White World

Wright is unused to acting subservient to whites. As a young child, he recognized that whites were somehow better and greater than him, but he never acted upon these beliefs. He did not grow up catering to or obeying whites. He heard of violence between the white and black race, but that was the extent of his white interaction. Now, as a young adult in the work force, he is forced to act submissive towards whites in order to get and keep jobs. He is unused to hiding his intelligence or his depression but does so to hold onto jobs. Wright loses many a job because he accidentally acts equal to his white customers or shows contempt towards his white superiors and bosses. Had Wright been raised to address every white man as “Sir,” and had Wright been conditioned to step completely out of a white woman’s way, perhaps he would find it easier to serve whites without looking them in the eye. Wright writes about a job he held briefly at a hotel, where he worked as a hallboy. Before he leaves work with a female friend one night, Wright witnesses a white night watchman touch his friend in an inappropriate way. Wright is completely shocked, especially when his friend continues to walk by the man as if nothing had happened. Wright stares at the guard, gaping, unsure of whether to protect his friend. The guard taunts Wright and advises him to leave the building. Wright walks away, feeling the guard’s gun pointed at his back. Wright’s friend was used to attention and harassment from whites because she had been “coping with the white world (196)” for some time. Wright, unused to blatant sexual harassment and submissive behavior, feels uncomfortable and stifled at all jobs he works at in chapters 10-11.