--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My mother's suffering grew into a symbol…" description: "\"“My mother's suffering grew into a symbol in my mind, gathering to itself all the poverty, the ignorance, the helplessness; the painful, baffling, hung..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/013/richard-wright-4088_life_my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-a-symbol_1661337.jpg" --- # My mother's suffering grew into a symbol in my mind… ![“My mother's suffering grew into a symbol in my mind, gathering to itself all the poverty, the ignorance, the helplessness; the painful, baffling, hunger-ridden days and hours; the restless moving, the futile seeking, the uncertainty, the fear, the dread; the meaningless pain and the endless…” quote by Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/013/richard-wright-4088_life_my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-a-symbol_1661337.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/013/richard-wright-4088_life_my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-a-symbol_1661337.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/013/richard-wright-4088_life_my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-a-symbol_1661337.jpg) > ““My mother's suffering grew into a symbol in my mind, gathering to itself all the poverty, the ignorance, the helplessness; the painful, baffling, hunger-ridden days and hours; the restless moving, the futile seeking, the uncertainty, the fear, the dread; the meaningless pain and the endless suffering. Her life set the emotional tone of my life, colored the men and women I was to meet in the future, conditioned my relation to events that had not yet happened, determined my attitude to situations and circumstances I had yet to face. A somberness of spirit that I was never to lose settled over me during the slow years of my mother's unrelieved suffering, a somberness that was to make me stand apart and look upon excessive joy with suspicion, that was to make me keep forever on the move, as though to escape a nameless fate seeking to overtake me. At the age of twelve, before I had one year of formal schooling, I had a conception of life that no experience would ever erase, a predilection for what was real that no argument could ever gainsay, a sense of the world that was mine and mine alone, a notion as to what life meant that no education could ever alter, a conviction that the meaning of living came only when one was struggling to wring a meaning out of meaningless suffering. At the age of twelve I had an attitude toward life that was to endure, that was to make me seek those areas of living that would keep it alive, that was to make me skeptical of everything while seeking everything, tolerant of all and yet critical. The spirit I had caught gave me insight into the sufferings of others, made me gravitate toward those whose feelings were like my own, made me sit for hours while others told me of their lives, made me strangely tender and cruel, violent and peaceful. It made me want to drive coldly to the heart of every question and it open to the core of suffering I knew I would find there. It made me love burrowing into psychology, into realistic and naturalistic fiction and art, into those whirlpools of politics that had the power to claim the whole of men's souls. It directed my loyalties to the side of men in rebellion; it made me love talk that sought answers to questions that could help nobody, that could only keep alive in me that enthralling sense of wonder and awe in the face of the drama of human feeling which is hidden by the external drama of life.”” [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator describes how early exposure to a mother’s prolonged suffering forged a lifelong somber perspective, driving a relentless search for meaning amidst hardship. **In simple terms:** Mother’s pain shaped a lifelong quest for meaning. Key Takeaway Embrace suffering as a catalyst for deeper understanding. Themes suffering meaning resilience Mood thoughtful somber Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - counseling - creative writing - mental health work Key Concepts existentialism psychology empathy Questions to Reflect On - What role does joy play in a life marked by suffering? - Can one find meaning without constant struggle? A Different Perspective The focus on suffering may overlook joy and healing possibilities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Drama Of Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drama-of-life/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Meaningless Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaningless-suffering-760967/) [Men and women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-and-women/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Sense of wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-of-wonder/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Suffering Grew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering-grew-760966/) [Suffering Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering-life-376193/) [Sufferings Gravitate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sufferings-gravitate-760968/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [“My mother's suffering grew into as symbol in my mind, gathering to itself all the poverty, the ignorance, the helplessness; the painful, baffling, hunger-ridden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-as-symbol-in-my-mind-gathering-to/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“At the age of twelve, before I had had one full year of formal schooling, I had a conception of life that no experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/at-the-age-of-twelve-before-i-had-had-one-full-year-of-formal/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [It made me love talk that sought answers to questions that could help nobody, that could only keep alive in me that enthralling sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/it-made-me-love-talk-that-sought-answers-to-questions-that-could-help/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [Without hope, there is no despair. There is only meaningless suffering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/without-hope-there-is-no-despair-there-is-only-meaningless-suffering/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Death is the night sky, the background against which the fleeting fireworks of life are displayed, an empty stage upon which the drama of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-rozoff/death-is-the-night-sky-the-background-against-which-the-fleeting/) [James Rozoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-rozoff/) > [If you take a deep breath and look around, 'Look what's happening to me!' can become 'Look what's happening!' And what's happening? The incredible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-boorstein/if-you-take-a-deep-breath-and-look-around-look-what-s-happening-to-me/) [Sylvia Boorstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-boorstein/) > [“believe that this way of living, this focus on the present, the daily, the tangible, this intense concentration not on the news headlines but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/believe-that-this-way-of-living-this-focus-on-the-present-the-daily/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [By obtaining a sense of its place in the unfolding drama of life, set in an ecological theatre, so we can understand why it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-conway-morris/by-obtaining-a-sense-of-its-place-in-the-unfolding-drama-of-life-set/) [Simon Conway Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-conway-morris/) > [The drama of life begins with a wail and ends with a sigh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/minna-antrim/the-drama-of-life-begins-with-a-wail-and-ends-with-a-sigh/) [Minna Antrim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/minna-antrim/) > [The real drama of life is never centerstage. It's always in the wings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-rogers/the-real-drama-of-life-is-never-centerstage-it-s-always-in-the-wings/) [Fred Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-rogers/) > [“Every one of us has been called to be an actor in the drama of life and everyone has a role to play as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/every-one-of-us-has-been-called-to-be-an-actor-in-the-drama-of-life/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [ “people\] can see only the human actors upon the stage of history. Wicked rulers, ruthless dictators, tyrants, oppressors, kings, governments, and presidents are, to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-hitchcock/people-can-see-only-the-human-actors-upon-the-stage-of-history-wicked/) [Mark Hitchcock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-hitchcock/) > [“The drama of life is a psychological one in which all the conditions, circumstances, and events of your life are brought to pass by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neville/the-drama-of-life-is-a-psychological-one-in-which-all-the-conditions/) [Neville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neville/) > [Not infrequently, Southern food now unlocks the rusty gates of race and class, age and sex. On such occasions, a place at the table…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-egerton/not-infrequently-southern-food-now-unlocks-the-rusty-gates-of-race/) [John Egerton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-egerton/) > [Those who call me God, will fall into the deep pit of hell. Regard me as one of his slaves and have no doubt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guru-gobind-singh/those-who-call-me-god-will-fall-into-the-deep-pit-of-hell-regard-me/) [Guru Gobind Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guru-gobind-singh/) ## More by Richard Wright > [“My days and nights were one long, quiet, continuously contained dream of teror, tension, and anxiety. I wondered how long I could bear it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/my-days-and-nights-were-one-long-quiet-continuously-contained-dream/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [It made me love talk that sought answers to questions that could help nobody, that could only keep alive in me that enthralling sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/it-made-me-love-talk-that-sought-answers-to-questions-that-could-help/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“Having been thrust out of the world because of my race, I had accepted my destiny by not being curious about what shaped it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/having-been-thrust-out-of-the-world-because-of-my-race-i-had-accepted/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [He had lived and acted on the assumption that he was alone, and now he saw that he had not been. What he had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/he-had-lived-and-acted-on-the-assumption-that-he-was-alone-and-now-he/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [Reading was like a drug, a dope. The novels created moods in which I lived for days.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/reading-was-like-a-drug-a-dope-the-novels-created-moods-in-which-i/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [It would have been impossible for me to have told anyone what I derived from these novels, for it was nothing less than a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/it-would-have-been-impossible-for-me-to-have-told-anyone-what-i/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“If you've a notion of what man's heart is, wouldn't you say that maybe the whole effort of man on earth to build a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/if-you-ve-a-notion-of-what-man-s-heart-is-wouldn-t-you-say-that-maybe/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“From far beyond the horizons that bound this bleak plantation there had come to me through my living the knowledge that my father was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/from-far-beyond-the-horizons-that-bound-this-bleak-plantation-there/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“Color hate defined the place of black life as below that of white life; and the black man, responding to the same dreams as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/color-hate-defined-the-place-of-black-life-as-below-that-of-white/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“These fantasies were no longer a reflection of my reaction to the white people, they were a part of my living, of my emotional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/these-fantasies-were-no-longer-a-reflection-of-my-reaction-to-the/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“Their constant outward-looking, their mania for radios, cars, and a thousand other trinkets made them dream and fix their eyes upon the trash of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/their-constant-outward-looking-their-mania-for-radios-cars-and-a/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“absolute power is corrupting”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/absolute-power-is-corrupting/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“In me was shaping a yearning for a kind of consciousness, a mode of being that the way of life about me had said…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/in-me-was-shaping-a-yearning-for-a-kind-of-consciousness-a-mode-of/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [The impulse to dream was slowly beaten out of me by experience. Now it surged up again and I hungered for books, new ways…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/the-impulse-to-dream-was-slowly-beaten-out-of-me-by-experience-now-it/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“..when I tried to talk to him I realized that, though ties of blood made us kin, though I could see a shadow of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/when-i-tried-to-talk-to-him-i-realized-that-though-ties-of-blood-made/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) [Explore all 116 Richard Wright quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) ## More Life quotes > [Of all the people who have affected my life and influenced the choices I've made, none has been more important than my father. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teddy-atlas/of-all-the-people-who-have-affected-my-life-and-influenced-the/) [Teddy Atlas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teddy-atlas/) > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life works most perfectly when a reciprocal love relationship is in place between man and God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/life-works-most-perfectly-when-a-reciprocal-love-relationship-is-in/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [I value the experiences that come with life too much to sit by and not put my full effort into them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-miller/i-value-the-experiences-that-come-with-life-too-much-to-sit-by-and/) [Jim Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-miller/) > [Entertainment is a sacred pursuit when done well. When done well, it raises the quality of human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-chabon/entertainment-is-a-sacred-pursuit-when-done-well-when-done-well-it/) [Michael Chabon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-chabon/) > [“There's more to life than you can see. Your sight is limited.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tammy-kling/there-s-more-to-life-than-you-can-see-your-sight-is-limited/) [Tammy Kling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tammy-kling/) > [“I've spent much of my life calling my intuition "something wrong with me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deanna-l-lawlis/i-ve-spent-much-of-my-life-calling-my-intuition-something-wrong-with/) [Deanna L. Lawlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deanna-l-lawlis/) > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/) [Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/) > [The only people who think the Internet is a calamity are people whose lives have been hurt by it; the only people who insist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-klosterman/the-only-people-who-think-the-internet-is-a-calamity-are-people-whose/) [Chuck Klosterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-klosterman/) > [The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don't know nothing. I mean, that's my life lesson.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwayne-johnson/the-one-thing-that-i-keep-learning-over-and-over-again-is-that-i-don/) [Dwayne Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwayne-johnson/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The future is only an indifferent void no one cares about, but the past is filled with life, and its countenance is irritating, repellent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-future-is-only-an-indifferent-void-no-one-cares-about-but-the/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Two things revolutionised life: moving to the countryside and falling in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-love/two-things-revolutionised-life-moving-to-the-countryside-and-falling/) [Nick Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-love/) > [But just remember, life without me would be even more unbearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/but-just-remember-life-without-me-would-be-even-more-unbearable/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) [Browse all 265,290 Life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“My mother's suffering grew into a symbol in my mind, gathering to itself all the poverty, the ignorance, the helplessness; the painful, baffling, hunger-ridden days and hours; the restless moving, the futile seeking, the uncertainty, the fear, the dread; the meaningless pain and the endless suffering. Her life set the emotional tone of my life, colored the men and women I was to meet in the future, conditioned my relation to events that had not yet happened, determined my attitude to situations and circumstances I had yet to face. A somberness of spirit that I was never to lose settled over me during the slow years of my mother's unrelieved suffering, a somberness that was to make me stand apart and look upon excessive joy with suspicion, that was to make me keep forever on the move, as though to escape a nameless fate seeking to overtake me. At the age of twelve, before I had one year of formal schooling, I had a conception of life that no experience would ever erase, a predilection for what was real that no argument could ever gainsay, a sense of the world that was mine and mine alone, a notion as to what life meant that no education could ever alter, a conviction that the meaning of living came only when one was struggling to wring a meaning out of meaningless suffering. At the age of twelve I had an attitude toward life that was to endure, that was to make me seek those areas of living that would keep it alive, that was to make me skeptical of everything while seeking everything, tolerant of all and yet critical. The spirit I had caught gave me insight into the sufferings of others, made me gravitate toward those whose feelings were like my own, made me sit for hours while others told me of their lives, made me strangely tender and cruel, violent and peaceful. It made me want to drive coldly to the heart of every question and it open to the core of suffering I knew I would find there. It made me love burrowing into psychology, into realistic and naturalistic fiction and art, into those whirlpools of politics that had the power to claim the whole of men's souls. It directed my loyalties to the side of men in rebellion; it made me love talk that sought answers to questions that could help nobody, that could only keep alive in me that enthralling sense of wonder and awe in the face of the drama of human feeling which is hidden by the external drama of life.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Wright" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-a-symbol-in-my-mind-gathering-to/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Life" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-a-symbol-in-my-mind-gathering-to/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/013/richard-wright-4088_life_my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-a-symbol_1661337.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/013/richard-wright-4088_life_my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-a-symbol_1661337.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/013/richard-wright-4088_life_my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-a-symbol_1661337.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“My mother's suffering grew into a symbol in my mind, gathering to itself all the poverty, the ignorance, the…” — Richard Wright", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Richard Wright", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“My mother's suffering grew into a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-a-symbol-in-my-mind-gathering-to/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/my-mother-s-suffering-grew-into-a-symbol-in-my-mind-gathering-to/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```