The Library Card Essay
1568 Words7 Pages
“The Library Card,” by Richard Wright is a strong essay on how books can affect and influence readers. Richard Wright writes that his first experience of the real world is accomplished through novels. He read an article criticizing H.L. Mencken and it tempted him to read some of his books. The article labeled Mencken as “a fool.” Wright wanted to know what this man had done to cause such hatred against him. “I wondered what on earth this Mencken had done to call down upon him the scorn of the South. The only people I had ever heard denounced in the South were Negroes, and this man was not a Negro,” (pg.319) Wright writes that tells us that the South was filled with racism and hatred among the whites and blacks. Mencken must have had ideas…show more content…
Back then, black people could hardly read or write and they were not offered the education to learn so. Once Richard took out the books, he headed back to the Irish Catholic and told him that the librarian might telephone him. It is to make sure that the books were for him and not for Richard. If Richard gets caught taking out the books and reading it for himself, he will get in big trouble for it.
Richard first book was “A Book of Prefaces,” which was written by Mencken. He was surprised on how Mencken fought with words in the book, and he was shocked with his style. When he couldn’t understand some words, he had to use a dictionary to help him out. After he read the book, he felt that he had experienced something new, “I hungered for books, new ways of looking and seeing. It was not a matter of believing or disbelieving what I read, but of feeling something new, of being affected by something that made the look of the world different.” (pg.323) Books had made him view the world differently and they opened his eyes. Every time he read a book, he could not put it down. The mood of it lingered, coloring everything he saw, heard, did. He identified himself with the books he read, and it made him vaguely guilty. “Would I, filled with bookish notions, act in a manner that would make the whites dislike me?” he questioned himself and it made him feel isolated from the world around him. Every time he reads a book, he learns
“The Library Card” is based on the real situations Richard Wright experienced while growing up. The setting was back in time in an era where blacks were known to be ignorant due to the laws of the white man. Blacks were restricted from good education and that means that most of them couldn’t read at all and because of this Richard Wrights writes his struggles in the Library Card.
Richard Wright would go into this one library and out of the everyone in society there was one kind man; Mr. Falk who tries to help Richard Wright to check out a book and read. However, people like Mr. Gerald who heavily put the burdens of being black on Richard Wright at his apartment. Due to these red necks the separation of whites and blacks caused the distrust and forge that made it hard for Richard Wright to have the right to read.
It’s a relieve that our society now prosper from this dark era where regardless of what your nationality is you can gain a good education. People are treated equally and with respect. Although, we still have those small groups who believe in the old ways we came a long way. Plus, I can’t even believe that people were like that with no compassion and love.