American Hunger

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American Hunger

First and foremost, it is evident that Wright was writing about the plight of the African Americans in the United States of America (USA). This is related to his real life because he is among the people who were subjected to this kind of treatment during his lifetime. After excelling in his studies, he was made a school valedictorian. However, this would not bring happiness to him because it put him into problems with the school’s white administrators (Baldwin, J., 2008). For instance, in 1923, he refused to submit the principal’s valedictory address. Even though he was doing this to coax the black administrators to support him, he was in a disagreement with all the school’s white officials. Later in September, after registering for the History, English and Mathematics courses at Lanier High School, we could not concentrate on his studies. He had to attend classes at regular intervals since he was supposed to look for menial jobs in support of his poor family. This is typical of an African American who faced a lot of challenges in their education. The ideologies put in this text reflex the racial prejudices Wright experienced during his childhood in Memphis.

Secondly, Wright reports about the challenges he faced when he was looking for a job. As he explains, he faced lot problems to be granted a job in the white dominated economy. Instead of focusing on his potentials and qualifications, they view him as a black American. This was so racial particularly when they were violently treating him. However, this brutality is related to his life in many ways. As a young man, he had to look for opportunities wherever he could get them. When he relocated to Chicago in the year 1927, it took him so long to get a job. However, securing a job as a postal clerk would not ultimately solve his plights. He was to deal with the racial discriminative practices of the dominant whites in his newly acquired work place. Even after enduring for long, he was finally laid off in 1931 during the great depression in USA. This was so turbulent since it would financially destabilize him. Later, he would find it so difficult to survive in the conservative society which believed in the supremacy of the whites at the expense of the minority migrant groups.

Thirdly, Wright writes about his family. He says that he lived with his grandmother especially after his father disserted them at home. This is true because it gives a clear picture of his childhood. As he states in his story, he had an unpleasant childhood because he was forced to live with his sick mother along side Ms. Wilson, his highly religious grandmother. This was the beginning of his problems since he had to persevere to cope up with his granny’s tough rules concerning most of the matters of interest to him. For instance, he was not allowed to work on Saturdays and choose the kind of religion to follow. Ms. Wilson, being a Seventh Day Adventist, did not allow him to perform any task on a Saturday. To her, this was a Sabbath day which needed to be observed and kept holy. At the same time, there was a very great disagreement between him and his aunties and uncles. Each of these had a conflicting ideology about what kind of religious faith to pursue. However, this was a great challenge which almost left Wright with a permanent religious hostility. In fact, he also threatened to flee the home for another safer environment (Baldwin, J., 2008).

Besides, Write writes about his experiences as a communist. After going to Chicago, he decides to join the Communist Party. The main reason for doing this is because he thought that it would give him an opportunity to interact and make friendship with other party members especially the blacks. Howe.............