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Similes
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—I Never Read the Paper:
In Chapter 5, Richard lives with his Granny while in the sixth grade. Richard has started selling papers for money; secretly, he enjoys reading the literary supplement at the back of each issue. Normally, Granny forbids reading anything other than the Bible, calling it "the devil's work." But Granny allows Richard to have a job, which ironically allows him to read in hiding:
Now, at last, I could have my reading in the home, could have it there with the approval of Granny. She had already given me permission to sell papers. Oh, boy, how lucky it was for me that Granny could not read!
Richard notes how lucky he is that Granny cannot read and therefore cannot investigate his ruse that allows him to read. But, unbeknownst to Richard, the paper is distributed by the Ku Klux Klan and contains white supremacist rhetoric. When Richard tries to sell one of his papers to a Black man on the street, the man informs him that he is selling racist work:
"The paper you're selling preaches the Ku Klux Klan doctrines," he said.
"Oh, no!" I exclaimed.
"Son, you're holding it in your hands," he said.
"I read the magazine, but I never read the paper," I said vaguely, thoroughly rattled.
Richard thinks that Granny will never catch him in his reading, and therefore she will never punish him, because she cannot read. But Richard, in fact, gets himself into trouble because he did not read the news portion of the paper. This creates a situational irony between Richard's expectations and reality. The situational irony also helps to describe how, in this portion of the novel, Richard is still coming to understand racism. He understands that his Granny is poorly educated and cannot read, an effect of structural racism; but he does not read more about the news himself. The contrast between these scenarios creates an instructive irony.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—No Stealing:
In Chapter 10, Richard gets hired for one of his many jobs, this time by a movie theater as a ticket-taker. Richard knows that he has kept himself out of legal trouble, so he thinks he will get the job; however, situational irony is in play:
My chances for getting the job were good; I had no past record of stealing or violating the laws. [...] The boss man warned me:
"Now, look, I'll be honest with you if you be honest with me. I don't know who's honest around this joint and who isn't. But if you are honest, then the rest are bound to be. All tickets will pass through your hands. There can be no stealing unless you steal."
Richard tells the proprietor that he has never stolen, and as above, Richard is only hired because he doesn't steal. But in fact Richard is only taking the job because he intends to steal; he applied for the job in the first place because a bell-boy at his previous hotel job told him it would be easy to steal by reselling tickets for a profit. This is thus an ironic situation: Richard is hired to steal because he (supposedly) does not steal. This situation also shows Richard's developing system of morality. He begins to feel that he is allowed to hurt, or steal from, White people, because they do not live on equal moral ground: "Stealing was not a violation of my ethics, but of [the boss's]; I felt that things were rigged in his favor and any action I took to circumvent his scheme of life was justified. Yet I had not convinced myself." So while the situation seems ironic on its face, in Richard's view—at least for the moment—he is being totally logical in an immoral world.
Related Themes:
