y send you to war, make you lick them Germans, teach you how to fight and when you come back they scared of you,’ "(90). This quote means that the "white" people put the "black" people on the front line to defend our country, and when they come back, they can not accept them, therefore they oppress them in different ways, which is societal oppression. The last example happens when Richard wants to borrow a library card, and so he thinks about asking his boss. After thinking about it for a while, he knew he could not ask him, for he knows the boss is a Caucasian Baptist, and Richard thinks that he would not be able to accept the fact of a "black" boy, such as Richard, would want to read and cultivate his intelligence. This would be considered societal oppression, for he knows his boss does not want Richard to be enlightened with books, in turn keeping Richard away from the light of knowledge. These are examples of societal oppression that Richard Wright overcomes and rises to the top on his own. Internalized oppression is a hard thing to overcome. One of the ways Richard Wright is confronted with internalized oppression is when he sees a "black" boy being beaten by a "white" man, so he automatically thinks that the "white" man is the boys father. "…Did not all fathers, like my father, have the right to beat their children? A paternal right was the only right, to my understanding…" (31). This excerpt is showing internalized oppression, for he thinks it is okay for a parent to abuse their child, in turn having the child think that beating a child is okay, and only a parent can do the beating, which is completely wrong. Another case of internalized oppression occurs when Richard says a bad word, and then his Aunt Jody lectures him by saying, " ‘Richard, you are a very bad, bad boy,’ "(108). Later in the passage, he also says that he does not care that he is a "bad boy." That states that Richard believes that he...
