Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
Ella’s Infirmity
In Renaissance and Gothic literature, a deformity or some
other physical impairment often serves as an outward sign of an unhealthy
or evil soul. This kind of symbolism implies that the universe is
a sensible place, as an evil soul is rewarded with a mangled body.
In Black Boy, however, the opposite is true. Richard’s
mother, Ella, is one of the few people in the novel—and the only
person in the entire family—who seems genuinely concerned for Richard’s welfare.
If anyone in the novel has a truly good, saintlike soul, it is Ella.
However, she is beset with incurable ailments and paralytic legs.
Other family members, meanwhile, have abundant strength, which they
frequently use to beat Richard for trivial offenses. In this context,
Ella’s infirmity symbolizes for Richard the unfair and random nature
of the universe.
The Optical Shop in Memphis
In the microcosm of the optical shop in Memphis, Olin
represents the Southern white racists willing to terrorize black
people for the sake of amusement, while Falk represents those Southern
whites who genuinely sympathize with black people and who are willing
to help them. Shorty represents the black workers who pander to whites
but inwardly retain their racial and personal pride. The building’s
unnamed porter, with his daily wail about having to work in the
same place day in and day out, represents the more embittered black
workers of the South. Several Ku Klux Klan members and Jews also
populate the office. As such, the Memphis optical shop is a microcosm
of racial stratification in the South. Wright concentrates the racial
dynamics of the region in one physical space in order to show that
people who think they are different from or better than their peers
are actually integrally connected to them.
