A Lost Soul Headed for Eternal Damnation : Wright s Inability to Embrace God s Summon

Richard Wright s literature is the literature of Negro life, and this living includes all the factors which force them to be uneasy. Church is one of those main factors which has been blacks subject of consideration for many centuries. Themain argument in the present paper is Wright s skepticism toward Christianity and whether God s rules were justifiedor not in his view. This paper aims at answering the question whether Wright was absorbed or horrified by religion. Itintends to scrutinize the effects of religion and church on Wright s life as depicted in his autobiography, Black boy(American Hunger): A record of childhood and youth. The reseacher attempts to highlight the main elements that caused Wright s hesitation toward religious convictions and how he reacted to them. It can be concluded that four mainissues affected Richard Wright s rejection of christianity most; Family, especially women characters, the abundance ofsuperstations in the nature of the Christian church, the observance of contrasts between the religious training and blacks’ actual living condition, and Wright s own objective outlook toward life

Keywords:

Richard Wright , Christianity , Religion , Negro life , Black Boy