Late to the game

All around him, Wright observes a nearly Pavlovian response to whites in the blacks he coexists with. When a white appears, blacks shrink back, and in some cases jump out of the way. They lose their individuality and become robots, always offering a yessir and a quick jump to the task at hand. They are just as human as Wright, but have been deeply conditioned into this response through fear and pressure from a very young age. However, because when he was young Wright was unexposed to and even unaware of the issue of race, he never received that conditioning. As Mann wrote, the young are pliable, and by the time Wright experienced white supremacy he had already allowed himself expectations of self-respect and individuality, huge mistakes in the eyes of the whites. This unwillingness and even inability to conceal himself, to become just another black man with downcast eyes leads to much of the suffering Wright experiences. When he refuses to accept white mistreatment of black women he is nearly shot by a security officer. He consistently loses jobs when his pride refuses to let him be subjugated. Even when he wants to bow to the will of the whites he is unable to conform. Wright is late to the game and so can never be a natural or even very good player.