"The Library Card" Richard Wright

There are so many different ways to tackle the theme of prejudicism. Some authors make the point so valid and in-your-face that the reader just wants to shut the book and scream, "I get your point! Can we just talk about something else?!" Others, however, including Richard Wright, are able to gracefully make discrimination a main concern while still creating a interesting piece of writing.
Here is a black man who hears the name of an author, H.L. Mencken, and lets his curiousity explore the wonderful world of reading while sneaking books under an employer's name. Genius. Pure genius, Richard Wright. Not only is the main character able to explore bits of wisdom from well-known authors, but he is also able to open his mind to new thoughts and ideas. Books become the character's key to freedom. "But to feel that there were feelings denied me, that the very breath of life itself was beyond my reach, that more than anything else hurt, wounded me. I had a new hunger" (43). He seemed to fall out of complaceny when he was able to pick up a book and read.
I cannot help but wonder about how I have never had to sneak a book out of a library because my skin color or ethnicity. Wright has an entire essay (at the very least three hours of writing and editing) of an essay where a man sneaks books. It's odd how our society can change. I could see young adolescents sneak to the movie theaters to see a rated "R" movie, but for a book?! Books are what we have to read in school, analyze and write the most boring three-page essays on. I commend Wright for not only tackling the issue of discrimination, but for showing the ostracism through the what sometimes seems like a dying media. This essay is a perfect example of how books and the ideas that they present can change a man's way of thinking.
The black man in this essay was able to find a new sense of freedom through reading. Others have found Christianity, love, forgiveness, value, and purpose.
Maybe I am being a little too harsh on our society today, but it would be refreshing to see a kid steal a library book.