Black Boy 1

Is Richard a "bad" boy?
When should behavior be blamed on the person and when should it be blamed on the environment?

I think that richard is not a bad boy, but his nature isn't enirely good either. For instance, when richard goes to the saloon, he repeats dirty comments for money. But you can't really blame him . Richard is poor and repeating dirty things is an easy way to earn money, a way to get attention, and heck, he's drunk! So I don't think that Richard is entirely a bad boy. But something about his lack of attatchment to his family bothers me. I find it strange that he can just let go of his father so easily. Or when Richar runs away form the orphanage, he doesn't even stop to consider his brother. Richard tells us that his life will be very different from his father's, saying"...my father was a black peasant who had gone to the city seeking life,but who had failed in the city; a black peasant who's life had been hopelessly snarled in the city, and who had at last fled the city-that same city which had lifted me upin it's burning arms and borne me toward alien and undreamed shores of knowing"(35). so we will see....

my guess is that Richard will do something bad to a white man , and then a black man will hide him, educated him, and send him out back into the world to fight against racism and religous discrimination...