In the book, Richard goes by naturalism and existentialism. I learned a lot about naturalism. The way an environment is shapes a person. I learned that it's not always true that because you have freedom and choice you are responsible for your actions. Richard for example , it seems as if he had the choice to do many thing but he really did not. Therefore I believe that he was not responsible for everything he did.-Esther.
Black Boy is a very influencing novel and many people can learn many things from it such as that people are the way they are either because of naturalism or existentialism. In this case, Richard is both because he learns from his environment and the people around him but he also makes his own choices in certain cases.-Chaina.
In "Black Boy", we can learn many things such as how people act and why do they act like it. In the novel, you can see both naturalism and existentialism. You see them when Richard became a drunkard and started to swear and it was because of the people around him since they forced him to do it. But later on, he starts making his own choices of how he wants to be and who he wants to become. -Lourdes.