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Native Son

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 35,997 ratings · 1,803 reviews

Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on...more

Paperback, 462 pages

Published August 2nd 2005 by Harper Perennial Modern Classics (first published 1940)

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Dec 26, 2007 Ben Siems rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone!

My older brother Larry, who is extremely well-read, recently came to town for a visit. He had with him a copy of Native Son. I asked what prompted him to re-read it. He explained that he had actually never read it before, which he confessed was really odd, given that the book is an undisputed classic.

Well, here is Larry's two-word review of the book:
Holy shit.

I concur.

Those who have studied the Harlem Renaissance know that Richard Wright was a passionate, angry man, the writer about whom other...more

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Aug 10, 2010 Esteban del Mal rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: americana, fiction, novel

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I’ve been putting off writing a review of this for two reasons:

1.) I'm busy.
2.) I wanted to cool off a bit, not let any of that nebulous white guilt creep into my thinking.

*****

This book has heft, both physical and otherwise. The paper stock, the binding, the subject matter --- they combine for one weighty tome. I came to terms with the material dimensions quickly. The other dimensions? Not so much. I mean, I'm an ethnic Jew, but I identify (and pass, thankfully) as your run-of-the-mill white...more

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Oct 20, 2009 Ryan Lawson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Richard Wright's Native Son is without a shadow of a doubt one of the most powerful books that I have read, ever. This nightmarish story packs such an overwhelming amount of emotion and controversy that it is hard to pull away from much like the sight of a gruesome car crash on an interstate, you don't want to look but you must look. If you're looking for a competent, confident example of verisimilitude in literature then you need not look further.

Upon reading this piece, I wondered the entire...more Richard Wright's Native Son is without a shadow of a doubt one of the most powerful books that I have read, ever. This nightmarish story packs such an overwhelming amount of emotion and controversy that it is hard to pull away from much like the sight of a gruesome car crash on an interstate, you don't want to look but you must look. If you're looking for a competent, confident example of verisimilitude in literature then you need not look further.

Upon reading this piece, I wondered the entire time, "How had I not been exposed to this book or Richard Wright?" And, it still escapes me how this masterpiece is not at the forefront (if not, the very front) of not only American Literature but more specifically African-American Literature. I've yet to read a piece that surpasses the violent honesty of this book; and, perhaps, that is why it is not as much a part of the American-Literature Subconscious Canon. Wright's work isn't as tame as the weary Hughes and he manages to surpass the shocking tact of James Baldwin.

Bigger Thomas is a murderous and rapacious young man who through his horrendous acts of rape, theft, and violence somehow manages to elicit an amount of sympathy. Wright is able to portray him in such a light that makes the reader understand fully that Bigger is committing unconscionable crimes yet no matter how atrocious the crimes are not unforgivable.

There were times I felt guilty for rooting for Bigger Thomas, but that is the mastery in Wright's writing! Bigger is such an uncanny character that it is next to impossible to not feel sympathy for him.

"Why?" I kept asking myself. "Why do I not want this man's head on a plate?"

It's as if Bigger is in a nightmare but is unable to wake up. If you've ever been in a situation so bad, so unbearable that you actually wished it to be a terrible dream then you will understand Bigger. You'll beg for him to stop committing these crimes instead of demanding him to be caught and killed.

The mob mentality in this book is frightening and dark, darker than Bigger Thomas himself. To think that some of Bigger's case was based on an actual trial of a man named Robert Nixon is almost unbelievable. The hate is so gigantic within the mob.

As a reader, you really get to see how minorities (blacks), laborers (unions), and people with differing social opinions (socialist & communists) have been and, sometimes, still are persecuted by mass mentality... The tragedy is that the mass mentality is controlled by an elite few. This book offers a dramatic understanding of how those in power maintain a steady hand on their subordinates and pit each subordinate against one another so they do not focus on the real monsters, the employers! It bears witness to the class-struggle of the times and the class-struggles that are still occurring today.

Bless this book. It's a good one.
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Apr 05, 2013 Keertana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-that-linger, classics

Even after thinking about this book for days, I still don’t know what to write. I think we’ve all learned about 1930s/1940s black America, but none of us have truly experienced it. We sympathize with the black people, we cheer on stories of people such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., and we are grateful that our world is not the same way today. Yet, how many of us have truly had to put ourselves in the shoes of those people? How many of us have really known what it’s like to be treated...more Even after thinking about this book for days, I still don’t know what to write. I think we’ve all learned about 1930s/1940s black America, but none of us have truly experienced it. We sympathize with the black people, we cheer on stories of people such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., and we are grateful that our world is not the same way today. Yet, how many of us have truly had to put ourselves in the shoes of those people? How many of us have really known what it’s like to be treated as if you’re not even human, to be denied your basic rights at freedom, and to be stripped of all your free will? In Native Son, Richard Wright takes you into the mind of one black man, Bigger Thomas. Yet, Bigger stands for something bigger; he represents all of black America. So truly, Wright isn’t just taking you into Bigger’s mind, he’s taking you into the heart of racial crisis.

Bigger has been recognized in life as a troubled boy, one who lashes out. He has been raised in a small apartment that isn’t fit to hold two people, let alone four. His education is scarce and limited, his fear overwhelms him, and he constantly feels as if white people control his every move, his every action, his every thought. Thus, these feelings and instincts have bubbled over to such an extent where he lashes out. He accidently smothers a white woman, chops off her head and throws her body in a furnace to burn. He takes a brick and hits his girlfriend with it, throwing her down an air shaft to freeze to death – all after he has raped her. He blames his actions on a Communist, one of the few people helping him – the same Communist who ultimately finds him a lawyer. Max, the lawyer who sees Bigger as an equal and exposes in a biased courtroom not what Bigger has done, but what America and society has created and will unfortunately continue to create, long after Bigger’s untimely demise.

In the writing of Native Son, Wright walks a fine line. Bigger, despite being the main character of the novel is so hard to feel any sympathy for. Wright has created a character who is black, who is oppressed, who is quite literally a victim of the society in which he lives, yet Bigger acts like a sociopath with animalistic instincts and no regret for the inhumane acts he commits. However, Wright takes this view of Bigger, this interpretation of him, and turns it into something different: understanding. In a world where you can only hope and pray to have skin that is lighter than what you already have, in which you can only stand and dream about flying planes because of your skin color, who wouldn’t lash out and kill? Who wouldn’t seize that first glimpse of power and authority when they find it? Wright describes the ongoing power struggles within this novel, mixed with the rising fear so perfectly, that you cannot help but be in awe of his skill. Although most readers will find Bigger to be a sociopath or cruel and unyielding at first, reading on we can see that he is truly a man being treated just like a caged animal.

In so many ways Native Son is such a difficult book to read. It took me nearly a month to finish it because of the time I took reading each chapter and more importantly, the reflection it caused me to have. I’ve tried and found it impossible to find any situation in our present-day life that is similar to that of Bigger. I’ve never felt the way he does, I’ve never been treated the way he has since I’ve always been seen as a human. I’m not white, so in that aspect I never felt guilt of my skin color while reading this story, because truly, being white means you have it all. However, I did feel an immense amount of sympathy towards Bigger and I still can’t quite wrap my mind around what it must feel like to never have been treated as a human, as an equal to all other people in the world. It breaks my heart.

Wright once said that, "'I must write this novel, not only for others to read, but to free myself of this scene of shame and fear.' In fact, the novel, as time passed, grew upon me to the extent that I became a necessity to write it; the writing of it turned into a way of living for me." In many ways, the reading of this novel too became a necessity. It became something I had to do, I felt obliged to do. I felt as if I owed it to Bigger, to history, and to the suffering black people of the past and present to read and understand Bigger’s story. I cannot recommend this book enough, but just know that once you pick it up, you won’t be able to look at the world the same way again.
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Mar 25, 2008 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: readers

Recommended to David by: Ms. DiRico

1993 by Harper Perennial
Title: Native Son
Author: Richard Wright 624 Page paperback
ISBN-14, 979-3-17-148411-6,
Native Son is a third person narrative that intimately revolves around an African American named Bigger Thomas in the 1930's. He lives in poverty with his family and is a delinquent. To aggravate his poor life even more, Bigger also lives in a racist society where white people despise black people.
One day, Bigger is admitted for a job, which is to be the chauffeur of the Dalton Family, a...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reading-through-history, 2012

Here is the scariest character in literature. Even Wright is terrified of him. I had this thought as I finished Native Son: I thought, "This is the bravest book I've ever read." I've read a lot of protest books, a lot of warnings, but most authors give you a way out: "Look out, but here's what you should maybe try to do." With Bigger Thomas, Wright says, "Well, here's what you got." And...holy shit, man.

He's such a powerful force that Wright spends the entire last third of his own book basically...more

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May 14, 2008 Andrew Howard rated it 5 of 5 stars

Native Son

The story Native Son written by Richard Wright has been banned, its success has been vandalized, and many people who enjoy the experience of taking life and converting it to ink have yet to flip through its pages because of the on going rumors that suffocate libraries and bookstores. Yet it still remains one of the greatest works of literature in its era. I enjoyed reading this book from cover to cover, but I must admit that when I first picked it up I had no interest in reading about...more Native Son

The story Native Son written by Richard Wright has been banned, its success has been vandalized, and many people who enjoy the experience of taking life and converting it to ink have yet to flip through its pages because of the on going rumors that suffocate libraries and bookstores. Yet it still remains one of the greatest works of literature in its era. I enjoyed reading this book from cover to cover, but I must admit that when I first picked it up I had no interest in reading about a young black adult struggling to survive in urban society. The same society that claims to support the minority but in some ways deny them opportunity, which is the main source to why support remains a necessity. Ironically this story in its own fashion is cut from the same fabric that I descend from. Because my excitement to read this novel lacked, it took me ages to complete it.

This novel consist of society being design to make every person who wasn’t wealthy and white uncomfortable with the life that society did not provide. It wasn’t just your typical love story or mystery book, no not just your bad beginning good end… happily ever after classic, actually if I could suspect the events that were about to occur in the book before I licked my finger and flipped the 7th page then I probably would have been more aspired to read it immediately. My favorite character of the book was the main character Bigger Thomas, I admired the role he portrayed because I never could anticipate his next action. Also at particular parts of the book I wanted to defend him although I knew that he was guilty of the crime. I also began to love this character because his mentality in a shape or form was a reflection of all humans, Africans American males in particular.

Richard Wright did a brilliant job creating stories inside of stories, which formed a book that has its own story as a whole. And what makes it so impressive is each miniature story has a subliminal message that if you take a look deeper is so much stronger than the message that the whole novel promotes. Its as if Richard Wright wanted to say something that was very important but for some unknown reason he couldn’t just say it so he says it indirectly, but if you don’t read each and every paragraph carefully then you might miss the pearls of wisdom. This book actually ends with the main character being sentence to the electric chair, which he deserved but after reading the book I felt that it was unjust. But then you ask, if he committed the crime, why was it unjust. And that my friend is why I believe you should grab yourself a copy of this book and answer the question independently.
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Dec 22, 2008 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had been wanting to read this book for some time and just got around to it recently while on maternity leave with my third baby. Throughtout my reading of this book I found myself really appreciating the complexity surrounding Bigger's judgement and consequent actions. It really made me think about the ways in which the world has changed since Native Son was written and the ways in which it has not. These themes apply to so many of our behaviours and it reinforces why we route for the underdog...more

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May 01, 2013 [P] rated it 4 of 5 stars

THE PROLOGUE

So far in my life I have dated girls from a variety of racial backgrounds, including black, asian and oriental. For someone who is almost oppressively cynical it is perhaps surprising that I entered each relationship with a certain level of naivety. Despite being well aware that racism still exists, I didn’t expect the amount of negative attention these relationships received. One incident always comes to my mind, which is the time I and my black girlfriend were accosted by a group o...more THE PROLOGUE

So far in my life I have dated girls from a variety of racial backgrounds, including black, asian and oriental. For someone who is almost oppressively cynical it is perhaps surprising that I entered each relationship with a certain level of naivety. Despite being well aware that racism still exists, I didn’t expect the amount of negative attention these relationships received. One incident always comes to my mind, which is the time I and my black girlfriend were accosted by a group of black teenagers one afternoon; the kids seemed to be incredibly upset by this coupling, which they perceived as an insult, and so they started to follow us and shout insults [racist insults, no less!]. Of course, the situation wasn't defused by my telling them that if they were good boys I'd let them sniff my fingers. In any case, I'm not entirely certain how we managed to get out of it without the incident turning violent and still now, some time later, I feel uneasy when passing a group of similar kids on my own.

Yet, it wasn’t only overt racism that was the problem. More pertinantly, in terms of what I found most interesting about the book under review here, there was the endlessly in[s]ane behaviour and comments from people who were well-intentioned. People were so petrified of doing or saying the wrong thing, of being politically incorrect, or were trying too hard not to be politically correct [because they felt this was also insulting], that they made themselves and everyone around them uncomfortable. Having had these experiences my reading of Native Son has retrospectively been enriched. Obviously, I am not saying my experiences are comparable to the brutal and systematic racism that, historically, people of certain races have been subjected to, nor are they similar to what happens in Wright’s novel, which is itself extreme, but that they are, for someone who cares nothing for all this will-to-power bullshit, a reminder of just how much tension and weirdness still surrounds this issue.

THE REVIEW

I read the book a couple of years ago, but, as I remember it, the central character, Bigger Thomas, is a touchy, listless, youth who is given a job with an affluent white family. The head of the family is well-known for his benevolent attitude towards the black population, and so Bigger appears to have got himself a good gig. Of course, from our perspective the idea that the white man is to be applauded for giving a black young man some menial work makes us wriggle a bit in our skin, and Bigger’s lack of gratitude is telling. In any case, things go well enough for Bigger until the man’s daughter takes an interest in him. She makes an effort to talk to him, to be his ‘friend,’ despite Bigger’s desire to be left alone to do his job as he is employed to do it. And it was this, this exploration of woolly-headed, well meaning, liberal white attitudes, and how at odds their desires are with what Bigger wants, that really made the novel for me.

There is such complex psychology involved in these exchanges, in terms of the girl who thinks she is helping Bigger but who is really jeopardizing his job, who believes she cares about ‘the plight of black people in America,’ and Bigger in particular, but who really is exacerbating the problem, and treating him with an arrogant lack of consideration, by not respecting his wishes; her behaviour, as with a lot of so-styled well-meaning liberals, is really directed at herself not at the person or group she purports to want to help, her actions are born out of self-obsession, out of a desire to make herself feel good. As for Bigger, he doesn’t want to be anyone’s dogsbody, of course, no one does, and so he is not reticent to respond to her friendly advances because he loves his job, but because he is aware that a friendship, a true friendship, with the girl is impossible even if he desired it. There is a powerful scene in a café or restaurant when Bigger is all but forced to eat with the girl and her boyfriend; his discomfort, and his shame, is palpable; the couple, however, are having a whale of time and think themselves to be wonderfully open-minded. Elegant slumming, I think you call this kind of thing. And Race is not the only issue on the menu here, either; I feel that Native Son has interesting and important things to say about how the poor, the underclass, in general are treated and perceived by the more privileged people squatting on their shoulders.

Without wishing to spoil it for first-time readers I won’t say too much about the tragic, violent heart of the novel, except to say that as a consequence of the girl’s attention Bigger does a terrible thing. It takes quite a lot to shock me, but what Bigger does, and his attempts to cover it up, really did make me gasp. It is an act that, in some way, is motivated by fear; Wright seems to be suggesting that the oppressive atmosphere that surrounds Bigger, not just in the house but society as a whole, breeds violence, paranoia, and insanity, and, I think, he’s largely correct in that. As for the novel as a whole, there is, in the second half, some polemical guff that’s a bit dry and bit too in your face for my taste, and the writing throughout is only adequate. Wright’s style isn’t poetic, or particularly controlled or eye-catching. It just is. This matter-of-fact prose prevents Native Son, for me anyway, from being a masterpiece, but perhaps enhances the ‘page-turner’ quality of the work. Native Son is an easy and quick read, but is also tight and thrilling and well worth investing the [not extensive] time in. (less)

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Nov 02, 2010 Toyin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Native Son is a good novel with a compelling story about the racial division in America society. When I began reading the novel I contemplated that it was an hideous portrayal of African Americans; structuring them as murderers. However, upon reading the last book ,Fate, I began to understand Wright's gist on the racial biases. He uses Bigger to represent the predicament of all blacks during his time by exploring racism and its results on the oppressed. Bigger, the oppressed, does not see whites...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Sheila rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bigger Thomas, a young black man in 1930's Chicago, is a thug. A small-time thug, at the story's opening, but a thug all the same. Then he takes a job as a driver for the wealthy white Dalton family, and, as an indirect result, finds himself commiting unspeakable actions. From there, Bigger's story spirals rapidly into a waking nightmare with consequences more widespread than he could have ever imagined.

I could probably count on one hand the number of books I've read that were as compelling as...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Yamilex Gonzalez rated it 5 of 5 stars

Native Son was an amazing book that really captured my attention. I am usually not a fan of reading but this was one of the books that I could not put down. Wright's word choice and descriptions made the book easy to understand. This book made me realize that people think alike, and eventhough we are not all the same race, we care about the same issues. Bigger grew up with a lot of hate inside of him due to the fact that he saw his family suffer in poverty and he could not do much about it. He g...more

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Nov 10, 2010 Nailah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Native Son compelled me as a reader to want to read more about action, drama and racial problems of the early 1900s. The plot created sequential drama packed and “on the edge of your seat reading”, keeping me wanting to read more. Native Son is a story about an ignorant African American man who succumbed to the stereotypical black male in the 1900’s, resulting in the murder of a Caucasian woman, whom was the daughter of a wealthy man. Though the topic is of semi-irrelativeness to today’s societ...more

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Aug 28, 2008 Joel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Fascinating. I finished this book minutes before Barack Obama gave his nomination acceptance speech. What a different world today than it was when Wright wrote it. That's not to say the creation of Bigger Thomas isn't still happening around the country today, but advancements have happened and are worth celebrating.

I'm not in love with Wright's writing style. I read Black Boy in college and felt like it suffered from the same problems: overly preachy and wordy, with long drawn out speeches and l...more

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Apr 30, 2008 Kerin2010 rated it 4 of 5 stars

What makes a book great? A book that catches your attention from the very begging and never lets it loose. A book that is so well written that makes you feel as if you were siting there watching a movie as you read. And of course a book that has a story line that keeps you guessing. I can honestly say that Native Son by Richard Wright is one of these books. It was one of the best books that i have read. From the first page through the last it had my attention and i didn't want to put it down.

...more What makes a book great? A book that catches your attention from the very begging and never lets it loose. A book that is so well written that makes you feel as if you were siting there watching a movie as you read. And of course a book that has a story line that keeps you guessing. I can honestly say that Native Son by Richard Wright is one of these books. It was one of the best books that i have read. From the first page through the last it had my attention and i didn't want to put it down.

This book caught my attention from the very begging when Bigger Thomas kills a rat. The arthur basically set the stage for this book within the first couple of pages. I Think Bigger Thomas killing the rat symbolizes how Bigger feels a certain sense of power by killing something that is helpless. Each time Bigger killed someone I think he felt fearless for the first time, as if he can do anything. This book kept me guessing and I never knew what Bigger was going to do next.It never let loose of my attention because it made me want to read the book word for word very carefully to make sure I didn't miss any little detail that may give me a clue.

Secondly it was so well written that you can picture everything as you read the book as if you were watching a movie. The arthur had his way of describing what was going on that you wanted to be involved in the story. I also liked the language the author writes the book in. When people are talking he spelt it like they would have said it, not how its spelled properly. Another way the book is well written is because it makes you think. I believe that there were many symbols in the book that captured things that go on in the real world.

Last but not least, the story line. This book kept me guessing and I loved it. It was unpredictable. I would have never guessed that Bigger would kill Mary or Betsy. As I read the book Bigger changes and that makes him even more unpredictable. His way of thinking is so rare. If I were Bigger I Would have done a lot of things differently, however thats what makes the book good. If everything happen the way I expected it I would not have enjoyed the book.

To conclude, I really liked this book. It was one of the best books I ever read. Who would of thought that it was a book assigned to me for a grade. I could not put the book down. From the first page to the last I enjoyed it. It had everything a good book should have. It caught my attention, it was well written and it had a great story line. I would definitely recommend this book to read.

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Apr 15, 2008 Stephan Mosby-Williams rated it 1 of 5 stars

Recommended to Stephan by: MR. ROMERO

I hated this book! It was not interesting and I could barely stay focused to the book while I was reading. That's what I thought of the book when I first started reading it. The book was funny at times and gruesome at others but over all the book was swell.
I didn't like the book because I wasn't interested in a boy killing a mouse or a boy scaring his little sister with a mouse. It just didn't appeal to me. I felt as though I wasn't the attended audience the book was written for.
I started to...more

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Jan 12, 2009 Demisty Bellinger rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was always afraid to read this book because of the inevitable murder. I would get to the point of the pillow in Bigger's hands, then stop. But I'm so glad I read it. It was really relentless throughout. Really, my heart was racing. It was as brutal as I imagined, but it was a good brutality. Ahem.

I read Black Boy over and over and over again. I love Wright's writing. My only complaint about the book was the over-explanation offered the readers with Bigger's lawyer Max. It reminded me of the ov...more

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Feb 12, 2009 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I first read this book in high school.
I just re-read it for the first meeting of an occasional book club.

This time it was a little more poignant for a couple reasons. First, I now live in Chicago, so I can relate to some of the physical surrounds that Wright describes. Secondly, after going through college's social systems courses I understand the traps that society sets better.

Though I can't directly apply the plot of this book to my life, it is an interesting opening to a discussion on predes...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Denise rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had a love/hate relationship with Native Son and that's due to the emotional toll that occurred during its reading. Richard Wright was capable of doing what The Confession and A Time to Kill did not. It unmasked and revealed the ideology behind a poor black man's thinking in time of racial tension and inequality. It's not just about a crime being committed by a black man to a white person, but it focus on the crime of how a black individual is born and raised in a modern day slavery of his sou...more

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Apr 18, 2010 Avery Grant-Poole rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone and Anyone

Recommended to Avery by: Ms.Quilty

Richard Wright, an amazing African-American writer, has created a book that has really caught my eye. Bigger Thomas, the protaganist out of Native Son, is caught in between fear and angry when he realizes that many African-Americans are unable to get opportunities; and, in which, he commits horrible crimes that cause lead to his death. I believe that Richard Wright, during his time period, was forced to write such a book because this information was meant inform people on how they were being tre...more

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Jan 26, 2011 D'andre added it

I see this book as an inspiration for people leading down the wrong way in their lives. In expresses despair and tribulations that help connect the reader to the faults in their lives and in various ways shows how to think things over. For example, after murdering Mary, Bigger experienced the thrill of being caught for this. In reality, complying with regular people's lives, this thrill is an extreme rush and a terrifying feeling because of the thought of getting away or being imprisoned. Bigger...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Ruthliz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was an action packed novel with a good mastery of description by the author. When I started reading the book, I never wanted to put it down until the story ended.
I however found it difficult to understand Bigger at the end. I thought Bigger had decided to face up to the sentence he had long been expecting but he surprises me when he gets hysterical at the end.
I recommend Richard Wright on his ability to explain Bigger's feelings to the reader to the extent of making the reader feel as if th...more

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Mar 29, 2009 Samantha rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you're a fan of any of James Baldwin's works you'll definitely enjoy reading this novel by Richard Wright. From the start of the novel, the sound of the alarm clock symbolizes the urgent call in 1940 to America to wake up from its self-induced slumber concerning the reality of race relations in the nation. Native Son serves as a critical wake up call not only to Bigger and his family, but to America as a whole.

Situations with the novel's protagonist Bigger, simply move from bad to worse and...more

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Mar 17, 2009 Whitney rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a deep book. I agree with the New Yorker quote, "A deep experience." This is a book that questions a lot of deep and hard issues about race and society. I thought it was especially important to realize that in the situation that Bigger Thomas was in, as a young black man in South Side Chicago in the 1930's, he had little choice in his situation. Yes, he had choice, and the choices he made (often very gruesome-don't read this late at night kind of gruesome) reflect the fact that Bigger ha...more

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May 12, 2013 Holly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Set in Chicago in the 30's, "Native Son" is the story of Bigger Thomas, a young poor black man who brutally murders two women, one white and rich, the other poor and black.

Bigger as a character was unique at the time - he is an anti-hero. He is uneducated, often sullen, frightened, violent, sometimes cunning, and filled with hate, not limited to but focused primarily on the white world that suppresses him. He is incapable of seeing anyone in the white world as an individual, much in the same way...more Set in Chicago in the 30's, "Native Son" is the story of Bigger Thomas, a young poor black man who brutally murders two women, one white and rich, the other poor and black.

Bigger as a character was unique at the time - he is an anti-hero. He is uneducated, often sullen, frightened, violent, sometimes cunning, and filled with hate, not limited to but focused primarily on the white world that suppresses him. He is incapable of seeing anyone in the white world as an individual, much in the same way that the majority of whites are incapable of seeing him as anything but one black face of many. He believes he has no control over his own life - he is only separated from slavery by one generation, and Jim Crow laws on top of a general prejudice/racism have resulted in millions being marginalized, kept down, made invisible. On top of this suppression, he is surrounded by images/symbols of the American dream that are denied to him; white men control real estate of black slums; he watches movies filled w/ images of white girls cavorting on beaches while black men and women are shown as savages dancing around fires; he is only allowed to shop in segregated stores run by white people who charge their captive customer base more than the whites a few blocks away. As he ponders the day after Mary's murder, "as long as he and his black folks did not go beyond certain limits, there was no need to fear that white force." (pg 114)

The minority is marginalized and kept subversive using fear and propaganda. Blacks are negatively stereotyped, are kept from education, are placed in menial positions, are made to live in slums that whites have rejected. Why? Wright makes the argument that it is b/c whites are afraid of what this new society might do, how they might vote, how they might disrupt the white world they have created. They too live in fear, this time of the unknown. To make matters worse, Bigger has no escape - he doesn't have religion or communism (politics) or belief in the strength of his own people.

Wright's premise is that one outlet for this suppression is extreme violence. Bigger murders and rapes and feels no remorse. In reality, the murder of a rich white girl actually liberates him - he feels a sense of power, of identity and freedom for the first time in his life. He has actually performed an action that will make whites take notice. Via murder he transcends walls/barriers erected in the name of convention, good vs. evil, and justice to see the world in a new light, beyond the surface of things. Wright argues that this is not just a problem for destitute blacks in America - this is a problem that transcends race/culture/creed. America has a problem w/ urban nihilism, w/ a subset of society who believes in nothing, who values nothing, who feels alienated from the economic creed, blind consumerism and exploitation that is valued as paramount.

Some critics, e.g. Robert Bone, point out some harrowing discrepancies between philosophies, however. Wright at the time was a naturalist (like Dreiser and Norris), a dabbler in social science, a communist (who believed in the potential energy of the collective masses); indeed the last chapter is called Fate; in it Max argues that Bigger is a product of his environment, that society bears some responsibility for his actions, that we are not free, that his fate was predetermined, that he was conditioned to behave the way he did. Note that Bigger was condemned before he even went to trial by a corrupt system of politics and media, who had convinced the entire city he was guilty before a single shred of evidence was displayed. All of this is fatalistic, deterministic. The crime was natural. However, Bigger commits murder (by accident?) and thereby finds an identity through murder. Via murder, he escapes the collective and he "created" something new (pg 105). The only way to rectify this is to create the two states as separate, as before and after, as if he had broken through the ice of fatalism/naturalism into a new world of individuality. As he thinks as he sits w/ his family for breakfast the day after, now he can "do what [he] wanted...be bold, do something nobody thought of" (pg 105). As he's talking to Bessie, he thinks "he could take his life into his own hands and dispose of it as he pleased" (pg 149), which is in direct opposition to his feelings of helplessness before the murder.

Wright's use of symbolism is everywhere - the snow as symbol of white, cold, all-pervasiveness that helps prevent his escape, the blindness of Mrs. Dalton as a symbol of the blindness of everyone in Bigger's life, the symbol of speechlessness as a literary nothingness.

This book is very powerful, but I felt it was overly didactic. The speeches during the trial were over done - such a long section was unrealistic to the setting - everyone would have stopped listening. He did balance sections like this w/ a strong denial of romantic sentimentality - Bigger changed and learned a little in the end, but even his death didn't convert him into a heroic fighter of racism.(less)

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Apr 11, 2013 Makda D rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Native Son
1940, 392 pgs.
Richard Wright
Urbanization, foreign affairs, Industrialization and its effects was what Americans worried about during the 1900’s .The government along with its people saw growth and change at a rapid pace of the American economy and its government on the other hand Americans turned a blind eye to social issues most specifically the issues regarding African Americans. False Freedom was given to African Americans by the government that never fulfilled the full meaning...more
The Native Son
1940, 392 pgs.
Richard Wright
Urbanization, foreign affairs, Industrialization and its effects was what Americans worried about during the 1900’s .The government along with its people saw growth and change at a rapid pace of the American economy and its government on the other hand Americans turned a blind eye to social issues most specifically the issues regarding African Americans. False Freedom was given to African Americans by the government that never fulfilled the full meaning of the term that Americans time and again bragged about “liberty and the Pursuit of happiness”. African Americans faced tremendous obstacles in education, work, housing, and treatments.The Native Son written by Richard Wright reflects the African American state of mind in the 1900’s. Bigger Thomas the protagonist in the book represents the product of societies treatment of Blacks during that era . The first page of the book quickly sets the tone of the book when Bigger Thomas gets up in the morning to kill a rat with a cooking pot. This reflecting the rugged and despairing environment that African Americans were forced to grow up in .Bigger Thomas was a notorious criminal .never receiving quality education he lived in an area where crime was common and considered the norm .Living in such environment bigger never aspired to do anything, the reason being the status of his race. Bigger possessed a fear for whites he often compared them to snow storm, he believed they were out to get him. One day Bigger was offered a job by the tenet of his building .His tenet presented Bigger with an opportunity to change his life, for Bigger to become a chuffer for his family .As the book progress bigger seems to slowly get used to whites that is when his bosses daughter exposes a secret :she was a communist . He couldn’t believe the acceptance of the communist party as they treated him as their own he finally felt he has conquered the snow storm but little did bigger know that the storm would soon become a blizzard.
There are many apparent themes in this book that correspond to history of the 1900’s.One of the main theme shown clearly on this book Is that it shows the status of African Americans in during that time. Through many subliminal plots and characters the author shows what a big role racism played between blacks and whites during that time. Bigger Thomas the protagonist along with The African American characters in the story are depicted as a twisted inferior people through their actions, however white characters on the other hand seem almost godlike or even too good to be true. This of cores shows how the mentality of blacks was altered by the whites during that time .It shows a mental Jim Crow law engraved in the minds of the blacks during that time. As the book progresses it is clear that communism plays a big role in the plots. Communism is talked about in an upright manner, this is shown through the authors representation of the good white characters communists. The communist party was big in the African American community during the 1900s because it equalized everyone. The other reason for the glorification of the communist party in this book might be because the Author Richard Wright was himself a proclaimed communist and might have used this book to subliminally advertise the communist party.

Richard Wright’s way of writing carries a fluctuating tone that keeps the reader interested .He has a way of making the reader think by subliminally hiding meanings of certain plots that one must excavate the actual meaning of each plot. The characters used in this book are characterized in a way that each characters actions and appearance means something bigger than just a trait; with that he historically ties his characters to the actual events in that happened in history. As the story develops the reader becomes more and more aware of what the protagonist feels and knows what he is thinking thus the reader becomes more attached to the Protagonist and understands why he took the actions he took. One would find this book oddly interesting and thought provoking. At times this book can be a bit confusing for people who take books to literal not looking at hidden meanings nonetheless it highly recommended for people who like the mysterious aspect of a book , who will dig to understand more than what is written on the book for the authors message is very deep and will one think twice .

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Mar 19, 2013 Jeff rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

When I heard honors 11th grade English students talking about required reading of a story in which a man accidentally killed (and then burned) a woman's body, I was interested in finding out what books it was. Having now just finished this book, I can understand the impact it had on race relations in the pre-1970s America.

CONS: Too lengthy, and I was reading the abridged version (392 pages).

PROS: 14 day loan, which means I couldn't slack off in reading it. I particularly liked this quote:

"'Mr. M...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Cj Ugonabo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Native Son is an amazing novel with a perfect meaning to it. It starts out with a 20 year old named Bigger who is living with his mother and very uneducated. His mother talks to him about getting a job with his white landlord, but Bigger refuses and goes to hang out with his friends. Early in the novel he sees white people as people trying to bring the black community down and not as individuals. This changes dramatically when he gets charged with raping a white female and burning her body after...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Jo-Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

I must admit that Bigger Thomas repulses me on many levels. However, the system that created him and others like him repulses me MANY times more. How on earth can a society that espouses such inalienable principles as life, liberty and so forth be so oblivious to the conditions of its own citizenry? I don't pretend to understand this, and hypocrisies exist in every society. Yet, the schisms here strike me as unforgiveable. "Home of the free" - NO ONE is free in the world of Bigger Thomas - not h...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Ally rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was entirely innocent of what I was about to get into with this one. I was looking for something to help me understand race relations better, especially from the lens of the individual. I chose this without more that a few minutes' browsing. I was going to read it casually, but got swept away and sucked it down in a single night. I was surprised by and and beautifully set aflame by the existential poetry of Biggers' view. For better or worse! I was made to understand his actions, though they h...more

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About Richard Wright

Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of powerful, sometimes controversial novels, short stories and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerned racial themes. His work helped redefine discussions of race relations in America in the mid-20th century.

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“Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.” — 554 people liked it

“Violence is a personal necessity for the oppressed...It is not a strategy consciously devised. It is the deep, instinctive expression of a human being denied individuality.” — 61 people liked it

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