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A review by aurora410
The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright
5.0
"And then a strange and new knowledge overwhelmed him: he was all people. In some unutterable fashion he was all people and they were he; by the identity of their emotions they were one, and he was one with them. And this was the oneness that linked man to man, in life or death. Yet even with this knowledge, this identification with others, this obliteration of self, another knowledge swept through him too, banishing all fear and doubt and loss: he now knew too the inexpressible value and importance of himself...He did not think these things; he felt them through images." (106)
"Outside of time and space, he looked down upon the earth and saw that each fleeting day was a day of dying, that men died slowly with each passing moment as much as they did in war, that human grief and sorrow were utterly insufficient to this vast, dreary spectacle." (113)
"This tendency of freely juxtaposing totally unrelated images and symbols and then tying them into some overall concept, mood, feeling is a trait of Black thinking and feeling that has always fascinated me...The ability to tie the many floating items of her environment together into one meaningful whole was the function of her religious attitude." (176)
"events that create fear or enchantment in a young mind are the ones whose impressions last longest; it may be that the neural paths of response made in the young form the streets, tracks, and roadways over which the vehicles of later experiences run.......what is the eaffect of the story of Christ's death and agony upon the cross upon children of 5 or 6 years of age. I've heard parents express horror at their children listening to crime stories on the radio; yet on Sunday mornings they never hesitate to sent them off to Sunday school to hear the most horrific story of all." (180)
"The cardinal joy in such writing stems from the feeling of freedom! That, above all. Here, in The Man Who Lived Underground, for the first time in my writing, I could burrow into places of American life where I'd never gone before, and link that life organically with my basic theme; and not only link it, but link it in a way that carried-to my mind and feelings-an unmistakable relationship." (190)
"breaking represents a point in life where the past falls away and the character must, in order to go on living, fling himself upon the face of the formless night and create a world, a new world, in which to live." (192)
"Tradition is a dream, and he who does not dream cannot feel his own past, and he who does not feel the past cannot feel the need for the future. A dream is tense and tension is the prelude to action." (194)
"Outside of time and space, he looked down upon the earth and saw that each fleeting day was a day of dying, that men died slowly with each passing moment as much as they did in war, that human grief and sorrow were utterly insufficient to this vast, dreary spectacle." (113)
"This tendency of freely juxtaposing totally unrelated images and symbols and then tying them into some overall concept, mood, feeling is a trait of Black thinking and feeling that has always fascinated me...The ability to tie the many floating items of her environment together into one meaningful whole was the function of her religious attitude." (176)
"events that create fear or enchantment in a young mind are the ones whose impressions last longest; it may be that the neural paths of response made in the young form the streets, tracks, and roadways over which the vehicles of later experiences run.......what is the eaffect of the story of Christ's death and agony upon the cross upon children of 5 or 6 years of age. I've heard parents express horror at their children listening to crime stories on the radio; yet on Sunday mornings they never hesitate to sent them off to Sunday school to hear the most horrific story of all." (180)
"The cardinal joy in such writing stems from the feeling of freedom! That, above all. Here, in The Man Who Lived Underground, for the first time in my writing, I could burrow into places of American life where I'd never gone before, and link that life organically with my basic theme; and not only link it, but link it in a way that carried-to my mind and feelings-an unmistakable relationship." (190)
"breaking represents a point in life where the past falls away and the character must, in order to go on living, fling himself upon the face of the formless night and create a world, a new world, in which to live." (192)
"Tradition is a dream, and he who does not dream cannot feel his own past, and he who does not feel the past cannot feel the need for the future. A dream is tense and tension is the prelude to action." (194)