Research Paper on:
Richard Wright's 'The Man Who Lived Underground'

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
residence in Europe, led him to treat more than one of our century s major issues, his major theme remained the life of the American Negro. Mr. Wright consistently treated  that life as it was shaped, or misshaped, by the dominant white culture" (Anonymous Richard Wrights Life wright_life.htm). This is not surprising considering he was born to an illiterate sharecropper,  and lived a childhood filled with many struggles (Rayson). His works detailed how many African American people searched for the meaning of life. In his work "Eight Men," a  compilation of eight short stories of eight men seeking the meaning of life, we have several examples of Wrights approach to meaning. One of the stories in this compilation is  "The Man Who Lived Underground." In the following paper we examine some of the characters and stories as they involve the search for the meaning of life. Characters  and the Meaning of Life It should be noted, first and foremost, that the information presented is only intended to serve as a tutorial. Suggestions and simple illustrations are provided  in order to assist the student in understanding how Wrights characters can, and do, search for their own particular meaning as it relates to life. It is up to the  student to determine what their perspective is in relationship to the various characters discovery or pursuit of meaning. Our first examination involves the main character in "The Man Who  Lived Underground." Here is a man who lives underground, voluntarily it seems, in order to find some meaning in life. He has moved himself to the darkest and most vile  conditions he could perhaps know, in the hopes of finding enlightenment and truth and meaning. And, while the underground is actually, physically, a place that is dark and depressing and