One of Wright’s earliest memories is of setting the house of Margaret Wilson, his grandmother, on fire during a family visit. Wright is only four at the time, and the beating his mother gives him for setting the house on fire and hiding underneath the house teaches Wright that he could be killed at any moment, even by his own mother.

When Wright is six, his family moves from Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee, in search of work. With his parents consumed with work, Wright ran wild: he got alcohol in exchange for repeating curses and filthy language to patrons of the local saloon by age six; he also learns to navigate street violence among the children of his neighborhood. He learns early that beyond poverty, there are also racial divides that separate him from his white peers. Wright recalls killing a kitten during this period after maliciously complying with his father’s demand that he shut the kitten up so his father could sleep. The horror of being forced to bury and sit with the kitten drives Wright to hysteria, and Wright reacts violently and emotionally to being forced to conform to the demands of authority figures.