Themes and Analysis

With respect to other notable themes offered light in ‘Native Son,’ Wright’s primary focus was particularly on the issue of the divide between the white and black peoples of America’s 1930s society. Wright believed such social reality had a certain negative psychological impact on the black people of his time. This article will straighten out the themes as well as key moments in ‘Native Son.’ It will also explore the style, tone, and figurative elements deployed – including Wright’s use of symbols and their meanings for the book. 

Native Son Themes 

The themes in Richard Wright’s ‘Native Son’ are some of the hardest to deal with, but in Wright’s time, they were prevalent and needed to be addressed. Some of these themes are still with us in today’s society.

Racism 

The theme of racism is the primary focus in ‘Native Son,’ as it is the issue that opens up the possibility for all the other problems later found in the book. Richard Wright’s intention for creating this book in the first place was to use it as a sort of activism for the way that African Americans like himself were deprived of their rights and oppressed when they tried to speak up. The author portrays this in ‘Native Son’ through the perspective of Bigger Thomas, who, although inexcusable for his crimes, is frustrated into a life of crime because of the oppression. Not only Bigger but also his family and other blacks in south side Chicago become victims of the harsh conditions of racism. 

Dangerous Crimes 

This is another important theme from the book that comes as an offshoot of the primary theme of racism – all manifested in Bigger’s life. When Bigger realizes that the oppression has kept his family in abject poverty and made his life miserable, he takes solace in negative acts like becoming a gang member and stealing. The heights of his dangerous crimes become when he kills Mary and then Bessie. Rape is also one of his high-profile crimes. 

Pride and Arrogance 

The themes of pride and arrogance are, to a large extent, what combine to ruin Bigger’s life. Bigger has a heightened sense of pride, which proves more dangerous as the story progresses. His arrogance blinds him from recognizing his poor roots, yet it also prevents him from heeding the good advice his mother gives him, which would have made him a better person. 

Death

There are quite a number of high-profile deaths in ‘Native Son,’ all perpetrated by the main character Bigger Thomas, although there are still other somewhat low-profile cases that take place on the fringes of the book, mostly resulting from cross-racial riots and protests (Bigger’s father dies in one of these). Mary Dalton is an accidental victim of death, and then there is Bessie, whom a not-so-normal Bigger mauls to death with heavy bricks to the head. 

Key Moments in Native Son

1. In his family’s one-room apartment in a poor Chicago slum, Bigger kills a menacing rat with a saucepan.
2. Bigger hangs out with his friends at Doc’s snooker house and plots a robbery on a white businessman.
3. He is thrown out of the Doc’s building after he starts a menace and vandalizes Doc’s property with his dagger.
4. Bigger meets with Henry Dalton, observe an interview, and gets the job as a chauffeur for a white family.
5. He drives Henry Dalton’s daughter Mary and her boyfriend Jan to a remote pub where they eat and drink.
6. Bigger accidentally smothers Mary to death with a pillow in her room and in the presence of Mrs. Dalton, her blind mother. 
7. He burns Mary’s body to ashes in the mansion’s furnace room.
8. Bigger lies he doesn’t know the whereabouts of Mary after he is quizzed by Detective Britten.
9. Bigger secretly writes an anonymous letter requesting 10,000 dollars in exchange for Mary’s return.
10. He threatens Jan with a gun after being confronted for lying and false accusations.
11. He mistakenly spills ashes containing the burnt bones of Mary in the presence of reporters and escapes afterward.
12. He takes refuge in the home of his girlfriend Bessie, rapes and kills her so she doesn’t report him to the police. 
13. Bigger is caught, trialed, and taken to prison.

Style and Tone 

Richard Wright tells the stories in ‘Native Son’ by utilizing the third person perspective – thus allowing the reader to make sense of Bigger’s story through his own eyes, share his experiences, and understand the psychology behind his actions. Wright also had a heavy inclusion of dialogue to allow for significant acquaintances with all the other characters. 

The tone of the narrative mostly comes as shocking while at other times comes in sympathy. The narrator seems enormously alarmed at Bigger’s actions but also stops to think about the rationale behind those shocking actions, which then brings in the tone of sympathy and partial understanding. 

Figurative Languages 

Richard Wright’s ‘Native Son’ has an abundance of usages of figurative language, and there are a lot of expressions done in similes, repetitions, and metaphors. Because Bigger is such a complicated character, Wright felt there was the need to carefully describe his personality to allow readers to understand him. Beyond that, there is also a substantial usage of expressions of allusions, epigrams, and paradoxes, among others.

Analysis of Symbols in Native Son

There are many symbolic elements in ‘Native Son’ that have a much larger meaning than what it may seem at face value. Some of the most important elements in f symbolism have been discussed. 

Mrs. Dalton’s Blindness 

Mary’s mother, Mrs. Dalton’s physical blindness represents society’s ignorance towards the suffering of African Americans, and even some liberal whites like Mrs. Dalton who genuinely want to assist the black community are still not doing enough because they don’t understand the extent of oppression people like Bigger put up with on a daily basis. 

The Huge Black Rat 

At the book’s opening, Bigger kills a big black rat, one that symbolizes both poverty and Bigger’s personality. In terms of depicting poverty, the rat shows readers the extent of poverty Bigger’s family and other blacks are wallowing in, and Bigger eventually kills the menacing rat for telling his later social crimes, his hiding from justice, and his eventual execution by the authorities. 

Guns and Gats

Guns in the book are objects of power and authority, and proof of masculinity. Bigger proves a more masculine man when he scares away Jan with a gun after the former appears to question his decision. 

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