Right from the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to a four year old boy who does not intend to maintain status quo — obedience to parental and social rule. Richard has a peculiar childhood full of all sorts of experience t a boy of his age should not have been exposed to. He admits that it is an early life without a father around.
This is because his father deserts his family and runs off with another woman. In order to make ends meet, his mother sei him to live with one relation or the other. At one time Richard is taken to an orphanage. All these afford Richard opportunity to come to term with the harsh realities of racial hatred and mistrust. Richard now gets to understand that the average Black American is faced with the struggle to find his footing i society full of hatred for his type. Thus Richard determines to strive against all odds in order to assert his human wo He rejects the advice of a friend, Griggs, to pretend before any white man. He stubbornly rejects the speech prepared him by the Principal at a Speech Day Ceremony. He becomes all the more ready to ready to improve his lot. These readings including Bluebeard and his Se, Wives deepen Richard's view of life and the world around him.
Through the national dailies, he gets to look for I-Mencken's works, especially 'Prejudices'. This books opens Richard's eyes to racial discrimination and prejudices gives him a "new way of feeling and thinking". As a result, these books help to shape his attitude to life. He now si that after all, his thoughts and fears concerning life are as real as life itself. The results of reading such books r encourage him to fight white codes of superiority complex. The more he reads, the more he discovers something 'terribly important' in what goes on around him until he finally makes up his mind to challenge authorities.
This explains his fights with Aunt Addle, the street gangsters and rejection of a gift of a dollar from a white man. How can he, a black boy take lightly all forces against his race? All these factors make Richard a peculiar personality full of intelligence, adventure and sharp imagination i "barren" culture.