The Life and Works of Richard Wright Essay

Many times in novels, authors will use conflicts to strengthen the plot and to give more depth to the story that they are penning. There are four main plot conflicts that authors have to choose from: man versus nature, man versus society, man versus man, and finally, man versus self. Authors, many times, will use only one or two of these conflicts but in the novel, Native Son, all four conflicts are used to some extent. In this novel, Richard Wright, does a superb job of meticulously blending all four conflicts together to form a well-rounded novel about a black man in 1920 's Chicago.

In his most famous novel, Native Son, Richard Wright's female characters exist not as self-sufficient, but only in relation to the male figures of authority that surround them, such as their boyfriends, husbands, sons, fathers, and Bigger Thomas, the protagonists. Wright presents the women in Native Son as meaningless without a male counterpart, in which the women can not function as an independent character on their own. Although Wright depicts clearly the oppression of Blacks, he appears unconscious of creating female characters who regardless of race, are exploited and suppressed. Their sole purpose in the novel is to further the story by putting Bigger in new and more dangerous situations by

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”.

Richard Wright, wrote the fictional novel Native Son, using three intellectual forces, which include: Naturalism, Existentialism, and Communism. He uses these forces, along with racist ideology, to shape the life of a young black male, Bigger, living in the ‘Black Belt’ of Chicago in the 1940’s. Wright refers to the ‘Black Belt,’ as a ‘black world’ where violence is directed towards other American Americans, and warns that this violence will be aimed at white people. Bigger, is used to depict the criminal actions that come along with living in racial confinement under the fear of white people during this time.

Mary was having a conversation with Bigger and asked him several questions. She wants to help out the African American. After she left the car for a moment, a thought occurs to Bigger. It was “The hard fact that she was white and rich, a part of the world of people who told him what he could and could not do”(Wright, 65). In this quote, Wright conveyed how Bigger was destined to never be equal to the whites or have the same power. He categorized Mary as “a part of the world” which indicates the existence of segregation in society and how his life is influenced by it. People from that part of the world may tell him something but in his mind, it seems like an order. Wright used the phrase “hard fact” to symbolize that it is the truth so it cannot be changed. In Bigger’s world, it is a reality that does not want to accept. Racial discrimination put them on a different standard from birth, which contributes to the fact that Bigger is unable to have control over his

Wright uses Bigger’s psychological corruption to send a message to the reader. It offers a new view on the underlying effects of racism on the black community of the time period. Wright creates Bigger from the diversity he saw throughout American society. “I made the discovery that Bigger Thomas was not black all the time; he was white, too, and there were literally millions of him, everywhere... I became conscious, at first dimly, and then later on with increasing clarity and conviction, of a vast, muddied pool of human life in America. It was as though I had put on a pair of spectacles whose power was that of an x-ray enabling me to see deeper into the lives of men. Whenever I picked up a newspaper, I 'd no longer feel that I was reading of the doings of whites alone (Negroes are rarely mentioned in the press unless they 've

In Native Son, Richard Wright paces the plot through his varying sentence structure which differs depending upon the situation at hand. Through the use of short and succinct sentences, especially in dialogue, Wright displays Bigger’s timid nature towards white people. In the narrative, the use of concise sentences depicts fast motions and the simple observations of Bigger. For example, when Bigger carries the intoxicated Mary to her room, Wright describes, “He turned her round and began to mount the steps, one by one. He heard a slight creaking and stopped. He looked, straining his eyes in the gloom. But there was no one” (105) By using simple statements, Wright shows

Undoubtedly, Richard Wright was a patient who was anything but stagnant. Almost every aspect of the youth was fickle, especially the world surrounding him. However, there was one significant feature of Richard that was not prone to transition: his frame of mind. After my first session with Richard, I perceived almost instantaneously that Richard was the sufferer of major depressive disorder. On the disposition spectrum, Richard lingered at the bottom with perpetual melancholy. His frame of mind was virtually static, with episodes of mania and normal mood few and far between. I took Richard under my wing with the sole intention of helping him contend with this monster of the human psyche. Let us review the progress Richard and I have made in that psychological strife.

In Richard Wright’s Native Son, alienation, the state of being isolated from a group or an activity to which one should belong or be involved in, is a major theme presented in the novel. The protagonist, Bigger Thomas, faces alienation repeatedly from society due to his identity as a young African American boy living in Chicago. Because of his skin color, in different places, he felt inferior to everyone around him and felt like he had no purpose in his life because of society’s expectations: African Americans ending up in a jail cell for the rest of their lives, making them feel worthless. As a result, he went looking for that power without knowing it. When he killed both Mary and Bessie, he felt that power rush to him. However, Bigger does end up in jail because of his wrong doings. Even though justice was served for the killings of Mary Dalton and Bessie, he did not deserve such a harsh sentence just because he is a darker skin tone compared to the Whites.

  In Native Son, Wright employs Naturalistic ideology and imagery, creating the character of Bigger Thomas, who seems to be composed of a mass of disruptive emotions rather than a rational mind joined by a soul. This concept introduces the possibility that racism is not the only message of the novel, that perhaps every person would feel as isolated and alone as Bigger does were he trapped in such a vicious cycle of violence and oppression. Bigger strives to find a place for himself, but the blindness he encounters in those around him and the bleak harshness of the Naturalistic society that Wright presents the reader with close him out as effectively as if they had shut a door in his

When analyzing Bigger Thomas, Richard Wright’s protagonist in the novel Native Son, one must take into consideration the development of his characterization. Being a poor twenty-year-old Black man in the south side of Chicago living with his family in a cramped one- bedroom apartment in the 1930’s, the odds of him prospering in life were not in his favor. Filled with oppression, violence, and tragedy, Bigger Thomas’ life was doomed from the moment he was born. Through the novel, Bigger divulges his own dreams to provide for his family and to be anything but a “nobody.” Although Bigger struggled to fight through obstacles to pursue his dreams for the future, his chase for a better life came to an abrupt

Slavery might have ended, but the 1940s in America were still a time of racial prejudices and discrimination. Many treated African Americans as subhuman, limiting their education, where they could live, and their individual rights. Richard Wright, an African American author in the 1940s, became frustrated with the state of a society where all men were supposedly equal. In Native Son, Wright shows how prejudice and discrimination can shape one’s conscience, self-esteem, and trust in others to show white Americans the people bred by racism. Bigger Thomas, a member of a poor African American family, finds himself accidentally killing a white woman named Mary Dalton.

Bigger Thomas is not an ordinary character that is portrayed in racial-poverty at the time. Were used to seeing the same story every day from this time period. Only a few heroic people have stood up but never like as we see here. Bigger Thomas is a representation of all black men of this time: full of fear. There worried for themselves and for their own families. They try making a living but due to their color, they are limited to very few things. The accidental murdering of Mary, finally gave Bigger a purpose in life even though it wasn’t a good one. Many times was Bigger given the tension that he is powerless in this world like when Boris mentioned it to him how it’s a daily routine for all black men to live with stress. Bigger Thomas is a character that can truly be presented as real life character with his struggles of poverty, racism, and he has to show that he does in fact exist.

Richard Wright’s Native Son is about the cost of suffering and sacrifices which one man, defined as the Other from the mainstream of society, must pay in order to live as a full human being in a world that denies him the right to live with dignity. As a social being, Bigger Thomas is completely deprived himself because he is unable to find his social and self-esteemed values both in the stunted ghetto life and in the oppression of racist society. Therefore, the only way Bigger can express himself is through violence and rebellion: Wright views Bigger’s tragic destiny as the evidence which directly reflects the violence of a racist society. Eventually, in Native Son, Wight’s accusation is

Native Son written by Wright, is a book that's placed within the 1930’s, round the time that racism was most popular. Wright focuses on the mistreatment and also the ugly stereotypes that label the Black person in America. Bigger Thomas, the main character is a troubled young man trying to live up the expectations of his home and maintain his reputation in his neighborhood. Wright’s character is troubled with low self-worth and his lack of education is reflected in his behavior and surroundings. Bigger seems to have dreams of doing better and making something of his future, however is torn because he is constantly being pulled into his dangerous and hard lifestyle. Bigger is filled with fear and anger for whites as a result of racism which has restricted his choices in life and has pushed him and his family into poverty stricken communities with very little hope for change.The protagonist is ashamed of his family's’ dark situation and is afraid of the control whites have over his life. This can be seen being symbolized through the mysterious cat that the Dalton’s have yet to name. Throughout the history of writing, cats have symbolized craftiness, misfortune, deceit and death. Richard Wright creates no exception to this reputation while the interview for Bigger is going on. Bigger Thomas, a young, depressed black man, is placed in an awkward position when he is interviewed for a job with the Dalton's, a wealthy white family. Suspiciously, the Dalton's white cat, stares at