues. While the secondary are “the characters in which their performances are limited’ (1977: 97). They may be less sophisticated. Therefore, their responses to the experiences in the story are also less complex.
In addition, a character according to the writer understanding is not only type of a person but also more about the personality of the person. The writer sees the character as the individual himself, who has such quality inside him/her. In seeing this, the writer must see him/her deeply into his/her heart. Moreover this can be explored by knowing him in person in which in analyzing literary works it cannot be a face-to-face relation but a kind of observation on him. Continuously we know his personality by analyzing what kind of person he/she is, how he/she thinks, speaks, and behaves. It is the way he/she is looked by others.
3. Theory of Personality Disorder
According to the book of Diagnostic and Statitistical Manual of Mental Disorder page 65, a personality disorder is an enduring pattern of inner experience
and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time and leads to distress or impaiment. The Personality Disorder included: a. Paranoid Personality Disorder is a pattern of distrust and suspiciousness such
that others’ motives are interpreted as malevolent.
b. Schizoid Personality Disorder is a pattern of detachment from social relationship and a restricted range of emotional expression.
c. Schizotypal Personality Disorder is pattern of acute discomfort in close relationships, cognitive or perceptual distortions, and eccentricities of behavior. d. Antisocial Personality Disorder is a pattern of disregard for, and violation of,
Antisocial personality disorder, which has been known as psychopathic or
sociopathic personality disorder, is a pattern of deviant behavior that is serious both for the individual and society. The following characteristic define the antisocial personality disorder and typifi most of the people receiving the diagnostic label:
- Violate social conventions,
They chronically break the rules of the home, job, or school, and frequently break the law.
- Violent.
Aggressive behavior is common. They are easily provoked both to minor and criminal acts of violence and vandalism.
- Dishonest.
They lie and deceive frequently and easily. The lies are often skillful. - Irresponsible.
They are generally irresponsible in their behavior. They frequently default on obligation and debts and do not carry out family responsibilities.
- Absence of guilt.
They experince little or no quilt about their antisocial behavior. Indeed, they generally consider their behavior to be fully justified.
- Impulsive.
Individuals given the label of antisocial personality disorder do not appear to learn from punishment. Although they may be frequently caught and punished for they misbehavior, they do not appear to learn from mistaken.
- Stimulation seeking.
Individuals given this label appear to seek stimulation to a maladaptive extent. They appear to need thrills and excitement, move from one place to another. - Intelligent.
The antisocial personality is clasically considered to be unusually capable and intelligent.
- Underschieving.
Their level of school and job performance is generally lower than their ability would indicate. Most antisocial personalities are barely literate and employable, despite their relatively high potential.
- Socially deviant.
Although antisocial personalities are generally straight, but they always do something unusual (1980:318-319)
e. Borderline Personality Disorder is a pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity.
f. Histrionic Personality Disorder is a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking.
g. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy.
i. Dependent Personality Disorder is a pattern of submissive and clinging behavior related to an excessive need to be taken care of.
j. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder is a pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and control
Psychopathic Personality.
The term psychopathy refers the condition in which the main pathological manifestation is in the individual’s action and behavior, and is based on his inability to experience certain interpersonal, social and moral values. Dynamically and genetically, the types of origin discussed under conduct disorder in children and under delinquency in adolescent can be recognized:
1. The individual, through rejection and deprivation with the parents or substitutes; he lacks the fundamental qualities of closeness and internalized ideals.
2. The individual was first indulged and was therefore not confronted with the problem of having to develop inhibitions for the sake of acceptance; then ensued a period of excessive severity in handling, against which he rebelled, developing no adequate identification and restriction, and feeling he had been treated unfairly.
The diagnostic criteria for Psychopathic Personality (2000:706):
- Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.
- Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure.
- Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead.
- Irritability and aggresiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults.
- Reckless disregard for safety of self or others.
- Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations.
- Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated , or stolen from another.
(http://www.oregoncounseling.org/Handouts/PsychopathicPersonality.htm)
It is generally assumed that psychopathic behavior develops in early childhood. Often psychopaths come from families where all must look out for themselves. There are few if any consistent standards of moral conduct and little emotional warmth. Rules are arbitrary and often unjust. Physical punishment is common, and the child learns early that manipulating others pays off. Psychopaths often come from families in which the parents themselves have psychopathic tendencies. (http://www.mozsite.com/a/personality-disorder-range/)
4. The Relation between Psychology and Literature
According to Wellek and Warren, psychology and literature have a very close relation in which some of literary works talk about psychological cases. They say that people can learn theory of psychology that may be revealed in works of literature by analyzing the works. Furthermore, the important part is the application of the psychological laws within works of literature (1956: 81).
In some aspect, literature and psychology has a close relationship with each other, according to Rene Wellek and Austin Warren in their book Theory of Literature stated that literature must stand in recognizable relation in life such away
that is in case a selection from life. Literature is an expression of life, and this expression has the power to move the reader’s hearth, it can be happiness and sadness. In this case, a literary work must be creative and imaginative to bring the reader mind to understand what the author’s intention or purpose in his or her work. (1956: 212).
C. Theoretical Framework
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study in this thesis is a book entitled Black Boy which is written by Richard Wright based on his own life. Black Boy was named among the top non-fiction works of the century. Richard Wright’s Black Boy has made a strong impact on American literature with its strong commentary on the cultural, political, racial, religious, and social issues of 20th century American society. The setting of the story takes place in southern United States in the 20th century. The book consists of 228 pages and divided into 14 chapters. Each chapter is unnamed. Harper and Brothers Publishers published this book in 1937, 1942, 1944, and 1945 (the edition the writer used)
Black Boy is a classic of American autobiography, a subtly crafted narrative of
Richard Wright's journey from innocence to experience in the Jim Crow South. An enduring story of one young man's coming off age during a particular time and place, Black Boy remains a seminal text in American history about what it means to be a
man, black, and Southern in America. From the 1960s the work came to be understood as the story of Wright's coming of age and development as a writer whose race, though a primary component of his life, was but one of many that formed him as an artist.
(http://www.amazon.com/Black-Boy-American-Hunger-Childhood/dp/00608125080
voice about matters that still resonate at the center of our lives." --Alfred Kazin, New York Time Book Review
The book is talking about the life of the main character Richard Wright from his childhood until early youth in southern United States. Richard Wright life is his journey to reach his adult personality. Wright always moves from one place to another, he is stay with his strict religious Granny. Strict family condition and environment around him very influence him in his personality development. Everyday of his life is a struggle in order to be survived. The study is focus on the early childhood until early youth personality development of the main character who is Richard Wright himself and how his family and the environment around him influence his personality development.
B. Approach of the Study
To analyze the problem formulation in the previous part, the writer would use psychological approach. The reason of the writer chooses this approach because the study dealing with the development of one’s personality, so it is necessary to deal with psychological aspect. According to Lewis Leary in A Study and Research Guide “A psychological approach is an approach that applies principles
problem formulation. According to Guerin, psychological approach is an excellent tool for “reading beneath the lines”, (1999). This approach uses psychological theories to explain “human motivation, personality, and behavior pattern” written in a literary object (Rohrberger, 1971). Thus, the writer can apply certain psychological theories in analyzing the content of the story.
There are three major premises which has become the centrality of psychological criticism. That most of the individual is mental processes are unconscious is thus Freud’s first major premise. The second is that the prime psychic force motivates all human behavior ultimately: libido or sexual energy. His third major premise is that because of the powerful social taboos attached to certain sexual impulses, many of our desires and memorizes are repressed. (1998: 125)
Psychological approach is appropriate to analyze the topic because the writer analyzes character and psychological factors. Through this approach, the writer can notice that there is a relation between literature and psychology.
C. Method of the Study
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
As explained before in the first chapter, the aim of this thesis to is analyze about the main character’s personality disorder. In order to narrow the focus of the thesis, the writer has chosen several questions that the writer believes can reveal the main idea of the story. In this chapter four, the writer will try to analyze and try to answer the questions in problem formulation.
As formulated in the problem formulation, there are three questions that are needed to be answered. Therefore, this chapter will be divided into three main parts. The first main part will talk about the description of setting. The fact that setting can influence the main character’s personality or his behavior and it also can contribute to the conflict of the story (Kenney, 1966:40) makes the writer needs to describe in the first place. But the writer will also see it from the social setting and physical setting. The second main part will talk about the main character’s feeling toward the gap between the whites and the blacks. And the last main part will talk about the causes that make the main character becomes an anti social person or in psychological term known as psychopathic personality.
A. The setting of the story
In order to make a focused analysis on the main character, firstly the writer will see from the setting and its relation to the development of the character. The writer will divide again into social and physical aspect to get a deeper explanation about Richard Wright and his relation toward the society. The social aspect will describe the social gap and social injustice in the main character’s environment. The physical aspect will explore the environment of the main character.
1. The Social Aspect
The influence from the social aspect to the main character is important if we want to talk about the personality of Richard Wright. Langland in his book Society In The Novel, contributes several statement about the relationship between the society as
The writer finds that the social condition is the one that forces Richard Wright to be a straight, cynical and critical person in order to survive and be accepted in the society. Fighting is one of the causes that shape his personality. By fighting and conquering the children in Wright’s environment, the society can accept and know him personally. One of the examples is when little Wright has to fight to a bunch of local children who take the money his mother gave him to buy some food. At first little Wright does not have the courage to fight back, but when his mother said that he have to be a brave man, he comes back to those children and fight. In this kind of condition, Wright does not have the intentions to fight, but the condition he faced is force him to do it, his mother pushes him to be strong and the society will respect him because what he is doing.
“Please, let me wait untill tomorrow,” I begged.
“No,” she said. “Go now! If you come back into this house without those groceris, I’ll whip you!”
She slammed the door and I heard the key turn in the lock. I shook with fright. Iwas alone upon the dark, hostile streets and gangs were after me. I had the choice of being beaten at home or away from home. I clutched the stick, crying, trying to reason. If I were beaten at home, there was absolutely nothing that I could do about it; but if I were beaten in the streets, I had a chance to fight and defend myself. (p. 16)
I was drunkard in my sixth year, before I had begun school. With a gang of children, I roamed the streets, begging pennies from passers-by, haunting the doors of salons, wandering farther and farther away from home each day, I saw more than I could undestand and heard more than I could remember. The point of life became for me the times when I could beg drinks. My mother was in despair. She beat me, then she prayed and wept over me, imploring me to be good, telling me that she had to work, all of which carried no weight to my mayward mind. (p.19)
The writer sees Richard Wright as the victim because Wright is very eager to be accepted in the society. Wright wants to show who he is, what he can do. The writer thinks it happens because in his family, Wright never gets acknowledgment from his very closer persons, like her mother or even his little brother; they are ignoring each other and never care to each other. It affects to Wright’s mind and he begins to search for an attention from the people outside the house.
The next injustice situation that also shapes Wright’s personality is when his mother put him and his brother in an orphant house because his mother can not afford them anymore. To his mother, she has to do this because she does not want to see her children suffer because she does not have a job and money to buy her children’s needs. And because his father has already left him and now his mother, little Wright begins to distrust everyone, even his own family.
During the first days my mother came each night to visit me and my brother, then her visits stopped. I began to wonder if she, too, like my father, had disappeared into the unknown. I was rapidly learning to distrust everything and everybody. When my mother did come, I asked her why had she remained away so long and she told me that Miss Simon had forbidden her to visit us, that Miss Simon had said that she was spoiling us with too much attention. I begged my mother to take me away; she wept and told me to wait, that soon she would take us to Arkansas. She left and my heart sank. (p.26)
puts him in a unfair situation, could be the basic of his personality disorder that he experienced in the future and he does not even aware of it.
Wright’s family is very religious people, especially his grandmother. A morning and afternoon prayer has to be done by all member of the family. And this routine becomes a law in his grandmother’s house. Since his early childhood, little Wright always experienced suffering, he does not believe the goodness of fate. He does not believe goodness could come from something unseen; an energy that its certainty is doubtful. He disagrees with his grandmother about the point of religion.
…but full emotional and intellectual belief never came. Perhaps if I had caught my first sense of life from the church I would have been moved to complete acceptance, but the hyms and sermons of God came into my heart only long after my personality had been shaped and formed by uncharted condition of life. I felt that I had in me a sense of living as deep as that which the church was trying to give me, and in the end I remained basically unaffected. (p. 98)
Wright often gets punishment from his grandmother because his attitude. Since his grandmother is the oldest member of the church, she seems to force Richard to become a loyal and faithful to the church, no matter Wright likes it or not. However, little Wright has another opinion of God. He does not believe about the existence of God. He believes that even he puts his faith in God, things will never change. The suffering will always follow him even he believes that God exists.
Furthermore¸ Wright is more confused about the difference between the blacks and the whites when his mother gets stroke. It is because the hospital where they are taking his mother to get some treatment for her illness is not accepting a black patient; the hospital is only for white patient. Because of this, Wright feels disappointed. He thinks the difference between the both races will give an understanding for the sick people. Wright thinks that everybody should help others when they need it. But the fact is, a black will always be a trash in the eye of the whites. For Wright, the rejection to his mother represents all the rejection to the blacks.
2. The Physical Aspect
The physical aspect re focused in the environment the character lives in. Holman and Harmon state that there are some elements of which the setting is composed:
a. The actual geographical location, its topography, scenery and such physical arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room.
b. The occupations and daily manner of living the characters.
c. The time or period in which the action takes place, for example, epoch in history or season in the year.
d. The general environment of the characters, for example, religious, mental, moral, social and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative moved (1986:468).
In physical aspect, the personality of Richard Wright is also changing because of the condition of his environment. The situation is like what little Wright experienced in his early childhood. After moves on from his Granny’s house, his whole families stay in Memphis. Little Wright lives in a very slummy area with four members of his family and has to share a little space of room. It is so different when he used to live in his Granny’s house. His house now is very small and does not have enough space to play and run inside the house. This condition makes little Wright stress and changes his play ground to the street.
After his father left his family, his mother takes him to West Helena. Again, little Wright has to face the ugliness of life by living in a very uneducated, intimidated place. His rented place now is worse than before. More the negativity of life is given in front of his face.
We rented one half of a double corner house in front of which ran stagnant ditch carrying sewage. The neighborhood swarmed with rats, cats, dogs, fortunetellers, cripples, blind men, whores, salesmen, rent collectors, and children. In front on our flat was a huge roundhouse where locomotives were cleaned and repaired. There was an eternal hissing of steam, the deep grunting of steel engines, and the tolling of bells. Smoke obscured the vision and cinders drifted into the house, into our beds, into our kitchen, into our food; and a tarlike smell was always in the air. (p. 52)
This condition of this kind of environment as we all know is not healthy for the development of children’s mind, any child. The ugliness will be stored in his memory and will be practiced in the future time. But this is the condition that little Wright has to be faced everyday. And off course, it affects Wright’s personality. Later on, when he wants to do something bad, his conscious will justify it even the society deny it.
B. Wright’s feeling about the gap between the whites and blacks that he
experienced in his society.
According to Murphy, there is a close relationship between the setting and the central idea of the story. The setting of the story is important in affecting action and character, that the setting of the novel has a great effect upon the personalities, actions and way of thinking of the characters (1972:41). And also according to Roger B.Henkle in his book Reading the Novel explains that the major characters also build opinion that can establish the readers’ virtues (1977: 97).
…it was in the manner that I first stumbled upon the relations between whites and black, and what I learned frightened me. Though I had long known that there were people called ‘white’ people, it had never meant anything to me emotionally. I had seen white men and women upon the streets a thousand times, but they had never looked particularly ‘white’. (p. 20)
In little Wright’s understanding, he just feels no difference between the whites and the blacks. He is even amazed when he heard his mother talking about the brutality from the white people. According to his mother, he must keep a distance to the white people. So, it seems, even he wants to be closer with the whites, the relatives does not allow him to do it. It has been told that he must give a step away from the whites. Another example is when he sold his dog because there was no money to buy some food to a white family, named Betsy, soon he cancelled his intention to sell it because he recalled when a party of white men kill his uncle. And in his mind, he tells his feeling toward the house which the white have.
… I had no desire to live here. Then I remembered that these houses were the homes in which lived those white people who made Negroes leave their homes and flee into the night. I grew tense. Would someone say that I was a bad nigger and try to kill me here? What was keeping the woman so long? Would she tell other people that a nigger boy had said something wrong to her? Perhaps she was getting a mob? Maybe I ought to leave now and forget about Betsy? My mounting anxieties drowned out my hunger. I wanted to rush back to the safety of the black faces I knew. (p. 61)
The soliloquy above tells us Wright’s feeling toward the white people even he just heard issues about them, but it still annoys him as a little boy who have an extra imagination. However, although he wants to believe that the gap between the whites and the blacks can be straight up, finally he accepted that the condition will never be as he wanted to be.
environment in which I lived: and my reactions to this hostility fed upon itself, grew or diminished according to the news that reached me about the whites, according to what I aspired or hoped for. Tension would set in at the mere mention of whites and a vast complex of emotions, involving the whole of my personality, would be aroused. It was as though I was continuously reacting to the threat of some natural force whose hostile behavior could not be predicted. I had never in my life been abused by whites, but I had already become as conditioned to their existence as though I had been the victim of a thousand lynchings. (p. 39)
From his childhood, Wright does not know why there is a gap between the whites and the blacks. It is shown in his first trip to Arkansas when he sees the limitation line between the two groups. In that place, the blacks are separated from the whites and do not fit to each other.
At last we were at the railroad station with our bags, waiting for the train that would take us to Arkansas; and for the first time I noticed that there were two lines of people at the ticket window, a ‘white; line and a ‘black’ line. During my visit to at Granny’s a sense of the two races had been born in me with a sharp concreteness that would never die untill I died. When I boarded the train, I was aware that we Negroes were in one part of the train and that the whites were in another.(p.41)
Wright as a child thinks that this condition is a kind of weird one; why the two races should be in a different part of the train. It is make him curious and wants to find out why this is happen in his society Wright is confused about it because his grand mother is a white woman, who married with a black man. Wright is confused because if his grandparents are united as one family, why they can not do it like his grandparents do. Since his mind is still narrow to those facts of life, he is wondering about it all the time and asking everybody, especially his mom, about the boundaries between the blacks and the whites.
“Why are they taking mama that way?” I asked Uncle Edward.
“There are no hospital facilities for colored, and this is the way we have to do it,” he said.
I watched the men take the stretcher down the steps, then I stood on the sidewalk and watced them lift my mother into the ambulance and drive away. I knew that my mother had gone out of life, I could feel it. (p.86)
This condition makes Richard more confused why they (the blacks) have to be rejected in the society. It is true that his mother do not have money to pay for the charges. But, Wright feels that almost all of the blacks are poor. If this is all about money, then every black man does not have the right to get some treatment from the hospital like his mother does. So, Wright thinks, what about if a black man is a wealthy person, can they have a same level with the whites or maybe it is just the same threatment like his mother gets. This kind of question is always rounding in Wright’s head. Later, Wright will realize that no matter a black with all his efforts tries to change the world; it will be faded along with the time.
In the time when Wright gets a job to a white people, he is always suspicioused by the whites. The whites always think that every black child in the neighborhood is a thief and potentially becoming a criminal. Because of this, Wright is always questioning himself is it right or wrong to do to be among the whites; the group who always underestimate his race, the group who always consider the blacks as inferior, as a slave and worse; as a thing, a thing that can be disposable after the benefit of it has taken. But in order to survive in his world, eventhough his heart does not let him standing among the whites, he is still taking the job anyway.
maybe I’m just thinking up trouble, I told myself. They might like me…(p. 128)
One of Richard Wright’s will is to become a writer, but is seems in Wright world, a black man can not do anything except as a slave. The whites think that the blacks do not have enough qualification to do anything that considered a good thing in the eyes of society (like in Wright’s case is to become a writer). Wright thinks that when a black man has a will, the whites do not have the right to determine is it fine to go through or not, it is definatelly not their (the whites) call to do it, this is why the conflict between the blacks and the whites is always move on and never gets the point of settle down. Wright thinks that the whites take themselves as the ruler of every black man around them. And of course if this stays forever, the conflict bertween the two sides is also remain forever.
“You’ll never be writer,” she said. “Who on earth put such ideas into your nigger head?”
“Nobody,” I said.
“I didn’t think anybody ever would,” she declared indignantly.
As I walked around her house to the streets, I knew that I would not go back. The woman had assault my ego; she had assumed that she knew my place in life, what I felt, what I ought to be, and I resented in with all my heart. Perhaps she was right; perhaps I would never be a writer; but I did not want her to say so. (p. 129)
Whenever I thought of the essential bleakness of black life in America, I knew that Negroes had never been allowed to catch the full spirit of Western civilization, that they lived somehow in it but not of it. And when I brooded upon the cultural barrenness of black life, I wondered if clean, positive tenderness, love, honor, loyalty, and the capacity to remember were native with man. I asked myself if these human qualities were not fostered, won, struggled and suffered for, preserved in ritual from one generation to another. (p. 33)
In the book Psychology and its Allied Disciplines vol. 1 edited by Bornstein, stated that literature is best at describing the human condition in a dramatic form, while psychology has the strenght to investigating human character or behaviour in systematic ways (1984:144). Both literature and psychology have one common purpose that is to describe human conditions. Literature tries to depict human condition into drama while psychology studies human characteristic systematically and scientifically.
C. The gaps that turning Richard Wright’ personality into a psychopathic
personality.
A lot of bad situations come to Wright almost his entire life. From his childhood until he becomes an adult person. Those situations make him difficult to trust people and always stand by his own feet. Because of that, the writer categorizes Wright in a ‘Psychopatic Personality’. This symptom happens to Wright because he can not accept the treatment from the whites to the blacks; he thinks the superior and inferior relation should be based on the quality of men instead of skin color. That is why he never takes the white as his superior although the result from it is the oppression from the whites.
for stimulation, to build their self-esteem and they invariably value people in terms of their material value (money, property, etc..).
(http://www.oregoncounseling.org/Handouts/PsychopathicPersonality.htm)
Futhermore, the writer will try to show the part when Richard Wright starts becoming an anti social person. It shows when people around him always asking about why he does not belive about religion, about the existence of God. He simply anwer it by saying, he will believe in God if he sees one of His angels.
“I told her that if I ever saw an angel, then I wound believe,”I said, feeling foolish, ashamed, hating and pitying my believing granny. (p. 103)
It seems if we just read straightly, Richard Wright is a very logical person by showing that he needs proof about one’s statement. But the writer thinks that it is himself who wants to be alone in his lonely life. He does not want any body get involved about his own life; he wants to set up his life just by his rules, not anyone’s rules. He wants to live in his own standard. Later on, this starting point has a big effect toward his personality’s development.
One condition that also shapes Wright personality is when his mother paralized and no help he could get from his relatives or any other man. The rejection from the whites makes him so angry. In his children mind, Wright thinks that the whites should compromize to the sick people even the patient is a black man/woman. On the contrary, the whites in Wright’s society will always consider the blacks as the inferior; the people who do not have the right to life side by side with them. This condition makes Richard more frustrated over the situation he is facing.
other, made me gravitate toward those whose feelings were like my own, made sit for hours while others told me of their lives, made me strangely tender and cruel, violent and peaceful. (p. 88)
The writer thinks that this kind of feeling is one of the causes why Richard Wright becomes an anti social person. The feeling of rejection, the feeling of losing hope, especially when we see someone we love suffers from illness and there is no help we can get. And worse, we get rejected because we are considered not equal. Sometimes if we look it deeply into our heart, we do not realize if we are turning into somekind of monster because we have so many anger that we can not release until a situation comes and automatically pull the trigger. This is what might happen to Richard Wright. He is so desperate seeing his mother so sick and gets rejected because she is a black woman. So, he turns his feeling when he used to suppose that sometime the gap between the blacks and the whites will be disappeared and the both sides will be lived side by side into anger, a feeling that every black man has, a feeling that consider a white man as an enemy.
Everybody needs a relation in their lives so they can share what they are thinking about. But in Wright’s condition, he is not letting his mind to be noticed by anyone. Also, Wright does not want everybody to know his feeling so he still talks and laughs with them although he feels nauseous with it.
mine, this apartness, this eternal difference; and I did not suspect that I would never get intimately into their lives, that I was doomed to live with them but not of them, that I had my own strange and separate road, a road which in later years would make them wonder how I had come to tread it. (p.110-111) Wright hates his environment because the society does not believe the capability of a black man. One of the proofs is on Wright’s graduation day; Wright is forced to read the speech his principal gave to him. It is because he is a black pupil and considered not qualified to speak out what in his mind. This condition makes Richard more realize that the world he lives in is not suitable for him, that the world he lives in is full of racists and distrusted men. Richard wants a place where men are not seen based in their skin color, and this is not happen in his place. That’s why he agrees to read his principal’s speech instead of his own because the principal threats to fail him if Richard disagrees with it so he can go to a new place away from the city he lives in now.
The principle’s speech was simpler and clearer than mine, but it did not say anything, mine was cloudy, but it said what I wanted to say. What could I do? I had half a mind not to show up at the graduation day exercises. I was hating my environment more each day. As soon as shool was over, I would get a job, save money and leave. (p. 155)
A psychopath can have high verbal intelligence, but they typically lack "emotional intelligence". They can be expert in manipulating others by playing to their emotions. There is a shallow quality to the emotional aspect of their stories (i.e., how they felt, why they felt that way, or how others may have felt and why). The lack of emotional intelligence is the first good sign you may be dealing with a psychopath.
From the statement above, the writer connects it with the attitudes of Richard Wright in his relation with the whites. In many times, Wrights has to bury his emotion when the whites humiliate the blacks. This happens not for a reason. As the symptoms of Psychopathic Personality tends to play with emotions, Wrights is also practicing it too. Wight has a goal in his mind, a goal that any other men do not know about it. That’s why he learns how to act in front of the whites in order to get respect from them. But it seems, Wright is not too clever to hide his nausea to the whites, but he learns and always learns to control his emotions. In the end, his personality is more shaped into some kind of mentall illness because of his mind itself.
I was learning rapidly how to watch white people, to observe their every move, every fleeting, how to interpret what was said and what left unsaid. Each day in the store I watched the brutality with growing hate, yet trying to keep my feelings from registering in my face. When the boss looked at me, I would avoid his eyes. (p. 159)
The blacks also have to learn how to act in front of the whites. Wrights disagrees with it. Wrights thinks why he has to show some respects when the whites always treat them like animals? Do they never see us (the blacks) as human beings who share the same air, who share the same earth? These are the question that Wrights always asking in his mind.
“You act around white people as if you didn’t know that they were white. And they see it.”
“Oh Christ, I can’t be a slave,” I said hopelessly. “But you’ve got to eat.” He said.
“Yes, I got to eat.”
“Then start acting like it,” he hammered at me, pounding his fist in his palm. “When you’re in front of white people, thinks before you act, think before you speak. Your way of doing things is all right among our people, but not for white people. They won’t stand for it.” (p. 161)
or maybe because he is a rich person. Wrigth often disagrees with his friend, but because his friend tells him that he will not get anything to eat if he is still doing his things, he starts to act like his friend does.
Another factor that makes his personality more closed is when the whites tell him that he should stay home if he does not want to get hurt instead of working together in the same institution. The whites threat him like he does not have any right to work around them, it hurts his feeling and his growing hate to the whites is bigger than before. He is confused why the whites do not want to work together, is it because he is a fool child or maybe like everyone tells him, his skin color. So, which race is actually called racists? Why the difference of skin color is very in top priority in relation of men.
I walked down Capitol Street feeling that the sidewalk was unreal, that I was unreal, that the people were unreal, yet expecting somebody to demand to know what right I had to be on streets. My wound went deep; I felt that I had been slapped out of the human race. (p. 167)
Inspite of his hate to the whites, Wright makes a lot of thinking about what is truly happened in his society; about why the quarrel between the two groups is never settled down. Wright thinks that it is not coming directly from each individual itself, it is bigger than that, he thinks that it is the system that formed it so the upcoming generation is just follow it without having a strong excuses why they do that. That’s why Wright never has the intention to straightly fight back. But he stores it in his heart in order to blow it in the future time.
According to Wright, the blacks are never let out what they feel, they just following the system like the whites do. They never think about why they are hated, about why they considered inferior to the white. That’s why when Wright is known as a black who very critical and open minded person, he is suppressed by the whites. It seems, the whites are afraid that Wright might be becoming a great man and replacing their places.
No Negroes in my environment had ever thought of organizing, no matter in how orderly a fashion, and petitioning their white employers for higher wages. The very thought would have been terrifying to them, and they knew that the whites would have retaliated with swift brutality. So, pretending to conform to the laws of the whites, grinning, bowing, they let their fingers stick to what they could touch. And the whites seemed to like it. (p. 175) Because the blacks are just following the instruction the whites gave, the whites seems unwilling to tolerate a black man with questions in his head. When the whites give orders, the blacks have to do it exactly. This is why the blacks are considered inferior. And also that by pushing the blacks to the edge, the whites feels safe and enjoys the bliss of being an authorized group.
The southern whites would rather have had Negroes who stole, work for them than Negroes who kne, however dirmly, the worth of their own humanity. Hence, whites placed a premium upon black deceit; they encouraged irresponsibilty; and their rewards were berstowed uopn us blacks in the danger that we could make them feel safe and superior. (p. 175)
The more Wright tries to fit in to the whites the more know the reality of being a black or white man. He realizes that his personality is also changing but he does not have the power to reject it. So, he just follows his intuitions and lives the life of a black man has to do.
Since Wright is more usual to the white world, Wright notices that there are no big differences between the black’s attitude and the white as an individual. A lot of brutalities in a black man’s life are also found in a white man’s life. Prostitute and drugs is one of the examples. Now Wright is having the chance to change his life, he gets the opportunity to get out his environment, but his feeling is crashed with his intentions. He is afraid that if he is in a new environment, he might be facing the same situation again. If yes, so why he has to leave a place where he already taste the bad time. Maybe, it is better to stay and always facing the same situation; the situation that will not be changed by one man’s effort.
I had now seen at close quarters the haughty white men who made the laws; I had now seen how they acted, how they regarded black people, how they regarded me; and I no longer felt bound by the laws which white and black were supposed to obey in common. I was outside the laws; the white people had told me so. Now when I thought of ways to escape from my environment I no longer felt the inner restraint that would have made stealing impossible, and this new freedom made me lonely and afraid. (p. 176)
There is a limited amount of insight into the symptoms, and the negative consequences are often blamed on society. In this sense, treatment options are limited. Some research has found long term insight oriented therapy to be effective, but getting the individual to commit to this treatment is a major obstacle.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
In this part the writer will give a conclusion toward the problems above. There are three problems in problem formulation which are analyzed in chapter 4.
From the first problem, it can be concluded that the environment which Richard Wright lives, is full of injustice situation such as humiliation and oppression toward him. Since his early childhood, he is forced to face the reality with its brutality and hard way of living. The society makes Richard become what they want; in this case; the blacks should bow to the whites. This is what Richard disagrees with because he thinks that every man should live free, that black man’s destiny is not a white man’s slave. And also from his own family always tells Richard to do like every black man does, that he can not live the life based on his own will.
story, the writer sees there is too much pressures for the blacks to improve their quality of live. The second problem becomes a clear thought that the gap between the blacks and the whites would never be disappeared from the condition of the society in Wright’s environment. The writer explained based on the narrations that Wright said over and over. Wright lives in a very limited aspect of life because the lack of education, inferiority, and discrimination. That is why Richard Wright’s personality tends to be rebellious, depressed, independent, difficult to adapt and want to improve his quality of life.
even though Wright wanted to be closer with the whites, the family and his people never allow him to do it.
Wright’s psychopathic personality is derived from the unhappiness of life that forces him to control his own life. He finally full of a hazy notion that live could be lived with dignity, that the personalities of others should not be violated, that men should be able to confront other men without fear or shame, and that if men are lucky in their living on earth they might win some redeeming meaning for their having struggled and suffered here beneath the stars.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
B. Lahey, Benyamin & C.Ciminero, Anthony. Maladaptive Behavior; An Introduction to Abnormal Psyhology. Scott, Foresman & Co. 1980
Bay, C. The Structure of Freedom. Stanford: Standford University Press. 1958 Bornstein March, H. Psychology and its Allied Disciplines vol. 1. Englewood Cliffs:
Publishers Hisdale. 1984
Crow, Lester & Crow, Alice. Readings in Abnormal Psychology. Littlefield, Adams & Co. Patterson, New Jersey. 1960
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. 4th Ed. American Psychiatric Association, Washington D.C. 2000.
Harvey, W. J. Character and the Novel. New York: Conell University Press. 1965 Henkle, Roger B. Reading the Novel; An Understanding to Techniques at
Interpreting Fiction. New York: Harper & Row Publisher, Inc, 1977.
Holman, C. Hugh & William Harmon. A Handbook to Literature. New York: Macmillon Publishing Company. 5th ed. 1986
Kenney, William. How To Analyze Fiction. New York: Monarch Press. 1966 Langland, Elizabeth. Society in the Novel. London: The University of North
Carolina Press. 1984
Logan, R.W. The Negro in United States; A Brief History. New Jersey: D.Van Nostrand Company. 1975
Murphy, M.J. Understanding Unseens. London: George Allan & Unwin Ltd. 1972 Perring, Laurence. Story & Structure. New York: Harcourt Brave Jovanovich, Inc.
1974
Schultz, Elzabeth. “To Be Black and Blue: The blues genres in Black American Autobiography” in American Autobiography: A Collection of Critical Essays. Eds. Albert E. Stone. London: Prentice Hall International, Inc. 1981
Smith, Jim. Abnormal Behaviors; Outlined Reference. University Press of America Wellek, Rene & Austin Warren. Theory of Literature. New York: A Harvest Book
(http://www.amazon.com/Black-Boy-American-Hunger- Childhood/dp/0060812508)
download March 3rd, 2007
(http://www.amazon.com/criticism/blackboy.html) download March 3rd, 2007
(http://www.classicnote.com/author/richardwright/criticism/blackboy.html) download March 3rd, 2007
(http://www.mentalhealth.com/icd/p22-pe04.html), download March 3rd, 2007
(http://www.mozsite.com/a/personality-disorder-range/),download March 22nd, 2007
http://www.oregoncounseling.org/Handouts/PsychopathicPersonality.htm)download
APPENDIX
- The life of the author
Richard Wright was born on a plantation in Roxie, Mississippi, September 4, 1908 to Nathan Wright, an illiterate sharecropper and Ella Wright, a schoolteacher. Wright's stay in Roxie, however, was brief and at the age of three, Wright's father, Nathan, moved the family to Memphis, Tennessee where four years later he deserted them. Ella, Richard, and his younger brother Leon remained in Memphis trying to live on their mother's inadequate income. Expected to fend for themselves, Richard and Leon, often went hungry.
In 1914 Wright's mother Ella fell ill and he and his brother were temporarily sent to a settlement house. Eventually, Ella decided to move the family to Elaine, Arkansas, to live with her sister Maggie and her husband Silas Hoskins. In Arkansas, the family was terrorized by local whites who coveted Silas's property. In late 1916, Silas was murdered and the family fled to West Helena, Arkansas where they remained until 1919 when Ella suffered a stroke. Leon was sent to live with his Aunt Maggie, and Richard with his Uncle Clark. Richard lived with his Uncle only for a short time and was eventually sent to live with his Grandmother in Jackson, Mississippi.
