Comparison of the Central Themes of Zami a New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde, and Richard Wright's Text Black Boy

Zami A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde, and Black Boy by Richard Wright are two texts that depict what is appears to be one of societies greatest fears in life; loneliness. Zami is a biomythography that details the confusion Lorde experiences growing up in not only a racist society that was not accepting to her dark skinned family, but a society that was not open to "alternative lifestyles". Lorde seems to struggle the most with her isolation during her youth, and seems to gain confidence and acceptance as she grows older. This is probably due to her personal aging, and society growing up as well. In Black Boy, Richard Wright writes his life story mapping his struggles from a young mischievous boy, to the deeper more painful experiences growing up as a black man in the Jim Crow South. He writes of his isolation in a much different manner than Lorde, displaying much more anger and passion, but ultimately both Lorde and Wright show that loneliness is not always a negative experience, but is always painful. They also show that separation is not the same as loneliness and can have positive effects.

While Lorde did also grow up in a racist society, her loneliness mainly stems from her sexual preferences and her family. Lorde writes, "I have always wanted to be both man and woman, to incorporate the strongest and richest parts of my mother and father within/into me- to share valleys and mountains upon my body the way the earth does in hills and peaks" (7).