Books and Novels
Books symbolize a great deal of the memoir’s most important ideas. Books provide an imaginative escape for Richard, whose life is lived in grinding poverty and amid terrible racial suppression and violence. They allow…
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The “switch”
Books liberate Richard; violence oppresses him. People use the switch (a rod or stick) to beat and punish Richard. Though he lives in fear of white violence, he is even more afraid of the switch…
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