Wright built such a gripping and daring fiction based on the current social protest of the time – particularly sparked by the electric chair execution of Robert Nixon, a black teenager. ‘Native Son,’ for its era, pioneered such an untouchable subject, and this speaks volumes about what a fearless revolutionist author Richard Wright was for his society. In this article, efforts will be made to detail the strengths and weaknesses of the book ‘Native Son’ by Richard Wright.
Native Son Strengths
In the 1940s, when ‘Native Son’ was published, there was a widespread negative perception of the book – and the book’s initial commercial success stemmed from the fact that people – white and black – wanted to read it because of its emotionally aggravating effects on readers. However, the story of ‘Native Son’ has come a long way since its publication and impacted our society – pioneering important social reforms that are race-related. I have from an analytical standpoint, examined what I think are the strengths of Richard Wright’s most important novel ‘Native Son.’
A Fearless and Compelling Narrative on the Psychological Impact of Racism
Racism is a very difficult topic to talk about or write about. Whether written in a time when reigns supreme or done in retrospect when the culture has died down, it’s a topic which has the capacity to aggravate the emotions and cause a reaction in the minds of certain victimized individuals, groups, or communities – which is why even the most courageous of authors understandably evade the topic.
Wright’s ‘Native Son’ discusses racism through and through more so in a time of fear when people were desperately holding out for a voice to speak up about it. This makes Wright a fearless author and ‘Native Son’ a daring book. In the book, Wright confronts the issue of racial prejudice and oppression – examining them through the standpoint of Bigger Thomas, a 20year old murder and rape convict.
Wright makes a case for Bigger, not merely to justify his criminal actions, but for his readers to understand the psychological impact racial oppression and segregation have on Bigger – as a reason why his life has taken a negative turn. Wright uses this sad, fictional story of Bigger as an argument, claiming that such institutionalized racism against black men contributed immensely to their decisions to look to crimes and nuisance as an escape from their misery.
An Exposé on Human Rights Deprivation
‘Native Son’ is nothing short of a pathos piece. It’s one of those books that reminds us of that time in history we would rather just leave buried and not talk about. But talking about it is the best thing we can do for future generations so they know the history and don’t fall victim. Along with instilling an immediate and drastic change, this was the intention of Richard Wright for penning this book, but we see in Bigger Thomas’s life – beyond his pride and stubbornness – a truly sad tale of a boy who has a genuine dream beyond the hard and tough gangster life.
Although Bigger resents his mother for demanding that he contribute financially to the family, all he ever wants to do is succeed in life so he can take his family out of poverty – a state which he feels ashamed and doesn’t want to be identified with. He has a decent dream and one-time talks to his friend about it. He tells fellow black kid Gus he dreams of becoming a pilot but is met with discouraging laughs from Gus because they both know they live in a white mansion world, so it’s impossible.
Bigger’s sad story of social, emotional, and physical restraints is just one of the many similar stories of every black person in the 1930s and 1940s, and this was precisely what Wright wanted to communicate: that there was a concealed yet widespread human rights violation in play targeted at the black population of his American society.
A Fearless Reprehension of Racial Hegemony
You couldn’t talk about an institutionalized issue without incurring the wrath of a certain higher-up authority that allows it to exist. During Wright’s time, racism was one of those hard-hitting issues that everyone knew existed, but none was really interested in doing anything about it.
However, the ‘Native Son’ author believed so much in his dream of freedom and equal opportunity for black people that he didn’t care whose powerful megalomaniac’s toe he was stepping on. It is a risky business to speak out about something when your government says don’t do so. In the whole of recorded history, only a handful of leaders have shown to put in this level of sacrifice, and such leaders have proven to be selfless, dogged, and ready to lay down their lives for the cause. We are talking about leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, and a few others. Wright rightly falls in the category of these greats because he took a similar path by standing up in the fight for the freedom of his people at the most perils of times.
A True Work of Naturalism
You may go, ‘Hey, it’s only fiction and so not really true what he says in the book,’ but it is important to note that Richard Wright was a naturalist writer, and what this means is that he was the kind of writer that made fictions off of the real world experiences about actual sufferings and pains of the people.
Naturalist writers are the best when it comes to creating a captivating story around a true account of an event about a person, group, community or society. Maybe because of their long history with white counterparts, black authors are known to be great writers of such a genre – and just like Richard Wright, another notable creator of this category is the iconic Octavia E. Butler, and the world saw her ability to do that in her classic bestseller, ‘Kindred.’
A Lasting Global Social Change Maker
There’s no arguing the tremendous amount of impact Richard Wright’s ‘Native Son’ has had over the generations of society. The book is one of the earliest books from a black author who dared to challenge the idea of white supremacy or any sort of superiority of one race over another. It is a book that – though based on its narrative of a black man’s struggles and experiences – has impacted the plights of marginalized ethnicities – not only black Americans but also other people of color because the revolution that it contributed to bring a free and inclusive society for all people of America and world.
The Weaknesses
Richard Wright’s ‘Native Son’ is a strongly written book, and its impact on society still continues to gain weight even in today’s multi-racial landscape as the world continues to fight against racism. However, as good as the book is, there are also themes that serve as detractors for the book and will be highlighted here.
Sexism and Misogyny
Maybe it wasn’t seen as too much of an issue in the era that Richard Wright lived, but in today’s society, the manner and style that his book ‘Native Son’ portrayed women is flat out sexism – if not misogyny. Throughout the novel, I find the female characters being treated as a liability to their male counterpart, and this is manifested in how Bigger treats his mother Ma, and girlfriend Bessie.
Expletives, Vulgarities and Violence
‘Native Son’ is also remarkably notorious for flouting the decent, conventional use of language, as it is a book with so many informal – even offensive words and portrayal of sex and violence.
Native Son Review: The high price to pay for being black
Book Title: Native Son
Book Description: ‘Native Son’ follows a horrific tale of maltreatment of the black race in America, a reality that author Richard Wright not only lived, but also sought to correct.
Book Author: Richard Wright
Book Edition: Perennial Classics Edition
Book Format: Paperback
Publisher - Organization: Harper Perennial
Date published: January 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-083756-3
Number Of Pages: 544
- Plot
- Appeal
- Characters
- Language
- Impact
- Setting
Native Son Review
In ‘Native Son,’ Richard Wright tells one of the most deeply touching stories about the oppression and segregation faced by African Americans in the hands of a powerful white authority in the 1930s to 1940s American society. Although a pure work of fiction, Wright uses the sad experiences of frontal characters like Bigger Thomas to call attention to what blacks were going through in arguably the most difficult times in global racial history.
Pros
- A compelling narrative
- A social change maker
- A storehouse for important historical past
Cons
- Sexual and abusive scenes
- misogynistic
- vulgarized expressions
