Upon reading this selection from our text, a number of themes and question arise in my head. This story is about a young African American boy growing up and living in the times of extreme racial prejudice and the theme of White Man vs. Black man. What exactly does this mean? Well during this period of segregation and racial inequality blacks were considered completely inferior. They really had no chance to survive in the white dominated society. They would struggle from the day they are born to the day they die trying to please the white man, but at the same time trying to show that they are people to.
             In class we spoke about "Domination vs. Subordination." This theme is definitely present throughout the story. From the time he is a young boy (Richard) to the time he is a teenager, you see the main character learning on how the please the "white man." Being a young boy and not really having a great education or as he refers to as the "Jim Crow Education" he is oblivious to really what's going on out there. There are numerous times where he is attacked for not speaking properly to a white man or "stepping' over boundaries. Later in the story, he starts to realize that he has to please the white man in order to survive and take care of him. With the theme of "domination vs. subordination," the white male is playing the role of the Dominate. This is the way things have to be. He is superior. He does everything to cause a conflict, but avoids acknowledgment of it because he is the top of the society. The African American boy concentrates on his survival as the story progresses.
             Wright says that "the color of a Negro's skin makes him easily recognizable, makes him suspect, converts him into a defenseless target". I believe this part of the text suggests that something more than just skin color is at work in the topic of segregation-something for which skin color is the ...