Social Injustice In Richard Wright's Native Son

Native Son by Richard Wright is about a black man, Bigger Thomas, who is becomes the chauffeur of the Daltons, a rich white family, and accidently kills the daughter, Mary. He attempts to cover his crime by putting the blame on someone else, but he is eventually caught and sentenced to death. Bigger deceives in an attempt avoid the consequences he knows the white world will deliver to him with and this deception contributes to Wright’s message of what racism does to the oppressed and additionally puts Wright’s communist party in a positive light.

What is black, white, and red all over? A sunburned zebra, of course! These three colors also describe events that occur in Richard Wright’s novel Native Son. While a great deal of importance is placed on the color black, white remains present throughout the novel. The colors combine in many instances to lend great significance to characterization and setting. Through symbolism, Wright uses the colors black and white to illustrate the major problem of the era: the separation of black and white Americans. Furthermore, Wright utilizes "communist" red to emphasize the novel's overwhelming black and white imagery.

In Richard Wright’s Native Son, the book is split into three books. The first 2 books focus mainly on the suspense and tensions rising within Bigger’s life and finally in the last book he dies. The dramatic conflict of Native Son takes place chiefly within the mind of Bigger Thomas, who lives in a world of whites, blacks , or reds. To Bigger all of life is conflict and issues that is defined by the color of your skin with the whites being higher up. The tensions within the book can be comparable to fire and ice as each element possess traits which can be seen as metaphors within the novel Native son by Richard Wright and his essay of “How Bigger was Born”.

After Gus and Bigger finished playing white, they began to talk about the lives of the white people. Gus talks about white privileges. Bigger replies "I don’t know. I just feel that way. Every time I get to thinking about me being black and they being white, me being here and they being there, I feel like something awful’s going to happen to me..."(Wright, 20). The quotation exposes that Bigger could not overcome the obstacle of fear. His fear of white superiority restrains him from being courageous in taking control to improve where he is at now. Wright used words such as “being here” and “being there” to develop a sense of racial hierarchy that Bigger is afraid to go against. The word “Everytime” suggests that this feeling has always surrounded him and it’s unstoppable. If he opens up and tries, chances may be able to come to him but he chose not to. This fear is like a wall in his heart that he is unable to destroy. The collapse of the wall can cause chaos, and it is not what Bigger want. Altogether, fear of white supremacy confine Bigger in one place and does not let him leave so he can achieve that

Throughout the novel, Wright uses both dialogue and narrative to move the plot forward. Through dialogue, Wright shows the interactions between Bigger and the other characters, which reveal the feelings and thoughts of others in order to give the reader a well-rounded perspective on the matter. Wright especially uses narrative throughout the plot to depict new settings, reveal Bigger’s first opinions of others, and also flow through Bigger’s thinking process. Because of this, the readers are able to better understand and relate to his emotions that may lead to his uncontrollable actions. In blending the use of dialogue and narrative, Wright takes the reader through Bigger’s interactions with other characters, and he also shows how these interactions affect Bigger’s later behavior in various situations.

Bigger Thomas is a fictional, 20 year old, Negro male living in Chicago during the Great Depression. This character, created by Richard Wright in Native Son, became assigned with the job of giving insight to the life of a black American male during the 1930s. Bigger lived a life in which he made decisions on impulse, fueled by his emotions. No action Bigger completed became carried out with proper thought and rationality, thus, ultimately ending in his imprisonment and, furthermore, his death. Through the telling of Bigger’s life, Wright shows what influences created a man such as Bigger. In doing this, Wright proves that Bigger Thomas cannot exist as more than a symbol used to highlight the oppression the black race faced post Civil War.

In “Notes of a Native Son”, James Baldwin intertwines his personal narrative thread and the broader, societal narrative thread. He draws from his childhood, explicating how he and his siblings did not understand or enjoy being around their father growing up, and his first time experiencing discrimination in the workplace. Baldwin then draws from societal issues by touching on a story in the Hotel Braddock where a Negro soldier and a white policeman got into a quarrel that was blown slightly out of proportion. The two threads allowed the reader to acknowledge the active role they play in fighting commonplace injustices. The author uses the closeness of hatred and hurt in regard to visiting his father in hospice care and the fabrication of alternative facts during the Harlem race riots to erect a guideline on how to combat injustice. He also stresses the importance of eradicating hate in the hearts of those involved. At length, the guideline becomes a plan of action for beginning a cross-generational project to stop the systematic oppression of his people. Baldwin is an advocate of the intersectionality of injustice and how change begins with self-reflection.

In the beginning, when Bigger started working for the Dalton’s, he had to drive Mary Dalton, the daughter, to the University of Chicago. However, she wanted him to pick up her boyfriend, Jan, and head to a restaurant. When Bigger was in the car with Jan and Mary, “he was very conscious of his black skin...Jan and men like him” made Bigger feel insecure of who he was. (Wright 67) Even though Jan and Mary did not say anything that would insult his race, the presence of white people made him self-conscious. Being

A quote by Ralph Ellison states, “Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat”. I choose to open my paper with quote for the reason that, this quote undoubtedly fits with the theme of my paper. African Americans were treated as 2nd class for 2 decades and once set “free” had to start from scratch. Today, a sense of freedom from any time of injustice is still being desired. In the novel, Native Son by Richard Wright, the lack of power among the characters caused them to live in fear. Leaving them to make choices they wouldn't have made otherwise.

Growing up through hate, violence and loneliness is life changing. In Black Boy Richard Wright tells about his life growing up with racial inequality,being poor and living with his family. Richard Wright demonstrates his experience and understanding of the black community in the early 1900’s by incorporating examples of its disjointedness, low standards of living and violence. Richard Wright uses his experience and understanding to display that black population was disjointed. The suffering that Richard’s mom endures changes richard.

My most recent heartening relationship with a book would be Richard Wright’s rewarding novel Native Son. My acquaintance with the novel emerged from a spontaneous impulse for a distinct genre in ratio to the norm. The social novel bases on African-American Literature, interpreting the average historical racism memoir. Thus, the choice of novel was a treasured story in a book of empty words. The fictional story was narrated in 3rd person omniscient in purpose for the readers to merge in reason following the main character who is an African American living in 1930’s Chicago poverty and his journey to a sentenced death. The story’s point of view is essential to sincerely consider the racial situations and ponder the destructive effect and neglect

In Native Son, Wright uses both dialogue and narrative to move the plot forward. Utilizing dialogue, Wright presents the interactions between Bigger and the other characters, which reveal the feelings and thoughts of others in order to give the reader a well-rounded perspective on the matter. Wright especially uses narrative throughout the plot to depict new settings and expose Bigger’s thought process. Because of this, the readers are able to understand and relate to Bigger’s emotions that lead to his uncontrollable actions. In blending the use of dialogue and narrative, Wright takes the reader through Bigger’s interactions with other characters, and he incorporates the effect of these interactions into Bigger’s later behavior.

Oppression and Racism what are they? The dictionary defines oppression as “A prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or exercise of authority”, and Racism as “A belief that a particular race or group of people is superior or inferior to another”. Both of these exist in many societies and take on many forms and have no respect of your gender, your race or your financial status. In the early 1900’s in many parts of the United States these forces affected the decisions of many and controlled many of the actions of the people in that era. These people were ignorant to the fact that all men were equal in the eyes of God. Richard Wright in his novel, “Native Son” introduces Bigger Thomas and details his life as a black man living in what he calls

Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son, depicts the life of the general black community in Chicago during the 1930’s. Though African Americans had been freed from slavery, they were still burdened with financial and social oppression. Forced to live in small, unclean quarters, eat foods on the verge of going bad, and pay entirely too much for both, these people struggled not to be pressured into a dangerous state of mind (Bryant). All the while, they are expected to act subserviently before their oppressors. These conditions rub many the wrong way, especially Bigger Thomas, the protagonist of the story. Though everyone he is surrounded by is going through all the same things that he is, growing up poor and uneducated has made Bigger angry at the whole world. You can see this anger in everything he does, from his initial thoughts to his final actions. Because of this, Bigger Thomas almost seems destined to find trouble and meet a horrible fate. Wright uses these conventions of naturalism to develop Bigger’s view of the white community(). With all of these complications, Bigger begins to view all white people as an overwhelming force that drags him to his end. Wright pushes the readers into Bigger’s mind, thoroughly explaining Bigger’s personal decay. Even Wright himself says that Bigger is in fact a native son, just a “product of American culture and the violence and racism that suffuse it” (Wright).

In Richard Wright’s Native Son, Bigger Thomas attempts to gain power over his environment through violence whenever he is in a position to do so.