Chapter 8-9

Wright’s reason for refusing to recite the speech was justified because he had spent a lot of time on writing a speech and now the he was going to have to read an “official” speech, which won’t express his true thoughts and beliefs. This was unfair to Wright because he had worked so hard to write a speech, and the only reason the principal wanted to give him a premade speech was to “appeal to the white and colored people that night.”

Throughout the book Richard seems to reject to conformity and remain an individual. By reading someone else’s writing he was conforming to the ideas of his graduating peers and teachers. Of course Richard ends up giving his speech, but had he decided to give the “official speech,” he wouldn’t have risen above his position in society, rather he would conform in it. Richard is justified in giving his speech because he had the courage to stand up for something he believed in and didn’t conform to his “assumed” position in society as an African American boy.