Big Boy Leaves Home

In his first published work, “Big Boy Leaves Home,” Wright paves the way for a new African American literary movement by invoking and subverting two powerful American literary traditions—the coming-of-age story and protest literature. His departures from the tropes and techniques associated with these traditions establish a political aesthetic that offers a more authentic representation of Black people and a more ethical means of protesting their oppression.

The title “Big Boy Leaves Home” gives the impression that one is about to read a classic coming-of-age story about the protagonist’s transition into adulthood. In many ways, that’s true. The story is told primarily through the adolescent Big Boy’s point of view, and it does depict him leaving home to go out into the wider world. However, Wright offers a shocking twist on this trope with the extremely abrupt, forced, and violent nature of Big Boy’s transition. As the story unfolds, a halcyon afternoon soon turns into a shockingly brutal ordeal, and the title is revealed to be a radical understatement. That is, Wright’s straightforward, unembellished diction in the title downplays the horror of what is to come, disrupting readers’ expectations to make a point.