Native Son3 Essay Example For Students

Native Son3 Essay A Critical Perspective: Richard Wrights Native SonRichard Wright marked the beginning of a new era in black fiction. He was one ofthe first American writers of his time to confront his readers with the effects of racism. Wright had a way of telling his reader about his own life through his writing. He is bestknown for his novel, Native Son, which is deeply rooted in his personal life and the timesin which he lived. This paper will discuss this outstanding American writer, his highlyacclaimed novel, Native Son, and how his life influenced his writing. Richard Nathaniel Wright, was born on September 4, 1908 in Roxie, Mississippi. His father was a sharecropper and his mother a schoolteacher. In search for betteremployment his father moved the family to Memphis, Tennessee. While in Memphis, hisfather worked as a night porter in a hotel and his mother worked as a cook for aCaucasian family. Shortly after their move to Memphis, Wright’s father deserted hisfamily. His mother then tried to find any work she could find to support her family. Then,at the age of seven his mother became ill and was unable to financially support her family. As a result, the family had to move to Jackson, Mississippi to live with relatives. Wrightremained in Jackson until 1925 (Walker, 13). In 1925, Wright left Jackson and headed as far as his money could take him, andthat was Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis was the exact same city in which his father hadtaken his family to find a better life and where he abandoned them. Wright’s first trip toMemphis ended in disappointment, desertion, and deprivation. While there Wright foundwork as a messenger for an optical company.He lived in Memphis for approximatelytwo years. During that time, he witnessed the deep and violent South which eventuallywould permanently scar him for life. Margaret Walker wrote:I am convinced that the best of Richard Wright’s fiction grew out of thefirst nineteen years of his life. All he ever wrote of great strength andterrifying beauty must be understood in this light. His subjects and themes,his folk references and history, his characters and places come from theSouth of his childhood and adolescence. His morbid interest inviolence-lynching, rape, and murder-goes back to the murky twilight of asouthern past. Out of this racial nightmare marked with racial suffering,poverty, religious fanaticism and sexual confusion emerge the five longstories in Uncle Tom’s Children. (Walker 43)The violent impression of Southern racism marked Wright’s personality and literature. Asa result, he would spend his entire life struggling to express the importance for men toreject the stereotypic notions of race, class, creed, or any other prejudice and to accepthuman value that honor the human spirit and release intelligence. It was Wright’s firstnineteen years in the South that opened up his most powerful and passionate writingIn 1927, at the age of nineteen Wright migrated to Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago,Wright found a job a as Post Office Clerk and at the same time he continued toself-educate himself by reading books, magazines, and newspapers. While in Chicago hebecame interested in Communism Issues. The interest came as a result of his concern withthe social root s of racial oppression. In 1932, Wright joined the Communist party. Hewas a party activist in Chicago and New York. Wright’s involvement with the Communistparty became the subject of most of his fiction writings. After he broke away from theparty his writings were centered around it. Wright’s years in Chicago are often consideredhis maturation years, which were years of growing maturity and preparing for anWright’s career as a writer basically began in the 1930’s. In 1930, he wrote hisfirst novel, Lawd Today. His novel, Lawd Today, however was not published until afterhis death. His first published work was, Uncle Tom’s Children: Five Long Stories, whichconsists of stories that attack the racial discrimination and bigotry that Wright encounteredas a youth. Throughout Wright’s career he published many outstanding works. Amonghis works included: five novels, two autobiographies, two books of short stories, fournonfiction books and one collecti on of essays. Wright’s major influence began when heRichard Wright’s most notable and highly acclaimed novel is Native Son.Richard Wright contemplated for a while before he decided to write a novel in which aNegro, Bigger Thomas, would become a symbolic figure of American life. The novel isdivided into sections entitled: fear, flight, and fate. Each section is used as a way to chartthe changes in the main character’s, Bigger Thomas, mind. Native Son, is the story of,Bigger Thomas, a poor young black man who had misinterpreted myths and stereotypesabout the racist society in which he lived and accidentally murders a wealthy whitewomen. At the novel’s end, Bigger must face the consequences of his actions, and isimprisoned and sentenced to death.Native Son is â€Å"considered both a psychologicalmelodrama and protest novel, that candidly exposes the pent-up hatred and bitterness ofthe oppressed black American.† (Stine 415). The first section of Native Son, is entitled Fear. In this portion of the book, we areintroduced to the main character, Bigger Thomas, who is a full-blown juvenile delinquent. Throughout the first section, he is ruled by images he is unable to control. Bigger is hiredby Mr. Dalton to be his live-in chauffeur. Bigger’s first task is to drive Mr. Dalton’sdaughter, Mary to a lecture at the university. On their way to the lecture, Mary tellsBigger that they are not going to the lecture and to go pick up Jan. Jan Erlone is Mary’scommunist lover. Throughout the night, Bigger is frightened by Mary’s and Jan’sinsistence to treat him as an equal. Bigger has this reaction because he isn’t used to beingtreated equally by someone of the opposite race. At the end of the night, Mary is drunk,and after driving her home he must carry her up to her room. When Mary’s mother, whois blind, enters Mary’s room, Bigger accidentally smothers Mary while trying to keep herfrom te lling her mother that he is in the room. Bigger tries to cover up Mary’s death byburning her body in a furnace. Bigger then creates a scheme to extort money from herparents by pretending to have kidnapped her. Bigger does that by trying to pen the blameon Jan, because he is a member of the Communist party (Wright). How to say no Summary EssayHe closed his eyes, longing for a sleep that would not come. During the last two days and nights he had live so fast and hard that it wasan effort to keep it all real in his mind. So close had danger and deathcome that he could not feel that it was he who had undergone it all. And,yet, out of all, over and above all that had happened, impalpable but real,there remained to him a queer sense of power. He had done this. He hadbrought all this about. In all of his life these two murders were the mostmeaningful things that had ever happened to him. He was living, truly anddeeply, no matter what others might think, looking at him with their blindeyes. Never had he had the chance to live out the consequences of hisactions; never had his will been so free as in this night and day of fear andHe had killed twice, but in a true sense it was not the first time hehad ever killed. He had killed many times before, but only during the lasttwo days had this impulse assume d the form of actual killing. Blind angerhad come often and he had either gone behind his curtain or wall, or hadquarreled and fought. And yet, whether in running away or in fighting, hehad felt the need of the clean satisfaction of facing this thing in all itfullness, of fighting it out in the wind and sunlight, in front of those whosehate for him was so unfathomably deep that, after they had shunted him offinto a corner of the city to rot and die, they could turn to him, as Mary hadthat night in the car, and say: â€Å"I’d like to know how your people live.†But what was he after? What did he want? What did he love andwhat did he hate? He did not know. There was something he knew andsomething he felt; something the world gave him and something he himselfhad; something spread out in front of him and something spread out inback; and never in all his life, with this black skin of his, had two worlds,though and feeling, will and mind, aspiration and satisfaction, beentoge ther; never had he felt a sense of wholeness(277-278). Throughout the years Richard Wright’s writings has effected and influenced manypeople all across the world. Richard Wright will continue to be known as the most highlyacclaimed writer of his time. Through his writings, Wright allows his readers to visualizewhat his life was like. Wright told the story of his life through his writing. His novel,Native Son, will remain on reading lists now and for years to come. I hope that this paperhas broaden your view on Richard Wright and his novel Native Son. Bibliography:WORKS CITEDButler, Robert. Native Son: The Emergence of a New Black Hero. Boston: TwaynePublishers, 1991. Joyce, Anne Joyce. â€Å"The Tragic Hero.† Modern Critical Interpretation. ed. HaroldBloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. Metzger, Linda. â€Å"Richard Wright.† Black Writers: A Selection of Sketches fromContemporary Authors. New York: Gale Research, 1989. â€Å"Richard Wright.† African American Writers. ed. Valerie Smith. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1991. â€Å"Richard Wright.† Contemporary Literary Criticism. ed. Jean C. Stine. Michigan: GaleResearch Company, 1984. Walker, Margaret. Richard Wright: Daemonic Genuis. New York: Amistad Press, Inc.,1988. Wright, Richard. Native Son. New York: Harper Collins Publisher, 1993.