Black Boy and the Kunstlerroman
Richard Wright’s novel _Black Boy_ is a Kunstlerroman novel that directly connects the protagonist with the author. ... Considering that the protagonist and the author are the same entity calls into question some interesting facts about issue of the artist and the Kunstlerroman. It seems that Beebe’s constructs of the Kunstlerroman artist could be applied directly to the Richard Wright and his real-life struggle to become an artist. ... However, Wright cannot possibly hold this position as a black man in the early to mid 1900s. ... At this point, Wright is a young man who does not know much about his life or his position as a black artist. He is aware of the fact that, as a black man, he has a lower position in his southern society. However, that does not tell him that he will have problems later in life as a black artist. ... ” After Wright moves to Chicago, he learns more about his position as a black artist. ... This supports the idea that Wright cannot fulfill the Ivory Tower theory as a black artist. ... Although Wright may want to achieve the Ivory Tower existence, and survive in higher realm where he can concentrate on his art, his lower class black male status does not allow him that freedom.