Essay: Stereotypes and Identity in Richard Wright's Library Card

This essay provides an analysis of Richard Wright's 'The Library Card,' focusing on the societal impact of racial stereotypes and their effect on individual identity. The essay examines the historical context, highlighting the discrimination faced by African Americans, particularly in accessing resources like libraries. It explores how stereotypes lead to feelings of inferiority and exclusion, influencing behavior and self-perception. The essay discusses how the protagonist navigates these challenges, using the library card incident to illustrate the systemic barriers that hinder personal and intellectual growth. Furthermore, the essay discusses the impact of stereotypes on performance and the formation of segregated social groups, reflecting on the long-term consequences of racial bias. The paper concludes by acknowledging the historical shift in societal attitudes toward racial equality.

the library card

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Introduction
The library card is the real story of the Richard Wright. This essay is about the circumstances
that he faced in his entire life. He was a black man commonly known as Negros of his time. That
was the era of ignoring black person by the white men. (Wright Richard, 25-31). In this paper, it
is going to discuss the "how do stereotypes and societal expectation affects one's identity”?
Thesis statement
 Black is ignored by white men
 Negros that are black men are not allowed to use library
 Richard was curious to read the novel by Mencken
Stereotype people
A stereotype can cause the situation of stereotype threat which refers to the situation in which
one can feel that they can be judged by the people in a negative sense on the basis of single trait,
so they ignore the social events and refuses to participate in the society as they are very anxiety
from stereotype people in the society. For example when Richards went to the library but did not
mention that he wanted the novel of Mencken and handed over the note which was written by a
white man in whom behave he was borrowing the novel, in the letter, it is written that please
allow this "nigger" to issue the Mencken's two novel. It affects the identity of the individual as
they feel separated from the society because some stereotype people judged them and felt that
they are not a part of society and ignored them and their rights. They are allowed to have an
education. (Hoff et al., 206-211)
Performance
Because of stereotype people they cannot perform their task well in which they are often
assumed to be a deficit. They also feel that they do have not that many capabilities so that they

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cannot stand with the white men. This will affects their individual identity as there can be a
possibility that they have much more capability to perform a task and do wonders in their
educations but they are not allowed to do so. As a result, they themselves feel inferior to white
men. (Steele, 613)
Example
For example in the essay, when their landlady asked what happen to him why he was reading
novel from day to night he just ignored her by saying it's just for killing time as he was believed
that their thoughts cannot be understood by other and he cannot have that much capability to
write the novel. Due to this type of behavior of society, they join the different club which was
named by "Negros club." (Wright Richard, 25-31)
Conclusion
This article is based on the life of Richard. During that time the blacks were ignored by white
men and they were not allowed to have education but Richard was very curious to know the life
of Mencken so he went to library and issued the novel of his by the name of his manager as black
men were not allowed to issue novel from the library. So the stereotype people affects the
identity of Negros so they formed their own groups and escape themselves from involving them
in white groups because of that they felt that they are inferior and not able to do anything what
the white men can do. But now a days this situations has changed now and they are equally
treated as white men.

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References
Hoff, Karla, and Priyanka Pandey. "Discrimination, social identity, and durable inequalities."
The American economic review 96.2 (2006): 206-211.
Wright, Richard. "The Library Card." The College ReaderEd. Sue Lonoff de Cuevas. New York:
HarperCollins (1993): 25-31.
Steele, Claude M. "A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and
performance." American psychologist 52.6 (1997): 613.