Black Boy

by Richard Wright

Black Boy: Setting 1 key example

Definition of Setting

Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:

Black Boy is set in many different locations as Richard and his family move around the American South in Part I. The novel begins in a small house where Richard and his siblings live with his mother and father. His father leaves early on, and Richard is placed in an orphanage in Memphis because his mother cannot afford to support him. After Richard is released from the orphanage, he and his mother move back and forth between Granny's house in Jackson, Mississippi, a dark and unpleasant place, and Aunt Maggie's house in Elaine, Arkansas (specifically, the nearby town of West Helena), which is generally kinder. Richard then sets off for Memphis again, where he moves in with the Moss family. There he begins to read widely and begins his intellectual development in earnest.