GOLD!!! ...plated

The passage on page 273 in which Wright makes reference to the white girls with whom he worked focusing on the "trash" in life gives insight to the fact that they are not specifically concerned with their place in life, as the society as a whole had a preconceived notion that each person would have the insight on their own accord to know where their place is/was. In this right, the girls are able to focus on the frivolous, unnecessary aspects of pop culture, while at the same time Wright struggles through the day-to-day hardships that he faces merely because of his race. There is something here that is inherently wrong. I would equate this situation with a more modern example: the hierarchy based upon popularity that has manifested itself recently in our school systems and abroad. It is apparent that there are certain members of a society (a typical high school environment for example) that are in such a place in this preconceived caste system that they need not worry about the social struggle that takes place on the daily, because they will have everything taken care of for them, and if they should somehow make a mistake (in general) they will not be dejected as a result. There are others, however, (these are the ones with whom I equate Wright) that are in such a downcast social standing that they have to pay attention to the social ties around them; to the things that truly matter in life. They don't need to (or can't) focus on the more fleeting aspects (i.e. cars, radios, more modern: dating, social networking, etc.) because any distraction from the central focus of trying to fit in could potentially have drastic social and physical consequences. In short, Richard worked for and paid attention to the solid things; the lasting things that would truly matter and what made him his own individual. The other people were shallow; immersed in pop culture with no intellectual fortitude to make even so much as a thought to their own personal existance and relivance.