Autobiography has been, through the ages, one of the most effective forms of human protest be it religious, political, or personal. When one man speaks as a critic for society at large, through the medium of his own experience, there is a validity otherwise lacking in objective criticism. Black Boy has many historical precedents among them, St. Augustine's Confessions and the Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau. However, there are strong points of difference.
Sartre, in his essay "For Whom Does One Write," shows what is exceptional in Richard Wright's work. He says, "each work of Wright contains what Baudelaire would have called 'a double, simultaneous postulation'" that is, Wright is addressing himself to two different audiences when he writes. He is addressing both blacks and whites, and for each he needs to supply different information. Blacks will understand readily what he is talking about. No elaborate explanation for Wright's experience is necessary. His purpose in addressing them, then, is to articulate common experience and common attitudes in order that blacks will be better equipped to deal with their own destiny. Whites, on the other hand, cannot possibly understand the point of view of Wright's black background. Nor can Wright hope to have them fully see the world through his eyes. So, for white readers, he must supply information that will have an effect entirely different from that of his own people. He must, by his tale, induce in whites a feeling of indignation that will lead them to act. This dual purpose, Sartre says, is what creates the tension in Wright's work.
Wright's use of the naturalistic form is inevitable under the circumstances. He must maintain an objective voice for his white readers. At the same time, he must write about what is most familiar and painful to blacks. There is never any question that he will tell the truth and that his words will have passion behind them. It would not be possible to have it otherwise.
