The "voice", or how the author chooses his words and descriptions, is very interesting in Black Boy. It changes throughout the book, growing more complex and having more understanding as Richard grows older. At the beginning, Richard still writes in very descriptive text, but the view of his mother and the situations around him are more tilted. He seems to stumble through life in the beginning, everything being a little hazier and magical as a child. Or this could be a consequence of trying to remember things from a very young age, as some memories get scrambled and changed to a different story.
Richard keeps a curious tone, being nosy and willing to poke what he doesn't understand even at fifteen. Though he has a better judge of what's going on, he still wants to learn more about the world around him. He seems constantly surprised by what's going on, from his burning the house down to accidentally selling Ku Klux Klan propaganda.
Finally, I feel like I have to mention the detail in this book. Frankly, it's phenomenal. Every word seems to have some sort of meaning behind it connecting to his feelings at the time. For example:" I saw a bare, bleak pool of black life and I hated it; the people were alike, their homes were alike, and their farms were alike." He's using the same sentence structure to enhance how he feels about the plantations he sees as he rides on a train.
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