Richard's use of parenthesis

Eli Pardue
3/11/08
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

In part two of Black Boy, Richard Wright uses parentheses as a rhetorical device. However, he does not use parenthesis in the conventional sense. Usually, parenthesis are used to explain minor details in a sentence or paragraph to provide further reasoning or explanation for something in the story. Richard creates multiple parenthetical paragraphs. He does not explain trivial bits of information, he provides insight to his mindset and observations he made about life in Chicago. In the paragraphed portions, he speaks of the struggle he and all blacks have in the North and the South, and his struggle in finding a reason for them. He speaks of waitresses in Chicago who he works with and how he pities them. He pities them because all they have to think about or worry about are trivial things like sex life, parents, and other skin-deep problems. They never have the opportunity to enlarge their mental capacities with issues that matter, and for that reason they will never comprehend Richard.