Because Richard is growing throughout the book, his character is always changing. The small child we see at the beginning is a far cry from the seventeen-year-old at the end; yet there is a fundamental core which remains the same. He is a rebel and, as such, an outsider, from the very beginning.
Through his descriptions of people's reactions to him, Wright gives us a sense of the impression he makes on others. He offends most everyone, not for overt acts of defiance against them, but because of the attitude he expresses. He has few friends, but has no real enemies. He is not aggressive, but his presence is threatening. Unable to participate naturally in fun and games, he is irritating to those who do. Almost no one likes to have him around.
What social forces conspired to make him into this type of individual is the question that Richard Wright, the narrator, is trying to solve as he writes. It is said that one's character is pretty much formed by the age of four and, afterward, can only be modified to one degree or another by experience. Although Wright emphasizes social circumstances in creating an individual, he starts his autobiography with a solid characterization of himself as a child. There is, then, always a conflict between which is the stronger influence: character or society.
The question of how and why Wright's character was formed is hardest for him to answer in terms of his own development. It involves the complex problems of personal guilt as opposed to social guilt, personal responsibility as opposed to social responsibility. In the end, he can make no clear-cut distinctions between one or the other. Why he becomes who he is, or why he is the person he is becoming these are two inseparable questions.
