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Richard Wright’s work opposes the American Dream by accurately describing the oppression African Americans faced in the South and by analyzing race relations in the United States. Furthermore, Wright believed in black nationalism and influenced American culture with his works.

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Richard Wright was one of the most influential writers during the 20th century for his works addressing the hardships African Americans faced. Richard Wright grew up in the South living in poverty. Wright later found a passion for reading and was particularly interested in H. L. Mencken’s works. Wright also joined the communist party because he viewed it as a way to fight racial oppression. “Works such as Native Son (1940) and Black Boy (1945) not only opened the eyes of white readers, they set a new standard for black writers. James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, and other emerging authors of the time were deeply influenced by Wright's approach and by his eloquent exposure of bigotry and racism”(UXL Biographies). Wright’s work was influential because of his upbringing as an African American growing up in the South. The success of his earlier works, notably Native Son and Black Boy, inspired African American writers to write about African American struggles and culture. Wright’s novel received enough success to finally get white Americans aware of African American struggles and injustices. This opposed the American Dream by showing the United States that it is not a free country to all Americans.

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Wright's Native Son Depicts Racism in America, 1940

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Wright's Native Son Depicts Racism in America, 1940

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Richard Wright opposes the American Dream by portraying oppression to African Americans in the South with his book, Native Son. Native Son is Richard Wright’s first published novel, which was written with the intention of challenging stereotypes while avoiding “unfocused sympathy of those who wished to avoid the hard realities of life for African American.” As a result, Wright chose to make the main character a “violent young black man in Chicago,” who kills two people and at the end is punished with death. “No other African-American writer had ever focused such attention on the conditions of life in black ghettos before. … For many White Americans, Bigger Thomas became a symbol of the entire black community.” (DISCovering U.S. History) Wright’s depiction of black ghettos spread awareness to about the conditions and hardships African Americans face. The main characters live in fear and as victims to violence. This novel challenged the ideas of the American Dream by challenging stereotypes and spreading awareness about the effects of segregation.

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In Richard Wright’s short story collection, Uncle Tom’s Children, Wright explores themes of oppression, rebelion, and collective action. These three themes are shown through the characters of each story. Every protagonist in the stories are African Americans and each character shows a different nuance to the oppressive society. Despite the messaging seeming to be only about the South, “Wright's concern is not merely racial, for the stories describe the perennial hard times of the rural South, exacerbated by the Great Depression. Against this background of class animosity and social upheaval, Wright projects the ideal of interracial collective action”(Beacham, Walton).  Wright’s belief in collective action and black nationalism shows that change cannot be made by an single individual. People that are oppressed by US society do not have the ability to achieve the American Dream, but there is hope that change can be made as a collective in the future.

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The multiple frames for a dynamic diaspora in Richard Wright's Black Power

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The multiple frames for a dynamic diaspora in Richard Wright's Black Power

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Richard Wright explored his own African American identity during his travels to Ghana to learn about African culture. Before arriving in Ghana, Wright questions if he will be able to feel a connection to Africa, despite him and his family being born in the United States. While in Ghana he realizes that African American culture is distinct from American and African culture. “The vision of black diaspora that Wright offers at the end of Black Power is one that links African Americans and Africans via having both once been colonial subjects: "I am an American and my country too was once a colony of England" (393). The black experience is evacuated from black diaspora, but community persists”(Eve Dunbar). Wright does not identify with African culture but relates to the struggles and oppression they faced. He believes that the community is not based on race but the shared experiences with facing oppression forms the community. This connects to the theme Wright includes in many of his works: African Americans being outsiders in American society. Wright opposes the American Dream by acknowledging the lingering consequences of slavery and colonial rule, leading to the oppression of people of color across the world.