Is Wright justified in refusing to say the speech?
Of course Wright is justified in refusing to say the speech his principal gave him. If I were named valedictorian of my class, and was told I could not give my own speech, but rather say someone else’s, I wouldn’t do it. The principal threatens to keep Wright from graduating if he gives the speech, but he persists to give his own speech. Richard’s life has been full of discouragement from his family and the community, and this time he decides to take a stand against it.
What is really interesting about what happened at graduation was the reaction of the crowd. Some people clapped and tried to shake his hand, others invited him to parties. The audience did not push him down from the stand they were applauding him, a first in Wright’s life.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Justified to Say What He Wants
Posted by Lauren at 6:43 AM
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1 comments:
Lauren-
It’s hard to disagree with Wright about his desire to give his own speech. You covered all the points of that subject.
However, you talked about one part of the chapter that I sort of quickly passed over not realizing the significance of it. That part was the reaction of the audience at the end of his speech. He notes how the people at the graduation (some of them white) applauded him and invited him to parties. In order for them to feel the need to do this, Wright obviously had to have done something right with his speech. It would have made sense for Wright to stop and accept the compliments, but he was too upset about the way the world worked to face them. I understand where Wright is coming from about being mad, but he still should have stopped and been gracious to his supporters.
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