wright has grown up receiving different messages his whole life from the environment that he lives in. all affecting the way that he views the world. the short few pages where Wright describes the jews is just an example of one of those views that has been imbedded in him since he was a child. No matter to what extent of how religious the people were - whether it was his Granny or his mom, the majority of people back then were christians. since jews allegedly killed Christ, many people held prejudices against jews. it wasnt that wright had chose to not like jews, that he really hated them for killing christ, but he had been taught even by his mother who throughout the story doesnt seem to be racist, he had been taught by her to not dislike them. to antagonize them and distrust jews was something they were bred from childhood. most parents "generally approved, actively or passively." it was still around this age when Wright had a question, he would askhis mother, or someone close to him to learn the answer. therefore, he being surrounded by this way of distrusting jews, this prejudice, that seemed "the answer."
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Mallory I agree with your post completely. Wright did not know any other way to handle the situation with the Jewish people in his neighborhood. When you have been taught a way to act towards and around someone, it sinks into your head and becomes second nature. The approval that his family had of the behavior did not help the problem either. Also like you said, this era did have a major bearing on the way he acted around the Jews. The majority of the United States was Christian, and the belief was that the Jews killed Christ, the savior of Christianity. The prejudice that Wright experienced toward the Jews was not brought on by his own feelings at all. If Richard had decided on his own to hate the Jews for a just cause, then there would be a different problem we would need to look at.
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