Native Son

Native Son

By Richard Wright

The book I read for the summer reading assignment is the Native Son by Richard Wright. The book was published by Harper & Brothers, in the year 1940, and it contains three hundred fifty nine pages. The genre of Native Son is a novel of social protest. The novel shows the mental pain the African Americans went through. Throughout the entire novel it shows the fear Bigger the main character faces.

Richard Wright wrote the novel so powerful that us the readers have to face it without the consolation of tears. The theme of the novel "Native Son" is the effect of racism on the oppressor; the hypocrisy of justice. Bigger is a colored African American who lived in the ghettos who was criticized. In his point of view the only way to live was by stealing. When it was time to rob a Caucasian man his fear set in. The trouble doesn't start until Bigger gets hire at the Daltons residence as the chauffer. On his first day the first assignment Bigger has to drive Mary Dalton daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dalton. Mary is really kind to Bigger which intimidates and scares him. Bigger drives Mary to meet up with Jan a communist known as Reds which is also kind and invites him to eat with them. As the day passes by Mary and Jan get drunk they go in the back seat while Bigger drives around the park. Jan leaves them Bigger drives Mary to the Daltons residence. When they get home Mary cannot stand up in her own two feet Bigger helps her up the stairs and lays her down her bed, blind Mrs. Dalton walks in the room. Avoiding to get caught from Mrs. Dalton Bigger puts a pillow over Mary's face and suffocates her. Avoiding getting caught Bigger burns Mary's body in a furnace he realizes that her body doesn't fit in the door so he chops her head off with a hatchet. In Biggers mind he was powerful he had killed an innocent white woman in his mind everyone was blind. Bigger writes a ransom note for Mary and signs it Red. Biggers plan fails when Mary's bones are found he tries to escape. Bigger was found and put to jail. Bigger gets a trial and his lawyer Max explains why he killed, ran away, and wrote the ransom note.

Richard Wright wrote a social protest. The topic that Richard Wright chooses was the racism especially in those times whites didn't think of themselves as equal to the African Americans. Throughout the novel, Wright illustrates the ways in which white racism forces blacks into a pressured. The argument of the novel is that since African Americans are being pressure they are more likely to react with hatred and violence.

In my opinion Richard Wright did achieve his purpose because he proved that pressuring someone may bring consequences. His writing is powerful; it shows the perspective of a young colored teenager. The strengths of the book were when Bigger got intimidated by Mary and Jan and