In the short story "The Man Who Killed A Shadow," by Richard Wright the main character, Saul, shows his feeling of being powerless towards the white shadow. This fear of the white shadow overcomes him in the end and this makes him give up.
             Saul became unable to connect with people because of the early deaths of his parents. From this time to come, his life was unstable and this causes him to disassociate with all people. "People really never became personalities to Saul, for hardly had he ever got to know them before they vanished (194)." Saul never connected with anyone and he never got too close to anyone because he moved around frequently. This instability set in motion the events that would lead to the fear of his shadows. Since Saul has been born into a black society, he already knows he has no possibility to get anywhere in life. "...he came into a world that was split in two, a white world and a black one, the white one being separated from the black by a million psychological miles (193)." All the white people were shadows that he feared. This phobia holds him back from being his ideal self, which is the desire to be above most of his terrifying shadows.
             As the years passed by, Saul turned to drinking whisky, yet his fears became more intense. For instance, "Whisky really depressed him, numbed him somewhat, reduced the force and number of the shadows that made him tight inside (196)." This shows that Saul had no one to confide into and only brushed his problems aside making his fears worse. He thought he was solving his tremendous anxiety, but was simply covering them up. In addition, the depression he experiences represents his feelings of having no hope in the dark world he lives in. "When Saul was sober, he almost never laughed in the presence of the white shadow-world, but when he had a drink or two he found that he could (196)." Saul is stating that he...