Native Son (Vintage Classics)

by Richard Wright

He was sick of his life at home. Day in and day out there was nothing but shouts and bickering.

Yes, he could take the job at Dalton’s and be miserable, or he could refuse it and starve. It maddened him to think that he did not have a wider choice of action.

“Them white boys sure can fly,” Gus said. “Yeah,” Bigger said, wistfully. “They get a chance to do everything.”

“I could fly a plane if I had a chance,” Bigger said. “If you wasn’t black and if you had some money and if they’d let you go to that aviation school, you could fly a plane,” Gus said.

“That’s why you feeling like something awful’s going to happen to you,” Gus said. “You think too much.”

rich white people were not so hard on Negroes; it was the poor whites who hated Negroes. They hated Negroes because they didn’t have their share of the money.

Poor white people were stupid. It was the rich white people who were smart and knew how to treat people.

A rolling stone gathers no moss, and it’s true.”