Native Son (Perennial Classics)

In Bigger Thomas, Richard Wright has created the classic tragic figure - a character swept along by forces beyond his control who contributes to his own inevitable demise through his self destructive behavior.
Wright's remarkable and complex novel works on many levels. At the broadest level it is a novel about free-will vs. determinism - why do we do the things that we do? On a societal level it is the story of racism in America and the interaction between blacks and whites in the 1930's. On an individual level it is the story of Bigger, Bessie, Max, and the rest of the characters that Wright develops.
This novel has been criticized and praised alike. In Bigger Wright has created a complex character. He is not a mindless robot, as some critics of Wright claim, but a well drawn character who in some part of his being has dreams and aspirations, but is firmly defeated by the situations in which he finds himself. Perhaps the most memorable part of the book comes in the opening, as Bigger watches an airplane flying overhead and realizes that flying is an option which has been closed to him.
Bigger is a human being, and a glimpse through the headlines even today in the year 2000 (perhaps *particularly* today) reveals our fallibility as humans. Children born in ghettos are not genetically predestined to end up criminals, but a disproportionate number of them do end up that way. Wright tells us the story of one of these individuals.
Those who have characterized the novel as a racist or one-dimensional portrait of Black Americans have missed the point. Bigger is not a proxy for all Blacks living in America. Bigger is one individual, and is presented as such. The assumption that any literary work which includes a negative portrayal of a Black person is racist is, in itself, in a way racist. African Americans, like all human beings, are individuals, and it is a simplistic assumption to project the portrayal of one individual upon the whole group. We look around us and see that there are indeed individuals, who like Bigger, are not strong enough to bear the weight which society forces them to bear. The question which Wright poses is to what extent is society responsible to the ills provoked by the evil of racism, and to what extent are we as men and women responsible for our own actions. An excellent novel; should be required reading.

I read Native Son, at first skeptically, after I found out it had been written in 1940, but soon discovered that it could just as easily have been written today. The story centers around Bigger Thomas, a 20 year old black man who hasn't done much with his life up to this point. He lives in a one room apartment with his mother, sister and brother without many prospects for the future. He has already spent some time in reform and has been hanging out with the wrong crowd. Finally, a chance comes along that could turn things around for Bigger. He is given the job of driving for a wealthy white family and I was hoping it would work out for Bigger, but the first night on the job things go terribly wrong. Mary Dalton, the daughter of the wealthy white man, has Bigger drive her supposedly to the university in the evening, but instead goes to meet up with her boyfriend, Jan, who is in the communist party. Jan and Mary try to befriend Bigger, but he is confused by this and hates Mary. By the time the night is over, Mary and Jan are drunk and Bigger has to figure out a way to get Mary up to her bedroom without her parents finding out. As things turn out, Bigger ends up murdering Mary, albeit accidently, and to cover up his crime he carries her body down into the basement and chops her head off, then sticks her into the furnace where he hopes she will burn completely leaving no trace of the crime. I actually found myself on Bigger's side, hoping he wouldn't get caught, because it all had been an accident, but of course things get out of control from here. The author has woven a suspensful story, capturing the feel of how it would be to be a black person in 1940 when they weren't welcome in most places, and were hated by white people. As Bigger goes to trial he is defended by a white man who comes to understand why Bigger felt the way he did and helps Bigger come to terms with his execution. This book is an eye-opener for people who can't understand how hard is was (and maybe still is) to be black in America.

Richard Wright's _Native Son_ is an engrossing and rewarding novel. It is not quite on the level of Ralph Ellison's _Invisible Man_, which I consider to be the greatest literary work ever on the subject of the African-American experience, due to some weak characterization of the minor figures in the work (with the exception of Mary Dalton, Jan and Max, there is not a white character in the book with a shred of decency, and most are portrayed as the epitome of evil). With that minor quibble set aside, though, I heartily recommend _Native Son_ to any reader of fiction interested in the plight of the American Negro, or in a masterfully drawn portrait of the criminal psyche and the latent and not-so-latent pressures and circumstances that lead to its development.
The Modern Library's Top 100 list rated this book as the 20th-best English-language novel of the century, which I think overrates the book, but only very slightly. It's definitely somewhere in the top 100, and I would rank it behind only _Invisible Man_ and perhaps Baldwin's _Go Tell It on the Mountain_ as the greatest 20th-century work of fiction by an African-American. It is certainly not the "artless manifesto" that Baldwin once proclaimed it to be. Highly recommended.

Like most young men Bigger Thomas is tearing off the chains of adolescence and vying for independence. If only he was not poor and black in 1930s Chicago he may have found it. His situation is bleak and certainly not preferable for someone young and full of energy. Bigger is penniless. All occupational opportunities offered to him are menial. His father is dead. His mother is poor, overemotional and obtuse. White radicals such as communists will only get him into trouble. White philanthropy does not understand him and provides only the tritest comforts. His peers are as trapped as he is. The white ruled world has established high walls between him and the gentler aspects of society. He is growing furious in a societal cage too small for him. He is bound for trouble and finds it in the murder of a young, white woman in a moment of haste.
Leading African-American novelist, Richard Wright, sets himself a considerable challenge with Native Son. His protagonist is the type of young, black man who is often despised. Bigger is an unemployed urban dweller who is full of rage and guilty of an atrocious crime. Nevertheless, readers deeply care about him. Bigger is basically good-natured, yet completely conflicted and confused. In an attempt to outrun the inevitable he commits dreadful, yet utterly, logical acts. The series of dilemmas he faces is inexcusably unjust and gravely challenging, yet perfectly realistic. By understanding both the prejudices and truth surrounding African-American society Wright brilliantly antagonizes even the most intellectualized presumptions and prejudices about minorities, while leading his readers down a path of aching sympathy and nail-biting suspense. Wright's narrative skillfully places readers behind Bigger's eyes. Despite being, on the surface, the type of black man on which whites often base their prejudices, his thoughts are not unlike those of any young man from any race, including, to my surprise, my own.

Reading this book can put you in a trance of sort and allows you to view the world as Bigger does. Richard Wright's introductory essay "How Bigger Was Born" is an excellent essay, and prompted me to read the book. I did see where Wright was unsuccessful in some places, particularly towards the end of the novel, when the two attorneys are speaking. We lose the sense of Bigger's perspective, and get Wright's and others' perspectives, which Wright says he did not want to do. The strongest parts of the book are in the beginning and through his escape and plotting. Reading this book, say on the train for a half hour, you get off and look around you with a nasty scowl. It's impossible not to. You can truly understand the character, and how he would react to most situations. Wright goes ahead and gives him the most trying circumstances around. Bigger is a compelling character, and this is a great story. Bigger's hopes and dreams, his nasty worldiness, and his frightening distorted realization of his purpose and his self at the end are slowly growing entities of their own, which leave an undelible mark on the reader forever. I don't expect to ever forget much of this book. One of the things I liked in the essay was how Wright said, after the response to his short stories, that he would never write something that would be so easy as to bring tears. Your approach to this is much more difficult. It's not a tear-jerker. An excellent read, the book is written in plain good prose, too. Bigger is a truly unique character in literature of any sort.

Native Son is the most inspiring book I have read in a long time. It speaks of prejudices, foreign to me being a middle class white female in the 21st century, yet assisted my understanding of how confining and debilitating this must have been. I am embarrassed of how my white ancestors treated the black population, and very aware that hatred for different races is prominent on all sides of the color wheel. Like the author of Native Son, I wish that people could understand that down deep, in our psyches and inner core- there is no color. Native Son also speaks of - death-, which transcends all racial boundaries and unites us all in the end.
The novel is based on young Bigger Thomas, a Negro teenager growing up in Chicago's 'black belt' in the 40's. Daily Bigger must deal with his poor and starving family, pressure of being the 'leader' of his delinquent group of friends; he is segregated, oppressed, angry and most of all very scared. A brutal bully on the exterior masks his silent fear that he discusses with no one and doesn't even admit to himself. The source of Bigger's fear (and hatred) is the great mountain of white people, whom he holds accountable for oppression of the Negro population. One afternoon, Bigger devises a plan with his buddies to rob a white delicatessen. He then starts a fight and pulls a knife on one of his the boys in order to get out of pulling off the burglary. Later that night he is to get his first job, driving the family car for a very prominent white family on the other side of town. Though he doesn't admit it, Bigger is happy that he will at least have money for his family to be able to eat. That evening, on his first task of driving the young daughter to a 'school event' - young Mary is murdered by Bigger in an accidental sort of way. Bigger derives a plan to cover up the situation, which fails miserably and he gets himself into even more trouble. The painful and gruesome actions that Bigger is able to perform are the byproduct of his oppression and ultimate fear. Despite that he is pretty certain he will be unable to escape his fate; after the murder, Bigger is more calm and peaceful then he has been ever before in his life. It's like he has been waiting for something disastrous to happen his whole life and now that it has, there is no reason to worry about trying to prevent it any longer. He deals with his fate stoically, for now he is a man and understands more deeply than before. He arrives at an enlightened existence of race and death and fear and anger, and for the first time believes that maybe he really is something more than a criminal black kid on the streets of Chicago.
Richard Wright, the author of Native Son, grew up in a poor family in the South with much segregation. He later moved to Chicago- where he found it to be less prejudiced, but still his people were very confined. Despite his hard, poor childhood- in and out of orphanages, he was able to become an educated and enlightened author. Many blacks have asked him why he didn't write a tale of a successful brother such as himself, fearing that the boy that he depicts will only confirm the suspicions of whites that blacks are all evil and capable of gruesome crimes. His view on this was that he had to be honest, had to make a statement as to how this whole mess of racism and hatred could end up if something was not done. He wanted people to know that there is a hatred for whites among the black population that is as deep and powerful as its counterpart. Mostly, he felt that he could not be afraid to relate this message, and would not succumb to the fear of doing so.

Native Son is without doubt modern day literature. Wright's character development is exquisite. His plot is shockingly salient. And his writing style and sentence structure is nothing less than superb. In one of the most introspective novels of the modern day, Wright describes the plight of impoverished African Americans in Chicago in 1940. With a plot that is riveting, Wright discloses to the reader a side of society that many people never have the opportunity to witness or directly observe.
With delicacy and aplomb, Wright illustrates how people with no hope of success in life can be brought to violent action not by design, but by impulse provided because of the deprivation that is imposed upon them by societal indiscretion. The pervasive prejudice that was endemic in that period is graphically articulated by Wright's well chosen words.
What is most disturbing though, is how little society has changed in over 60 years. While today, there are laws that protect minorities there still exists a plethora of prejudice against those who are not White Anglo Saxon Americans. This anomaly is fueled by an unusual American xenophobia that still captures the minds of the unenlightened to a great degree. While segregation is no longer a legal practice, it still seems to be the ever present and overarching character of all too many Americans. It gives the reader pause to consider how many years must go by, before American society becomes racially neutral. Even today, only the smallest percentage of African Americans succeed in achieving the quintessential "American Dream." To most, this opportunity is just not available.
Any reader who doubts that high level classic fiction can be created by modern authors will be swayed significantly by "Native Son." The book is recommended to every single American reader. It is an experience that will not be soon forgotten.

Native Son is a compelling, eye-opening novel that shows the racial problems America was once faced with in the early twentieth century. The story revolves around Bigger Thomas, a poverty-stricken 20-year old. Stuck in the Black Belt of Chicago, Bigger lives in a rat-infested one-room apartment with his mother, brother, and sister. He is sent to work for a rich and prominent white family, the Daltons. The first night he accidently murders the Dalton's only daughter, Mary. Believing everyone would think he raped her, he burned her body in the furnace. This is only the beginning of his problems as he tries to put the blame on someone else and run from the police. Being discriminated against all his life, Bigger's only feelings toward whites is a very intense type of hatred. He had not ever felt freedom until he committed that murder- freedom from the white society. Unfortunately, Bigger had to commit a horrendous crime to be able to feel the sense of freedom all Americans are entitled to. Although I do not condone his actions, his side is somewhat justified because of his personality, life, and thoughts. Overall, this is an excellent book to examine the hardships that an African American (and other minorities) had to endure due to the injustice of society in America.

This book provides an excellent way of talking about race. Is race a construct or an essential feature of what it means to be human? The book refuses to answer this question as a simple either/or. Rather, the book puts before the reader evidence that is phenomenological--what is it like to experience race, for Bigger to experience whites in his stomach, in the architecture of the South Side, in the faces of whites and blacks? There are many presentations of race--from the 'apes' of the fearful white masses, to the self-loathing of young unemployed African-American men, to the color-blind Daltons and Communists (each with a substantially limited view of what constitutes the racial experience of Bigger). No one experience by itself is sufficient, since Bigger at least partially rejects them all. Race is a particular structure of what the Existentialists called facticity, and it is not as important to classify it metaphysically as it is to interrogate it experientially. Students in philosophy courses could benefit a great deal from seeing how little ground we have gained since this book was written. Race is a perennial question because we tend not to allow human experience to unfold itself as the source of human truth. How to break the cycle of violence to self and violence to others? Perhaps by avoiding metaphysical pitfalls and focusing on getting better at describing what is implicit in the suffering of other people and oneself.

Native Son is a great thriller novel that details the racism and oppression that African-Americans dealt with in Chicago in the 1930’s. The story revolves around Bigger Thomas, an african-american man who is forced to live in poverty. The novel did an incredible job detailing the everyday struggles that Bigger faces. I enjoyed the unique friendship that Bigger shared with Gus, Jack and G.H. They tease and harass each other but still remain friends. I couldn’t relate to Bigger because I have never experienced the oppression that he did but the author, Richard Wright, made it very easy to understand the anger Bigger felt because he was segregated. The suspense in the novel came when Bigger was found to be the killer of Mary. This part urged me to keep reading to the end, which came to a sad but understood resolution. The resolution detailed the shame, guilt, and anger Bigger felt through all of his life due to his poor treatment compared to whites. I learned the terrible conditions that minorities faced in the 1930’s from this novel. I would recommend this book to most students and adults because it details an incredibly harsh but important era in the United State’s history. This is a great book to read while learning about American history and more specifically, urban naturalism.
-T. Brown

This book is a timeless classic read by African American, Richard Wright, who later moved to France and became an expatriate. This book was written over 50 years ago and much has changed since then, but we all need to understand the history of racism and the experience of black and white Americans. This book opens a window on history. Read it and then give the book to someone else ask them to read it and pass it on, so we can make a new and better world.

Read Richard Wright's biography. If you do not have time to read a whole book on Richard Wright, then at least read about his life on Wikipedia. Richard Wright had an interesting and inspiring life.

This book instantly became one of my favorites and persuaded me to read almost all of Wright's other work. This is probably the most complete of all his novels. The story is of Bigger Thomas, a black teenager growing up in a Chicago ghetto. As Bigger gets invovled with white people, he is led into an absurd murder. Wright was fascinated with the moment of panic and confusion. He saw it as leading to violence and absurd, meaningless actions with high social consequences. Bigger, like Wright's other heroes, stands above his crime, the latter serving merely as a prop that accentuates the problems that lead him to his actions. Through close character study, we see the core of the problem for so many African Americans. Contact with whites is dangerous, and often leads to downfall. Bigger is not a criminal - he is a victim and a hero, in a way. He's a victim of the society that made such instincts as his possible, and a hero because he was man enough to claim his action. Bigger Thomas is an anti-hero, a dark martyr.

Richard Wright created a daring, insigtful book when he wrote Native Son in 1940. As a black Communist sympathizer, Wright was a member of two of the most oppressed and hated groups in America, but he wrote a moving novel explaining his liberal ideas and explaining the plight of African-Americans. Using the crimes and trial of a tragic black murderer, Wright persuasively lays out his ideas about race and politics, and how society would be better off if they gave blacks a chance at the same education, jobs and housing that whites had available to them. This was a revolutionary idea at the time, but one that is slowly, but surely, gaining acceptance to this day.
Aside from the subject matter, which makes this book an excellent historical (seeing as the setting is now 70 years ago and hardly recognizable anymore) look at race and class relations, politics, and urban America, this is a very well written story. The main characters are diverse and interesting, the action is rapid, and the dialogue, both external and internal, is gritty and realistic. It flows well and is a quick read. It is at some points hard to read, because the action is so intense and graphic, but certainly worth the brief gruesome scenes.
The only reason I wouldn't give this book a five star rating and consider it a classic as many people do, is that it becomes bogged down in rhetoric in the end. The murder trial of Bigger Thomas is too long, political, and heavy handed. Of course this was the time when Wright wanted to sum everything up and present his views, but the book slowed to a crawl, he became far to abstract, and really ended the book on a down note. Fortunately this doesn't ruin the book, just makes it not as great as it could have been.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone, from the casual reader, to a 20th century historian, to someone who wants to learn more about race, politics, or class relations. It would be an excellent book report book for high school students--not too difficult but a very important and meaningful book--but also good for adult reading groups or academics. Every reader would stand to gain from reading Native Son.

Native Son, by Richard Wright, is an excellent resource for those who want to feel racism in order to understand the roots of current political and cultural attitudes in this country, or anyone who wants to understand how disparate the peoples of this nation were in the 30s and what happens when their worlds collide. None of the incredible details could have taken place without the communists, the ultimate irony. This highlights the importance of understanding a culture before trying to "help" those who subscribe to it, a concept relevant not only to black/white relaions in this country, but also to any social program initiated by one group to aid another about which it knows too little. One comment on another review of this book, in case you've read it, the protagonist of this book is NOT an honest hardworking young man, though it doesn't seem that that fact winds up having much relevance in the motivation of the crime central to the novel. Read this novel to see what happens ANYtime one group tries to "blot out" another (an in any example of colonialism).

audio book: a totally engaging rendition of a mid-20th century classic. Peter Frances James's reading and dramatization are simply superb -- and even preferable to one's own reading of the text. I write this as the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. arrest and dropped charges are leading up to a White House reconciliation -- I hope! In Native Son, Wright captured perfectly the frustration and rage of young black men, ca. 1930s. Bigger Thomas is one of the most memorable characters in American fiction. If only this book had become required reading for Americans after the second World War, perhaps civil rights legislation would've happened sooner.

Wright made a misjudgment, however, when he focused on the closing arguments of the prosecutor and Thomas's defense atty. near the book's end. These are way too long as soliloquies and sink the momentum of the story. When he stays with Thomas and his travails, the book soars.

Richard Wright's _Native Son_ is an engrossing and rewarding novel. It is not quite on the level of Ralph Ellison's _Invisible Man_, which I consider to be the greatest literary work ever on the subject of the African-American experience, due to some weak characterization of the minor figures in the work (with the exception of Mary Dalton, Jan and Max, there is not a white character in the book with a shred of decency, and most are portrayed as the epitome of evil). With that minor quibble set aside, though, I heartily recommend _Native Son_ to any reader of fiction interested in the plight of the American Negro, or in a masterfully drawn portrait of the criminal psyche and the latent and not-so-latent pressures and circumstances that lead to its development.
The Modern Library's Top 100 list rated this book as the 20th-best English-language novel of the century, which I think overrates the book, but only very slightly. It's definitely somewhere in the top 100, and I would rank it behind only _Invisible Man_ and perhaps Baldwin's _Go Tell It on the Mountain_ as the greatest 20th-century work of fiction by an African-American. It is certainly not the "artless manifesto" that Baldwin once proclaimed it to be. Highly recommended.

It is a stunning story of a 20 year old black youth, Bigger Thomas, born and raised in Chicago slum in a fatherless home. He has known prejudice, white scorn and poverty all his life, a life without hope future or any meaning. When he gets a job as a chauffer in a good Samaritan white family, he is happy and yet bit resentful of their patronizing, their condescending manner. On the very first outing with their young daughter and her communist friend, tragedy strikes due exclusively to Bigger's sub- conscience fear of association with white women. Once he commits the ultimate crime, inadvertently as it was, it spirals out of control and one need not wonder about the denouement.

When the case goes to trial, Bigger's attorney makes eloquent, convincing case of three hundred year history of slavery, bigotry, hatred that resulted in such inevitable tragedy. He concludes Bigger was a victim of society, a world at large with its own rules and customs where he was a pariah from the day he was born. Bigger could not comprehend that not all whites hate blacks and harbor bigotry.

It is a fascinating account of racism in the twentieth century America. I wonder how much progress we have made since the book's first publication in 1950. It is a must read.

I thought I would be giving this book five stars, like so many other people did. Richard Wright is a good writer, and I absolutely loved reading "Black Boy" when it was required for a high school English class.

But I found "Native Son" too repetitive to make it thoroughly enjoyable. It could have used a better editing job, I guess.

This novel is important because of what it says not how it says it. Native Son is neither styllish nor eloquent. It is written in a realistic style simmilar to An American Tragedy.
Richard Wright courageously portrays his main character as a cowardly and brutal killer. He could have easily portrayed Bigger as a misunderstood youth used and abused by the white establishment. Instead much to the dismay of intellectual blacks, Bigger is cowardly and brutish. The novel is important for the reasons that Bigger did what he did.
Hired as a chaufer by a rich and liberal white family, Bigger Thomas is treated warmly by the family. On his first day on the job, Bigger drives the daughter and her lover around town. The two young people treat Bigger as an equal and this terrifies him. Bigger can not understand their actions toward him and his fear turns into hate. Through a series of bad luck and equally bad decisions, Bigger finds himself on trial for a brutal murder.
The real meat of the novel appears in the brilliant court room summation made by Bigger's communist lawyer, Max. Max describes to the court and jury the reasons that Bigger behaved as he did and that the real culprit was white America who created hate in Bigger Thomas and millions like him.

It's been a decade since I read this book (I am planning on re-reading it soon, which is what brought me here) and I can still recall the impact this book had on me during the first read. The intersection of two very different lives - the young violent protagonist (?) and the misguided clueless rich girl and the events that follow. The scenes where the girl and her boyfriend are unwittingly patronizing our protagonist, their attempts to let him know he has their unwanted compassion so at odds with the survivor realities of his world so that they are almost (unknowingly) mocking him are just incredibly awkward and telling about our world in general. I can remember groaning out loud as the angry young man makes mistake after mistake, desperation clouding his judgement, yet his actions realistically parallel with real lives one reads about in the newspaper year after year. Excellent book - highly recommended.

I enjoyed reading this novel. The beginning and end were interesting but the middle was a little slow, it was almost over explained. I thought this book was a good depiction of how unfair the justice system can be for a poverty stricken, young, black man. This book was about a black man who murdered and burned a rich young white woman, that was the daughter of the man he worked for. Then, terrified because he killed a white woman (but not remorseful) he ran after an attempt to pin it on someone else failed. The story then goes into this man's capture, trial, and heart-wrenching conviction by an obviously racially influenced judge. The defense attorney goes into his ideas of why this man killed a white girl, and that it could be the result of years and years of a people being oppressed. I reccomend this book to people who are interested on the theories of why some black men, living in poverty, seem to lean towards a life of crime instead of prosperity. Over all this was a very good and interesting piece to read, and the language used wasn't challenging at all.

This is one of the most moving books I have ever read. I taught this book in high school and every student in my class, even those who weren't the best students, was engaged and involved in the story. It goes to show how motivating a story this is.

A challenging read. The easy route for the author Richard Wright would've been to write a novel asking us to sympathize with a black man wrongfully accused of murder in a racist community. But he does not take the easy route. Instead he implores the reader to follow Bigger Thomas, a young black man who is absolutely guilty of committing a deplorable act (for reasons which he himself cannot fully explain), and forces us to look at the circumstances which might have possibly created this complex man.

Although the book isn't perfect and every now and then (especially in the last 30 pages) delves into bloated preachiness, it still is very engaging and surprisingly suspenseful. It forces you to consider how society in the 1930's created a man, for whom fear and hate were the only emotions he's ever felt, and how those emotions can lead him to murder. It challenges you to understand that although the murder is essentially accidental, Bigger knows he has done something wrong but is initially unrepentant. Because after lashing out in a situation he doesn't understand, it is the first time he feels alive, with a purpose and with the control of his own life in his hands.

A challenging and important book that pulls aside the curtain and looks dead on at the circumstances that create Bigger Thomas and at the social, class, and racial relations in our society.

Richard Wright's reputation seems to rest on two books - "Native Son" and "Black Boy." While the later book is better written and in every way the product of a writer in complete possession of his craft, it may be the former book that is more powerful and important.

While "Black Boy" is a fictionalized retelling of Wright's own life, "Native Son" tells an archetypal story of an African American who strikes out at white society by committing murder. On the one hand, we disapprove of what Bigger Thomas does but we can't completely condemn him either. The problem is that his actions are partially a result of the oppression under which he - and all African Americans - has had to live all his life.

It's interesting to compare the book to two works on similar themes - John Fowles "The Collector" and Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment." All three works deal with murder of women but in each case the emphasis is different. For the great Russian novelist, the import is moral, for the Englishman it's socioeconomic and for Wright it's race. I don't mean to suggest that these elements don't coexist in several of these stories, but in each case the respective author means to point out one specific element over the others. This gives the reader a fascinating look at the nature of crime and makes us question both what punishment would be fair and how to mitigate such future violence.

Wright's book works best when he lets his character, Bigger, speak for himself. However, the author can't seem to help inserting much of his own voice. This becomes most intrusive during the last section "Fate," in which you can almost see Wright - in the character of Max - walk onto the stage and grandstand. While this makes the meaning of the book painfully clear, you really should have understood him hundreds of pages earlier. I suppose this ending courtroom drama is a product of the book's times. Wright wanted to make sure he was understood in an area where he could easily have been misread. However, a dose of ambiguity - as we get in spades in "Black Boy" - would have been helpful.

Also, much has been made of the debt Wright and Baldwin owe each other. However, for me, the author that Wright seems to be channeling most is Poe. The gruesome murders, the cat pointing to the evidence of the crime, etc. - all points to the great American horror writer.

In sum, "Native Son" is a powerful and insightful book about race relations in the United States. Anyone with an interest in this subject (or perhaps I should say "any American or person with an interest in America") should read this book - warts and all. Then read "Black Boy" to see how much Wright developed as an author and how his views deepened.

Native Son by Richard Wright is one of the best books of the last century. It is well written, moving, and thought-provoking. It is also often poorly taught and discussed.
Too many people who discuss this book would lump it into the genre of �naturalistic� fiction. They argue that Bigger, like the characters of authors like Dreiser and Lewis, is constrained by his environment. These commentators would rob the character of Bigger of his ability to determine his own fate.
Bigger Thomas, no matter how constrained by circumstance, is his own master. His decisions, not his surroundings or heredity determine his fate.
Bigger�s mother is depicted as upstanding, hardworking, loving and Christian. Bigger�s mother loves and is greatly concerned for her oldest son. She provides as stable of a home setting as is possible in her circumstances. She is perceptive enough to see that Bigger�s life outside of the home is the true threat to her son�s well being, it is for this reason that she sets Bigger up with a great job for a person with his record.
Here Wright allows us see Bigger�s first set of choices. Rather than be grateful to his mother, Bigger goes out on the town with his fellow criminal friends who he then alienates by being excessively domineering and cruel. He then takes the job because he has nothing to do. Even here, Bigger brings the massive chip on his shoulder to his new setting.
Bigger chooses to see the worst in people (there is always plenty to see�no matter where you are). Rather than try and understand his employer�s desire to help the unfortunate, Bigger sees condescension. Rather than taking Jan�s friendship for what it is worth, he sees the political motive of Jan�s friendliness.
One can argue that the book bears out Bigger�s suspicions. After all, when everything comes down most of the whites do in fact only see a �black monster.� Yet this begs the question: Was Bigger truly doomed by his heredity and social status? The answer to this is a qualified no. Bigger still had choices. The fact that he made all the wrong ones does not mean that he had to.
In a sense, Bigger, as black person in the Chicago ghettos of the early twentieth century was indeed doomed to having far less options than his white counterparts. Wright condemns such a plight. He unmasks the racism of even the most well-intentioned whites. Yet I believe Wright�s societal critique also exposes Bigger�s other options. The two alternatives we are blatantly presented with are the �causes.�
Bigger could have escaped in the cause of Communism. He could have made his life (even his crimes and punishment) worth something in the context of the great struggle as envisioned by Mr. Max. The flaw here is one of �what then of Bigger?� Bigger gets to make a profound statement, perhaps betters the world for others, but what does it get Bigger?
The other �cause� Bigger could have escaped into was his mother�s rather pietistic, reward-in-the-next-world form of Christianity. Again, the problem with this is one of �what of this life?� Should Bigger sit on his oppressed hands and wait to die?
The problem with both of the causes Bigger is presented with is that they do nothing for the here and now. They were offered (at least with any force) too late. These great causes, with the exception of Bigger�s mother, cared little for Bigger until he was surrounded by all the hoopla of his trial. So, once again--was Bigger�s fate predetermined by circumstance?
Bigger�s final moments are filled with a vain dream partly born by his misinterpretation of Mr. Max�s final address to him. Nevertheless, it is clear that however buried, Bigger�s dream had previously existed in him. Bigger claims that his dream was the motivation for his crimes--in which case it would have existed long before any philosophy had tainted the picture.
Just as Nietzsche says �bad men have no songs (how is it then that the Russians have songs)� how is it that this automaton of location and genes has dreams? If he dreams then must he not decide whether or not to act on such dreams?
It is Bigger�s consistent failure to choose his dreams that leads to his nightmare. Perhaps he is paralyzed by the vagueness of his dream. Bigger knows what he does not want to do. He cannot decide on nor do what he wants. Even his one seemingly fulfilled action--the murder of his girlfriend--turns out to have failed.
This condition of indecisiveness is allegorically dealt with in Bigger�s repeated putting off of cleaning the furnace of Mary Dalton�s ashes and bones. This procrastination is the reason why Bigger is eventually caught.
Dreams, indecision, pathos, and regret add up to a tragedy. This tragedy was not caused by environment or even race. Though race and position hinder Bigger, his fate has clearly not been written in the stars. His decisions are his alone�not the result of society. Others around him have chosen other, less destructive paths in life. The prosecuting attorney argues this implicitly in his case before the court (though it is tainted by a divisive racism).
Wright was clearly sympathetic with the lives of those who were living like Bigger. His aim was to shine a light on the lives that his less fortunate contemporaries were living in order to bring change. The fact that Wright saw this change as possible is the strongest argument against Bigger�s story being one dictated by �naturalistic constraints.�
Native Son is a horrifying picture of a slice of American life that too many people experience. Reading it without an acknowledgement of Bigger�s ability to act for himself does nothing to strengthen Wright�s argument. This is a great American novel that should be read honestly--with intellectual blinders off.
I give Native Son my highest recommendation.

Very poor quality to the price I paid. The copy that I recrived was not the one pictured and the pages were yellow and show signs of aging. I paid more than half the price of a new copy and moreover it took a very long time to be delivered.

Native Son is an excellent book that is quite deep on many levels. Richard Wright does an incredibly nice job of developing his main character, Bigger Thomas.
Bigger is a twenty year-old poor black man hired by a wealthy white family, and then accidentally kills the prominent young daughter out of fear. In covering up her death, he allows his emotions to get the better of him, and he rapes and kills another girl.
The first two sections of the book are loaded with intrigue, suspense, and drama, as the reader is right there with Bigger as he tries to mislead the murder investigation, and then runs from the large angry masses once his cover-up is foiled. The third section allows you to get into Bigger's mind and feel his confused emotions. Here, the reader is treated to Wright's views on society mainly through the voice of Bigger's trial attorney.
The language in the book is easy-flowing, and not terribly descriptive, which was done intentionally, so the reader could read between the lines and make clear assumptions. All in all, the novel was quite entertaining and rather eye-opening.

I enjoyed reading this book even though it wasn't quite what I expected. I have the anniversary edition which includes extensive notes on the writing and publishing of the novel. It is also the original copy of the story before edits insisted upon by the Book-of-the-month club that changed the story a bit to be more palatable to readers. I think some editing from the trial could have helped cut down on the length and wordiness of the speeches and gotten the point across better. Otherwise, a good book and I recommend it to anyone interested in classic readings and civil rights issues. I am looking forward to reading Black Boy.

I first read this book over 20 years agao as part of my Black Lit class and have read it several times since. Often you find yourself wondering who the real villian is, Bigger, the legal system, white America; and who is the real victim, Bigger, Mary, Mrs. Dalton, Mary's blind mother, Bigger's mom... Betty. Tragic that she was so brutally murdered and even worse that her remains were reduced to "evidence".

Oh, it's a tough one and you won't walk away from this one feeling good, but you will be forever changed. Be sure not to miss the defense lawyer's closing statement. Here is where Mr. Wright mounts his soap box and throws up an ugly mirror for us all to look at ourselves.

Native Son is a novel about a young black negro (Bigger Thomas)who finds himself in lots of trouble when he accidentally kills a young white girl. He burns her body out of panic and tries to go on with his life. In my opinion, the most exciting part of the book was when Bigger killed Mary (the young rich girl) and Bessie (his girlfriend). Not only did he suficate Mary, but he also chopped off her head so he could be able to burn her in the furnace. Bessie was killed with several severe blows to the head with a brick. The most boring part of the story is in the beginning when Bigger and Gus, his friend, are pretending to live lives of white men. Overall, this book was a very interesting and outstanding novel. Native Son is a novel stating the consequences when a black man tries to make a life in a white society. In conclusion, I rate this book with four stars.

Unlike many reviewers, I will not focus on the graphically violent scenes in the novel. Instead, I suggest that understanding the drawn-out courtroom scene is the key to understanding this masterwork.
The plot rolls along until Max opens his mouth. He makes a valid point, "Bigger had no choice but to act the way he did" but by saying the same thing over and over, readers forget the importance of his words. The courtroom is a microcosm of American society (even today) as Whites know of the problems facing most of the African American population but chose not to do anything about these problems because we are sick of hearing cases like Bigger's.
It would be easy to dismiss this book as being Black vs. White. Remember, Bigger kills a white girl and a black girl, signifying just how hopeless his situation truly is.

Richard Wright's novel Native Son is set in 1930s Chicago and is about a young, black man who lived in an unfortunate time where blacks were woefully segregated and pushed down. Because of that, Bigger Thomas was bitter and angry most of the time and took his revenge out on grocery stands and movie theaters with his "gang" friends. But, when he found himself in a much more serious situation, Bigger intended to cover it up. His plan backfired. And to make it even worse, he was black, which did not allow him a fair trial.
This book was meant by the author to be an awakening--an awakening for society to realize the meaning of justice, but also kindness and equal competition. In that sense, Wright did his job and his choice of expressing his opinions, through a book, was very influential throughout the 1940s. But, in this book, you could also see the great amount of anger flowing through his words, flowing through Bigger's mind. Bigger Thomas could be the author, in a slightly more violent and selfish representation. I agree with most of the concepts that were revealed in the book. Some of the ideas that were shown went against my beliefs, though, such as the communist party being the only good in the society, the whole idea of God that Wright interpreted, and his relentless portrayal of his hatred for white people.
I have always been taught that communism only ends in hatred and contempt for the government and that it never works, so when communists showed up in the book and Wright depicted them as being scapegoats for public criticism and that people never liked them, I was surprised. It caused me to think a little more about the political party and evaluate its beliefs. Richard Wright had also joined the communist party before he wrote Native Son, so he was familiarized with it and its people.
Another key point in this book is Bigger's viewpoint on religion, namely God. As I said before, Wright could be the fictional Bigger, having the same beliefs, except for the one belief Bigger held that he could not get anywhere in life because of the wall whites had built between them. It was no surprise when I found that Wright had always been pushed to pray and go to church by his grandmother, but he never would. Bigger was also pushed to "go to God" in the book by his mother and the black preacher of the church to which he never went. The whole point I think Wright conveyed was that life had no meaning unless you could get somewhere, which was exactly what blacks could not do. And when so many blacks were going to church and crying out to God, Bigger was disgusted because he felt there was no hope. It was not changing anything. I disagree with Wright on this idea. There was one quote in the book that could be interpreted as relating to leaving this earth and going somewhere better: ".... feeling that life was flesh nailed to the world, a longing spirit imprisoned in the days of the earth" (pg. 286), but I think this statement actually meant that human beings were longing for something better, but would never get the satisfaction they desired.
The most intriguing part of this book, though, was the fact that Bigger hated white people no matter what. His hate for them was solely based on the color of their skin (sounds familiar). He was doing exactly what the white people had done, except it was switched. It was different for him, though, because whites had power. He did not. This concept was the clencher in Wright's portrayal of hatred and bitterness, revealed through Bigger.
I do agree, though, that, yes, society was in need of a transformation and Wright's book was a contributor to that cause. Yes, black people were treated very poorly and it needed to be stopped, but that was not the only thing I believe was on Wright's mind when he wrote this. Through his words, he was venting his hopelessness, his anger, his character. The fact remains that black people, Bigger as an example, had the same problems as white people but one group was victimized because they came along after white people. Society as a whole wanted power and still do today. Nothing has changed in that respect. Sure, the issues have changed, and people direct their greedy and selfish thoughts to other things now, but the source is still the same. The difference between the blacks and whites was that one group had the power and couldn't bear to lose it, and one group wanted the power more than anything.
How blacks were treated goes against God's word. That fact remains. No one can fight validly against that. Blacks were killing whites in their minds if they weren't going to church and reading their Bible, and whites were physically killing them. Blacks were provoked first, yes, but they let their hatred take over and a war broke out. That was the basis for the mess.
Wright achieved his goal through his book, and I am glad that society, for the most part, is now racially accepting. But did he really win in the end? You see, this wasn't just a fight for his people. Whether he realized it or not, the other themes he attached to this book made just as much of a statement as the one he really wanted to get out.
Overall, I loved reading this book. It was very controversial with its themes and I enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend it.

Author Richard Wright (1908-60) was a master of description, and he captures the feel of Chicago and our often cold-shouldered society in this bitter 1940 classic. It's the story of Bigger Thomas, a self-loathing young black man that accidentally kills a white coed, and then kills again in an effort to evade detection. Bigger is hardly sympathetic, but his tragic hand is forced in part by racism. It's as if the author is saying, "Your injustices helped create Bigger Thomas!" Wright's gripping (if contrived) treatment of Bigger's trial indicts such peripheral characters as Mr. Dalton, a supposedly decent man that funds Negro charities - but only after fleecing blacks in the rental market. Readers come away understanding the cruelties of racial injustice, and comprehending why Wright might have named his character Bigger. Some say this classic was loosely based on a 1938 killing on the city's South Side.
NATIVE SON is rather wordy in its last chapters, and many dislike the author's pro-communism - naïve sentiments Wright later dropped after learning more about Stalinist Russia. Despite these minor flaws, this classic is gripping, persuasive, and probably Wright's best work.

What Wright set out to accomplish—to make the reader feel the cause and effect of racial oppression—was achieved with surprising acuity. I was unable to put the book down, hanging on every page, as though I was the main character continuing to read my own plight. At the conclusion of ever session, I felt a weight as though I was in Bigger’s position, and could only escape it by reading again to finish the book as soon as possible.

Timely and altogether relevant 80 years after its writing.

I read Native Son several years ago, and recently returned to it. Unlike Ellison's "Invisible Man," I don't think it holds up as well, many years after publication. The reason is that much of the writing style and innovativeness is dated. And it has questionable plot elements. In the key scene where Bigger is trying to prevent Mrs. Dalton from knowing he is in the bedroom with her daughter, one must wonder why he would so thoroughly lose his presence of mind, not to realize that she might not only walk up to the bed and smell her daughter's breath and clothing to see that it reeks of alcohol, but that she might also feel her way to her daugher's body, only to discover Bigger's presence? We're already told that he has seen her feel her way down hallways. So, why not, when sensing Mrs. Dalton's presence, simply hide under the bed? The other thing that makes the book dated is that now Bigger Thomas is the archetype for the recalcitrant, violent African American male. At the time Wright wrote the book I'm sure it was innovative. But it became so popular that now, racists in masse see Bigger Thomas when they think of African American males. Contrast this with the rich metaphor that is still detectable in Ellison's "Invisible Man" and I must conclude that Native Son is very overrated as a classic.

Maybe I should have read this book in High School, but I didn't. I can't imagine the nuns allowing it. Still, it is a well written book with a powerful message about racism. Given that, I'm almost sixty now and a big fan of True Crime novels. In the Introduction, the author explains why some of the things he writes are more about making his point than making them ring true. He wants us to see, to know, to feel Bigger Thomas as he has developed in our not only racist but racist with its roots in slavery culture. And so I did.

Yet. As the novel moved along and I saw this guy commit two bloody murders, one after the other, I saw each bite of food he either could or could not eat, each cigarette he smoked, I thought - he's surrounded by friends and family, reporters and police - and he has yet to take a shower! He has never changed his clothes! Not until he goes to court! ... and yet no one suspects him? By the end of the book I actually began to smell him!

True, he was rinsed off with a fire hose by the time he was caught - but by then, the blood would have been good and dried, not to mention the rat infested moldy air he had been living and breathing. He would have been a hot mess. Not sure how such a highly educated author could miss such a crucial detail. I would love to see this book re-issued and updated and yes, made mandatory reading in our school system today.

If this book had to be described in one short statement at the outset it would have to be, "The Unfortunate American Truth". The story presents itself as a tale told many times in America. This book exemplifies the racial and class stereotypes during a time in American history that is frowned upon by many for its racial inequalities amongst other things. In the early 1900s America is moving into a new frontier, moving from a post reconstruction era to an industrial boom. With these changes large numbers of Americans begin to migrate to more urban areas. With these migrations many cities like Chicago became heavily populated with minorities trying to find their way. With a slow job market for most minorities and an ever increasing number of people forced into substandard living environment, many which have no choice but to turn their attention to living off the land. In most cases that meant being forced into a life of crime and injustice from law enforcement and the like.
So is told the story of Native Son's Bigger Thomas. Bigger is a young Black make living in Chicago's south side, otherwise known as the region called the "Black Belt". Mr. Wright printed a very clear picture when describing Bigger's living conditions. Bigger's living conditions is typical for African Americans of the past one hundred years. He lives in a crowed apartment complex with his family which consists of him, his mother, and two younger siblings, in a one bedroom apartment. Mr. Wright highlights the depressing environment in which Bigger lives by starting the novel off with a little black on black crime, were Bigger has an encounter with a large black rate in the apartment where he lives. The vicious way in which he kills the rat shows that despite the species of the creature what can happen when pent up anger and aggression are released. The next part to his adventure was meeting up with the fellas of his neighborhood gang. Frustrated with his current social and financial standing Bigger and the boys plan to rob someone. Just some random person won't do, they most target someone of prominence, a white man. Before they can carry out this mission, Bigger is over come with fear of the consequences that come from trifling with white people.
Bigger is later given an opportunity to take a job as a chauffeur of one of Chicago's wealthy business types named Mr. Dalton. Now Mr. Dalton is pictured as this typical confused white man in the early 1900s. Mr. Dalton extorts money from the black community through the incredibly high rents he charges those who live in the Black Belt region. Yet he feels he is down for the Negro cause by presenting charity in the form of Ping-Pong tables for the local boys and girls clubs. Nonetheless Bigger gets the job because he has a criminal record. The Dalton's mission is to reform Bigger into a respectable person.
Bigger would spend most of his time on the job for the Daltons driving their daughter Mary. Naïve Mary like most over privileged youth of any time period, wants to see how the other half lives tells Bigger to bypass the designated route to the university and show her how Black people live. After picking up Mary's communist boyfriend Jan, Bigger is instructed to take them on an adventure in the Black neighborhoods. During this time Mr. Wright shows the reader just how clueless people of prominence could be during the time, about the living standards of those less fortunate. After having a few drinks Bigger drives Mary back home. This is where the story truly picks up.
Over the course of a few days Bigger lands himself in tons of trouble. Mr. Wright tells it best as the main character goes on a in adverted killing spree. After which a though investigation in sues. During this time you can see how Bigger and Blacks in general interacted with white people with authority, any white people for that matter during that time. There after Bigger's tragic story meets its beginning, middle, and Climax in a foul swoop. As he tries very hard to cover his tracks reality does not let up in pursuing him. All the while Bigger gingerly dances around the white people he encounters as to promote the stereotype that people of color can't commit such crimes to whites due to his lack of intelligence.
The sad part is when the story is all said in done, though the story presents a story in which anything can happen next, the story ends the way it was always meant to end. With the death of someone who in retrospect knew nothing more than the life which was destined for him before he was even born. This American tragedy has been told many of times throughout time before and for years after the book was written. Mr. Wright's Native Son is just a reminder that no matter where you live or what year you live there can be seen many injustices committed when it comes to race. It solely depends on how hard you're willing to pay attention to what reality is putting in front of you.

This book is one of the best books I've ever read. It tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a poor black living on the South Side of Chicago. This book has so many themes contained within it. While reading this book one begins to understand the horrible living conditions for blacks during the mid-part of 20th century. One can also see how Bigger's mind has been shaped by the ones who are around him. Bigger ends up getting into a lot of trouble and with his back against the wall is forced to fight for his own survival. Everyone should read this book because it shows how one's environment can affect the way one thinks and views themselves. Richard Wright sums up this thought in his quote "If Edgar Allen Poe were alive he would not have to invent horror, horror would invent him."

an extrememly important text that needs to be read. grat intergratoin on behalf of the author with theory and producing a interesting text in the process. the third part brings the text down with its didactic tone but aside from that it is a great book. wright's influences shine through on this one. tones of existentialism emerge and Poe resonates int eh first and second books. it is not only about the hardships faced by the african american at the turn and middle of the 20th century, rather how an indivudiual must fight and yet deceive oneself in order to function in society. it is also a great book for political science, sociology and pre-law types due to the fact it shouws the influecne of environment upon the individual.

Native Son is a book about a young black man, Bigger Thomas, in a time where black people were not treated equally or fairly by white people. He, his mother, younger brother, and younger sister live in a dirty and rundown apartment building rented out by a wealthy white man. Bigger goes to work for this wealthy man, Mr. Dalton, and in a surprising turn of events ends up accidentally murdering his daughter, Mary. He tries to cover up his crime by chopping up her body and throwing her in a furnace and putting the blame on Mary's boyfriend Jan. Bigger is found out and stands trial for murder.

Although I do not like the storyline of this book, which is why I gave it three stars, it is very well written. The author is obviously knowledgeable as to the struggles and cruelness black people faced at that time. I think the point the author was trying to make with this book was that someone, or a group of people, should have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else regardless of their skin color.

As soon as my son is old enough to read and understand this novel, I am going to challenge him to read it one summer. I feel that every young person, especially young black males should read this novel. It accurately reflects how we are all products of our environment, and even sometimes caught up in situations beyond our control, but it is our response to these circumstances that is key. But the largest lesson to be learned and to understand is that there are always consequences to our actions, whether our actions are intentional or not.

The novel brings up the interesting dichotomy that exists between nature and nurture. I eventually came to the conclusion that faced with some of the same challenges that Bigger Thomas had to deal with (racism, stereotypes, and himself...perhaps his own worse enemy), I could have made some of the same decisions. Even more troubling at the end of the novel is my conclusion that any of us could have been 'Bigger' because at the end of the novel, Bigger wasn't even the issue, it was Society and their response to Bigger.

Richard Wright has a beautiful way with words and making each scene come to life in your head. "Native Son" is a haunting story of Bigger Thomas, a young black man, growing up in Chicago during a difficult time for colored people. I think its an amazing story depicting the anger that many people must have felt during this time just like Bigger. Rather than having a heroic protagonist, the star of this book (Bigger) is constantly angry about the way things are, but as the story progresses and unfolds his actions and decisions, that many may view as heinous, are exactly what give him a sense of power when he felt invisible before. All in all I think it's a great book that should be read with an open mind.

This book is as relevant today as it was when written, perhaps more so. The racial divide continues- the attempt the author makes to enter the mind of a young black male is probably not unlike what occurs today- a young black male sees the trappings of middle to upper class america- and sees it as mystical and unattainable . A young black male with no education, no opportunity, and a complete lack of understanding to negotiate his life sadly continues today. The stage has changed, but the play continues to be written the same way. The book saddens me- and really gives me no optimism for the future of young african americans (primarily males) who are disadvantage; with have no mentors or primary supporters to guide them. The have nots are are becoming more numerous, and this benefits no one. Education is the only mode I can see to change this- it at present is not working- not the way it should. This book continues to be an eye opener.

Native Son is among the classics in literature and will remain as one of the greats. I picked up this book just walking around Barnes and Noble and read it in 2 days. The story provided drama, suspense, and thrill to keep any reader on the edge of their seats. Although the end of the book was drawn out (in my opinion) i still thought the it was a sutiable ending for the story. Wright's work in this classic encouraged me to read other titles by him including "Clored Boy". If you havent already get this book and read it. It is long but easy to read and understand. Happy Reading

EC

I must say I was very impressed with Richard Wright I can't beleive I had this book for so long and just decided to read it actually in Angry Ass Black Woman by Karen Miller recommended this book and I must say very captivating. Very hard to put down about the life of Bigger and his family struggling single mom trying to raise 3 kids and Oldest son so lost in the streets when finally made one the biggest mistakes of his life..Native Son is collectors item as well I recommend this book as well

I don't think the power of this book will ever diminish. It is such a startling and jarring portrait of the despair and anger that accompanies disenfranchisement and urban poverty that it remains relevant after sixty years.

Somehow, Wright's talent is great enough to make you completely identify with Bigger no matter where you come from in life-you feel his anger, his nihilism, his frustration at a world where a poor black boy lives in fear most of the time. Despite Bigger's acts of violence, we realize through the reading of the book that he is our creation and our responsibility. It is a terrifying and emotional read, however, as Bigger's inevitable ruin is constantly presaged and approached. Modern readers will find it remarkable that it was written in 1940 when it seems so modern and current; and they will despair that so many of the problems described in wartime Chicago still plague us today.

"The Native Son" delivers a chilling account of how an ordinary Black American, living in 1930s Chicago, can commit a heinous crime and subsequent cover-up, for the systemic racism and oppression present in America helped to create the conditions in which this horrendous act could occur. "The Native Son", written before the modern Civil Rights movement, does not issue a blanket amnesty for the crimes committed by Blacks, but helps the reader to understand the mindset of a Black living in this oppressed and segregated society where hope abounds only in the afterlife. Although Communists are portrayed sympathetically, this novel is not a call for a "revolution" or blatant propaganda against the "rich."

Wright explores racism and its effects, not only on the oppressed, but also on the oppressors. Bigger, the oppressed, fails to see whites as individuals and stereotypes all as racist bigots who intend only to harm him. Of course, there are plenty of these individuals about, yet there are genuine decent whites who Bigger fails to see as human. On the other side, of course, is the systemic abuse of Blacks as they are forced to live into a small section of the South Side in decrepit ghettos. Remarkably, this is a step up from their sharecropping days in the Jim Crow South, where Bigger grew up. However, even those whites who deem themselves to be sympathetic to the "Colored" cause, such as the Daltons, are condescending and arrogant. The Daltons, typical guilty liberals, have contributed thousands to the NAACP, yet they indirectly control the real estate company that reaps the benefits of the segregated society and the artificially higher rents in the black tenements. Even Mary and Jan, who attempt to treat Bigger as an equal, do so in a degrading and condescending manner as they attempt to understand his "people". Indeed, when this large wall of separation is breached, rabid fear is instilled in Bigger, which leads to his acts of murder.

Blindness is a recurrent theme throughout, as Mrs. Dalton is literally blind, yet it is the entire society that is blind to the plight of the likes of Bigger Thomas. Of course, Bigger is also blind to the other side and has bred hate and contempt for all whites, even those that do good. Throughout Bigger's journey of self-awareness in prison, he attempts to break through this blindness and to see his purpose in life. Tragically, only as he awaits his final fate does he realize that his white enemies and himself share the same fears and hopes and insecurities.

Although the first two-thirds of this novel will leave you spell-bound with its details and its suspense, I was expecting a letdown in the final part of the novel and a rehash of "The Jungle" syndrome, as I'll call it. In "The Jungle", Sinclair provides a scintillating story in the first part of the novel, but this serves only as a pretext to the blatant Socialist propaganda in its final part (no thanks, Mr. Sinclair). And though the last part of "The Native Son" espouses Wright's philosophy on racial oppression and may be sympathetic toward Socialist ideals, it is more of a subtle warning against the conditions that existed at that time which were a powder keg for future violent racial strife. Although there are definitely aspects which serve to blame society and divorce responsibility from his actions, in the end Bigger does take responsibility and comes to an understanding that he may have been oppressed and victimized, yet there were outlets other than violence for his despair.

Overall, Wright provides a chilling account of the state of race relations in 1930s Chicago and in America, in general. Although some may interpret Wright's novel as an attempt to deflect responsibility and to blame society for the actions of others, I believe Wright is attempting to distill a much deeper meaning and understanding for all races to come together.

This is one of the best stories I have ever read. As I read the book, I felt myself somehow tied to the main character, Bigger. I cheered for him, was ashamed with him, and I had a hard time putting the book down because it was so enthralling. It was great to be able to feel a part of a life that was so different than my own. The culture of Bigger Thomas is something very foreign to me, and I appreciated being able to feel like I was in his shoes. Richard Wright is undoubtedly a great writer, and I am looking forward to reading more of his books, enjoying his stories and trying to understand his ideas that seem so illogical to me. The story was improbable is some parts, and I think the author sacrificed reality for the philosophy that he was pushing. This didn't take away from the suspense or interest of the story.
Though the story was great, the author had some ideological axes to grind that were very evident in this novel. At first, I felt his agenda was race (the oppression of blacks). Then I felt his agenda was politics (the greatness of socialism). But I think his agenda goes even farther than those two issues, the agenda has roots much deeper than race and politics. The issue at hand is a worldview issue, in which Richard Wright tries to show the supremacy of the individual over anything else (society, religion, race) but in his world, the individual is powerless to the society. I believe Wright has given too much credit and power to society. In the book, Bigger Thomas is portrayed as a puppet in the hands of a white-controlled society. Though society is undoubtedly influential, in no way can it control individuals in the way that the main character, Bigger, was controlled in this book. Richard Wright is living proof that society is not supreme, for he wrote books that were definitely not wanted by the society that he thinks hates him and his ideas.
In my opinion, this ideology is the easy way out. Blame goes on everyone but self, and the individual is justified in making poor, selfish, and destructive decisions. In the book, the white majority was definitely wrong in the way they treated the black minority. But it is my contention that this is not ground for rape and murder which Bigger Thomas was guilty of (the accidental murder of Mary and the deliberate rape and murder of Bessie). Maybe I am ignorant like the character, Mr. Dalton, but I think that the powerful and the rich ought not to be blamed for the bad decisions that individuals make, even though the powerful and the rich may be a negative influence. Society is never going to be perfect. And even though America obviously has its problems (especially in the 40's) its society is much better than most around the world. Oppression has shown its ugly head in far worse ways than America ever has. The choice is ours: puppet or person? What would you like to choose?
This was a great book. The story was great and it caused me to think. I would recommend the book to anyone. I read the introduction after I read the book, and it was very helpful in understanding Richard Wright and the context in which he lived. Also helpful were the appendices which gave more context to the book.

While I like a book with a good shock value,that was the only redeeming quality of the book. I realize that this was Wright's first novel but it is truly full of holes.
When he cuts the white girl's head off and throws her body in the furnace of her parent's house, wouldn't it be logical that someone might smell something...like burning flesh and hair perhaps?
Another thing, when the police discover the contents of the furnace, her bones are burned to dust in the matter of a day when the wooden axe handle used to chop off her head remains intact. Right!!! and that's not all! The boyfriend of the deceased white girl, Mary, befriends the killer which seems just slightly unrealistic, but only after the main character tries to pin his crimes on the boyfriend and the Communist Party; which the authorities actually believe for some time.
The character blames oppression by the white man for his troubles and actions. It also is apparently the reason why he brutally murders his own black girlfriend as well by bludgeoning her in the face with a brick. He sounds and seems just plain crazy to me. I don't know if the white man has much to do with this maniac's pasttime of being an American psycho.
I have read and thoroughly enjoyed some of Wright's short stories such as "The man who was almost a man," but this one could have used a little more forethought.

This is a novel about alienation. It follows Bigger Thomas a he commits grisly and sensational crimes and, in his grasping way, tries to understand what has driven his actions. The first two sections of the novel are fairly fast-paced, but the third section is marked by speeches that border on exposition. Because other characters are seen only from Bigger's view, they seem as one-dimensional to the reader as to the central character. The addendum - How Bigger Was Born - is an interesting self-examination by the author of the labors that went into the creation of the novel. Even though this work has a few problems, I do recommend it.

Time: 1940's. Place: USA. Subject: Race relations. A young black man named Bigger, oppressed by a white society, accidentally kills the daughter of his new employer. He hides the body in the furnace then later attempts to burn it, which is almost comical in its absurdity. His crime is discovered, he flees, involving his girlfriend whom he later murders for fear she'll endanger him. He is brought to trial and sentenced to die. An unsympathetic character, paired with an extremely sympathetic situation of racial bigotry. The moral: hate and anger is self-destructive. Clearly showed how and why someone could become a person like Bigger without glossing over his coldness. It did not use sentimental prose and characters. Well done.

Native Son by Richard Wright is a novel about an African-American man, Bigger, trying to manipulate the white majority community into thinking that he is control over the situations and actions that happen during the investigation of the murder of Mary Dalton. This novel was a very easy and good read. It was very simple in that Wright puts Bigger in a situation where in the end, he is the minority and that he is looked down upon no matter what happens. This novel really fit well with the genre of American Realism because Bigger is trying to escape the reality of the African-American community always being looked down upon and being in the hierarchy of the poor, lower-class. American Realism is the genre in which a reflection of the certain time period is portrayed. The time period being reflected in Native Son is the suppression of the African-American people by the white people. Many African-American people have tried to stand against the white supremacy, but many have failed. But Bigger is a character that tries farther than the typical African-American person will push to. He lives in his fantasy world to live out his American Dream. The American Dream for anyone is to become rich and to not be inferior towards other people or groups. This is true in Bigger's situation. He creates a fantasy world in which he controls everything that happens and he has the power to get anything he wants. But in reality, he is blinded by his own fantasy to see that he has no power or control over anything.
After killing Mary Dalton, Bigger blames Mary for invoking him to kill her. He doesn't take the blame for the murder, but puts it on another person to justify his actions. From the beginning, Bigger is living in a fantasy world and can't come to reality and realize that he has killed a white girl and that because of his action, he can get in big trouble because of his race and status. As he continually make excuses and devises scenarios to cover up the murder, Bigger believes that he can control the outcome of this situation. He thinks that everyone is blind to the truth and can't clearly see the facts from the fiction. He's stuck in his own fantasy world. He thinks that he can overcome the fact that he is black and from the lower-class. In reality, Bigger is the one that is blind and can't understand the difference between fact and fiction. He basically disregards his race and status in the hierarchy of the social economic world and thinks he can try to "save" himself from the suppression that he has lived with all his life against the white community. Through his fantasy world, he wants to be able to show the white community that the African-American community will not take the suppression and the mistreatment anymore. It seems that he wants to show that he is better than the typical African-American person that most white people think about. His dream to overpower the white people is so lavish and out there that in the end everything backfires against him and his fantasy world crumbles.

It is not simple to review this novel, since its success and value depend a great deal on what the reader is looking for. Purely as entertainment -- is it an enjoyable (however you want to define that) read? -- the book is spotty. My edition runs about 500 pages, including a lengthy, self-important introduction by the author, and I found the middle 250 pages very compelling reading; I really wanted to know what happened next. The beginning and end were far less interesting. This is attributable largely to the author's very obvious intent to use the novel as a means to convey a Message, and his limited skill. Rather than have the message emerge as an implication of the story, the characters instead are crudely-drawn stereotypes designed to portray and declare, in very broad strokes, the author's philosophical beliefs, which are not at all subtle. Time and time again I came across passages that were so heavy-handed and preachy, with the narrator forcing his views down the reader's throat between the characters' chessboard-like moves, that I thought they'd make excellent examples of bad writing for a class of beginning novelists.

The book therefore must be valued, if at all, for the author's message and the novel's place in history as one of the first to try to address it. I find it difficult to imagine that a modern reader could find the author's premise -- that centuries of oppression made blacks capable of acting in a manner that those in the dominant culture would consider inhumanly brutal -- particularly new and revealing, but it's important to consider that it apparently was so when the book was written only sixty-six years ago, itself an important commentary on American society. The book therefore would be an excellent addition to the reading list for a class on history or sociology.

Taken out of historical context (i.e., ignoring the fact that this was a new perspective at the time and setting aside the tremendous credit due Wright for having written it when he did), I found it unpersuasive. This is not to say that conditions have changed so much that what may have been true in 1940 has little relevance today, but that the author failed to persuade me that a brutal rapist and murderer who, the author acknowledges, has virtually no redeeming qualities, and never showed any remorse, should be spared, in 1940 or today, the death penalty, unless it is assumed the death penalty is per se never appropriate. This is certainly a reasonable view, and at very least a point worth debating, but it is not the author's point, which is that his protagonist should be spared because Society Made Him Do It -- a point that he tries to make in an attorney's speech that (speaking as an attorney) is terribly inept. (In fact, after taking hundreds of pages to get to the point where Wright finally takes the opportunity to express his perspective directly, I felt the author fell flat on his face.) I know of far better crafted works that have since been written that are both more interesting and more persuasive about the author's intended message, and I'm by no means very knowledgeable about this genre (Manchild in the Promised Land and the Autobiography of Malcolm X come to mind.)

So as an historical document, I'd give this five stars, but if its historical context doesn't interest you, I'd pass.

This book is by far, hands down, one of my favorites. Yes, some parts are more gruesome than others but the way the story is told is remarkable. Richard Wright does a phenomenal job depicting the segregated and misunderstood life of Bigger Thomas. This book is recommended to anyone hesitating to buy it!

Native Son was a supurb novel in which Richard Wright strives to present the struggle between a young black man and his fears. this young man, Bigger Thomas, is compelled by his fears to commit unthinkable acts of violence. In reality these acts are merely the only form of avengence and retalliation know to any person in Bigger's situation. Through rich symbolism and imagery, Wright creates an antihero who is able to physchologically capture the love of everyone. His acts of violence are proven to be mere copmensations of his fear but because of the time frame ( the 1930's) is simply not understood because of the color of his skin.

I first read this book about 20 years ago. Frankly, I was reading a number of Wright's works at the time and was greatly influenced by him. I saw myself reflected in Bigger's life - not that I have done anything approaching the things that he did but, as a black man, I could and indeed still can identify with the precariousness of Bigger'a existence. Even though I am a successful professional, I still always think that there is some set of unavoidable predetermined race-related disasters lurking out there ready to jump me at any time. Bigger made a whole lot of bad choices and was a thoroughly unlikable person but so much of what he went through was thrust upon him. One tries to live ones life in the belief that one has control over ones path and outcomes but it is a struggle to keep at bay the sense of inevitable and unavoidable powerlessness.

I read Wright's book at a time when I was wrestling with my own conservative roots. Wright doesn't try to draw our sympathy to an innocent black man wrongly accused. Bigger killed a white girl. He kills again while on the run. This guy deserves the chair or hanging, right?
But Bigger's acts are rightly portrayed in the light of his position in society. He is a black man in 1930s white America. He is trapped. This doesn't absolve his sins, but it does put some of his blood and that of his victims on our hands. We are all culpable for the violent effects of racism and other societal evils. Or as Mick put it, "I shouted out 'Who killed the Kennedy's?' when after all it was you and me."

Native Son is one of the best books ever written. I know that is a bold statement, and I love books so I say that a lot, but I really mean it! This was required reading when I was in college studying social work and it really should be used as a text book in High School classes. Can you imagine the world if every kid growing up got a little "wake up" to the hardships of the world and a deeper understanding of the lives of people other than themselves. Wright does such an amazing job of helping the reader experience the life of Bigger Thomas, I think everyone could learn from this book.

NATIVE SON is divided into three sections, "Fear," "Flight" and "Fate." The first two sections are written in an original, sensational and masterful voice. NATIVE SON is steeped in the Realistic American style of Theodore Dreiser. It tells the story of a young black man who, because of his fear of whites, accidentally commits a murder. He finds this crime on some levels an exhilarating experience and then makes other choices that damn him even further. The "Fate" section takes place after Bigger is taken into custody. At this point what had been fresh and original becomes the purple rhetoric of communist propaganda. The language of propaganda is cliché and the trial scene parades one cliché after and another before the reader. I think this was a tragic misstep on the part of the author. He ruined his book. While I zipped through the first two thirds in record time (I actually had to put the book down a few times because it was TOO intense!), the last third was rough going because I'd heard it all before. I read the first two-thirds in a little over a week. It took me nearly two weeks to plow through part three. Of course, the book was published in 1940. Pioneering works often are regarded as cliches after many years simply because they are imitated so much. That may be the case here. I really don't know. I give "Fear" and "Flight" five stars, but "Fate" gets two stars, so let's average the score to FOUR STARS. Even though the book is seriously flawed, the good parts are brilliant.

The book will put you in a spell bound with the anticipation of wanting to know what is going to happen next! It also showed me and allowed me to feel (in a sense) the trials and tribulations that young black men endure. Though Bigger's case may be to the extreme, many young african american men can perhaps relate to his emotions if even in a mild manner. Over all, I am just thankful that I was issued this book to read in high school. If anything I encourage all men and women especially (young african americans), to read this book. We book readers need more fantastic authors like Richard Wright!

A savage, sad and brutal psychological portrayal of an urban black man's path in the 1930's... the societal forces arrayed against him, and his inevitable (in the book's perspective) and ignominious reaction to these forces, directed rather tragically against two women. Still shocking when read today, I cannot imagine the effect of this book on the public consciousness when it first appeared in 1940 - well before the civil rights struggles of the late 1950's through the early 70's, at a time when I would guess few people questioned the role and treatment of minorities in American society. This is not a feel-good book, to be sure, but I was very glad that I found it.

My copy of this Richard Wright jewel came broken, ripped and old, mixed among several other literary treasures from a local stoop sale. Every time I turned a page, it would break from the ancient adhesive binding and almost turn to dust in my own dye-stained fingers. Was this a first edition paperback? No idea. The beginning pages were long lost and any other potential date displays were ripped or smeared. I was reading the future lining of my kitchen trash bin. How in the world could such wonderful gems as books have such cruel fates?

This entire book is about cruel fates. Broken up into three parts, Wright's "Native Son" tells the story of Bigger Thomas, an angry and foolish young black man from 1940's Chicago. He is powerfully built but weak-minded because he didn't have a proper education. He had big dreams of becoming an aviator but lack of opportunity forced him to live in a rat-infested room with his mother and two siblings. He just wanted to be left alone but his suffocating world would soon torture him with relentless attention. He was one of many young black men like this during the age of evil prejudice, withheld freedoms and spirit-breaking segregation.

The first "book" introduces us to Bigger and his dead end plan to rob a Jewish deli with his gang. The second "book" shows that he could have a chance for a better life if he could make better choices. When something finally goes his way - a job as a driver for an affluent white family, unforeseen events turn his good fortune into a deadly nightmare. That's when "book" three resolves all conflicts with a predictable, yet harrowing end. Packed with suspense, this gut-wrenching tale speaks to the modern world about a history we should never forget.

I feel that I should separate the sections of the book in order to properly review the piece. The beginning is your average low story of black hard-living during hard times. The middle is rough, startling and easily the strongest writing of all parts. I could not put it down. However, Wright loses me a bit during the denouement. It seemed like he had run out of story and while his words are powerful, they meander and repeat. The novel is already dialogue-heavy, but it goes a little overboard near the end.

It's a great, great book - just by no means perfect. It's sad to see this beaten thing go into the garbage can.

Reading this book for high school English last year, I was struck immediately by the raw immediacy of Wright's style. There is no superfluous detail, no interruption in the taut suspense that he maintains from almost the first page. Some criticize the book for being too simplistic and say the characters are poorly drawn, but this is intentional-Wright forces you to read between the lines and actively search for meaning in the senseless violence and hate that pervades the story. The tripartite structure of the story (Fear, Flight, Fate) is strikingly parallel to Orwell's 1984, with the same basic plot and three divisions. Native Son is definitely the best work of American 20th-century fiction I have read.

I read this a decade ago and can still remember most of "Bigger's" story in pretty precise detail. Excellent glimpse into the life and emotions of a pre-civil rights young black man who trouble seems to follow. He is put in an undesirable position by a young white woman and his story spirals out of control. This novel is gripping and more of a thriller than i ever anticipated. A true classic.

Native son was one of the longest but most thrilling books that I've read in a long time. I read this book for one of my English classes, and I honestly couldn't put it down. The story keeps you on your toes. I would suggest this book to friends, but I would warn them that the book is very graphic. At some points in the book, I wanted to take a break because the imagery was so graphic, but I couldn't. The book starts a little slow, but after the first 100 something pages the pace increases rapidly. I give it a 4/5 just because it gets so dark, but if your into that kinda stuff you'll love this book.

I read this book when I was about 14 years old. I loved it then and I love it now. After I read "Native Son" I read Richard Wright's other novels.

"Native Son" is set in the 1930's. Its main character, Bigger, commits a murder out of desperation. The remainder of the book discusses Bigger's personal struggles and the events that take place after the murder.

Even though you cannot agree with what Bigger has done, you have a sort of sympathy for him because of his lot in life. Wright describes Bigger's emotional battles with deep insight. It is difficult not to feel Bigger's pain.

The book is interesting and fast moving. You will not be able to read this book without "feeling" it.

First book I ever read that reveals the racism of the Left as well as that of the Right. The Left's racism is even more insidious because it is hidden and is cloaked in the guise of helping the Black Man.

This book is truly one of Richard Wright's greatest works of fiction. This book describes how African- American's ( in the story an A.A. young man) is the prouduct of one's society. every African-American should read this heart wretching story. Not only is it a great work of fiction, but it is a great work of truth. Richard Wright cause America to look at the truth and stop hiding behind what is a figment of our imagination. I highly recommend this book to you. It most definately should be in your library. This book should be read by all people every where. Listen to the message that Wright is preaching to America. Listen to the message and receive the message.

Native Son is one of the best books of this century. Richard Wright is one of those rare authors who can dwell into the human psyche of the African-American and provide the reader with a clear understanding of that person's inner turmoil in white America. At first I hated Bigger for commiting those atrocious crimes. I wondered why a person would commit such heinous act when he was offered a chance to rehabilitate himself. But as I read further I came to understand that that Bigger would never become the true person he aspired to be because of those invisible chains that bounded his consciousness. One section depicted Bigger's true feelings:if all our skins were peeled off, blacks and whites would be the same. This book should be a required reading in all middle schools in America.

this book expresses the feelings and emoptions that a young man go thriugh in aprodominantly white society, I really enjoy this book, because many odler people i have known had went through the same trials and turmoil the main character has gone through. I find that richard wright is a brilliant writer he understands how to exploit human nature,and how the human race or society can drive a man wild. Each chapter in the book takes on a new riveting turn in the plot, it shows how man changes during times of struggle.

You cannot love him, you cannot hate him. You see the forces that shaped him, yet there's nothing you can do to redeem him. Above all you cannot feel sorry for him, thereby purging your guilt for making him what he is. Bigger Thomas is wrong and, if you are white, it is your fault.
Written at a time when it was denied by society in general that there was even any blame to be placed, Native Son makes the reader step back and realise where responsibility for the monster really falls. This can be a bitter pill in this age of self-coddling victimhood, but that makes the message just as appropriate today as it was when it was written.

In Native Son, Richard Wright uses motifs and symbolism to portray violence and to show how Bigger Thomas, the main character, represents the black struggle. Wright's depiction of the oppression that blacks experienced in the 1930's is not to characterize whites as racist or as villains. It is simply trying to show the graveness of the conditions that were then present. First, Wright divides the book into three sections: fear, flight, and fate. Book One introduces the first motif of fear. This is the foundation of Bigger's struggle, because he must overcome fear to prove himself. He and many others in his society fear white people. This is shown by how they are quick to burglarize fellow blacks, but will not dare rob a white man. Also, Through Bigger's fear, he tries to display a hard exterior so that people can not see his weaknesses. He can not "be swept out of himself with fear and despair" (9). He has to maintain an "attitude of iron reserve" (9). Therefore, the only way that he knows how to be hard is through violence. This violence takes the form of mean acts towards family and friends, burglary, and murder. The first action of the story is the ringing of an alarm clock. This is the beginning of the time motif. This element of time is frequent throughout the novel. It draws the reader's attention and signals a warning or foreshadowing. Most importantly, it represents the time Bigger has left to live. From this first Brrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiing, Bigger's life is counting down. The story ends with a ring just as it begins with a ring. As the book closes, Bigger "hears the ring of steel against steel as a far door clanged shut" (359). Early in the novel Bigger kills a rat in his family's one-bedroom apartment. This scene is important because it provides an in-depth view of the conditions that Wright illustrates. The one-room apartment and the rat, which threatens the Thomas family, symbolize poverty. As Bigger fights and kills the rat, his family members are overcome with violence. The rat is hungry, and therefore, attacks the family. Bigger retaliates with violence as well. This struggle parallels Bigger's struggle with humanity. Going deeper, this symbolizes the black struggle. The rat's death introduces the motif of death. Book Two: Flight suggests Bigger's attempt to escape the consequences of his crime. This action is a result of fear. As he flees he resorts to violence because he is somewhat disillusioned. In Book Two: Fate, his violence catches up to him and he must face his fate. Fate represents the motif of death. In this section, Wright uses the character of Max to show the aid that is given to disadvantaged blacks. Max is a communist, like Richard Wright, and he tries to help Bigger even though he himself is white. Wright uses this element because he believed that communism was the solution to the black problem. Furthermore, Bigger's outcome is meant to show how society treats troubled people who cry out for help. It combines with the scenes describing black and white burglaries to address the injustices of African-Americans during this era. These elements show how a person is pursued and brought to justice for a crime against a white person, but not for the same crime against a black person. In conclusion, Bigger Thomas reaches his ultimate goal in the end. Despite his fate, he is able to define his life. Bigger's achievement shows how black's must overcome all adversities to emerge from social bondage to define their lives and their equality.

I don't think that I have loved and hated a character more than in this book. I loved Bigger because he was such an average ordinary guy thrust into a sitiuation that had been brewing for a long time. And he made the most of it even to the end. I hated him for what he did to Bessie and Jan, I don't think that solves a whole lot, and when he tried placating the blame on Jan (even though he is a Communist) I was overly mad. This is a book for those who want to find out a psmall piece of who you are...

Indeed, Richard Wright's "Native Son" is a polemic about what happens to the poor who are impovished by the psychic chain of economic poverty coupled with rascism and class discrimination. Often I am thinking about black life and I am reminded of Bigger's mantra, "I didn't want to kill." And yet he did and many have and, sadly enough, as Wright suggests, it is after the killings that the Biggers of the world find a piece of their own humanity.The question is, thus, this: Does a death compell one to be human? I wonder what Wright would say?In the Sanctuary of a South

I typically would not bother to respond or offer criticism to another's review on any given book, but in this instance I feel the need to do so as a matter of setting the record straight. In his review on May 17, 2000, Rspellman asks why it takes 430 pages to tell a story of rape and murder. He goes on to say that, "Honestly, that's the whole plot itself." Whether or not this is true, it is more important to understand, I think, that a book's degree of quality should be based on more than just a plot. A book has characters that develop and unfold; it has a setting that one may never but through literature see; and, to make matters even better, the characters and setting and even plot are based upon an author's choice of language. Often, as in the case of Wright's Native Son, the language itself might be so beautiful that it breaks our hearts.

Rspellman states that the emphasis is on the white man in Native Son. The book presents an altogether larger social matter that plagued Chicago in the 1930s and still continues with remarkable similiarity today. Native Son is about the social circumstances of that period--a crucial one, in fact, as it is when the Great Black Migration had begun and Chicago was attempting to find a way to respond to it--and therefore has placed emphasis not on the white or black man, but on both, and how they respond to one another.

Finally, Rspellman states that he understands things were not easy for blacks, "back then," and that in order for America to correct itself from racist attitudes it should simply stop thinking about how difficult it really was. The truth is, the education of America's tangled past with racism is the only sure way to prevent further racism. When you understand others, you have a much better chance of leaving behind marks on the world that will help make it better. Literature such as Native Son can be a force which moves us in that direction.

Rspellman states that he is from another country, and while I hesitate to point out the importance of this, I must do so. To truly understand the American experience, it often takes years of exposure. You find it through the schools of childhood, the colleges, the neighborhoods, travels, arts, and so on. In the experience itself, the one issue that you can never escape from, no matter how much you might try, is race. Any American who has a true sense of its history knows this to be, as sad as it is, the truth.

Further suggested readings on race in America: Nicholas Lemann's The Promised Land; Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man; Lillian Smith's Killers of the Dream

Native Son is one of those books that stunned me. I was reading along and had a physical reaction to parts of the book-- I was nauseous, anxious, sad and enraged, and ultimately, it was a catharsis that made me want to change the world. This is a political manifesto of sorts-- the language is strong, bleak, and well-crafted. What happens when life goes out of control and the world only sees you in one set way?
This book will change your life. Read it, but be prepared for weak knees.

I was assigned Native Son for my English class and it was great! The way Wright introduces the book is the perfect hook. The dialogue is perfect, the plot twists are shocking, and it really gives a view of an African American's life in the mid-1900s in Chicago. This book is a pretty long length (don't let length stop you from reading it though). I would recommend the reader to be 14 years or older.

I was introduced to Richard Wright in High School, in fact I read this book my Senior year in high school. It was really one of only a handful of books I read all the way through. I love the writing style of Wright, as well as the polital daringness of it. Anyone that would disagree may be more up for something like the Hopeless Romtatism of The Great Gasbey which I found rather dry and blan, but to each their own, personally I love his books and have read quite a handful of them. I highly recomemend it.

Richard Wright's Native Son is by far the most disturbing and thought-provoking novel I have read in my entire life. I had no idea what to expect when I picked up a copy of the book to read for my AP English Lit. class. Certainly, 450 pages later I emerged as a changed person.

Richard Wright opens the reader, through the story of a young African-American male "existing" (not living) in Chicago's "Black Belt" in the 1930's who committs two heinous murders, to the shocking reality of the seperate world black individuals in America lived in before the Civil Rights movement--and to a certain extent still do today. The real "monster" in the story is not its protagonist and murderer, Bigger Thomas, as you would expect, but the oppressive and ruthless white society that spawned him.

Bigger, and all African-Americans, had been so debased and deindividuated by the horrors of segregation that, in fact, Bigger's most meaningful moment in his entire short life was killing two people. That was his act of defiance against the fear imposed upon him and the only moment in which he truly "lived" his life as his own. Society left Bigger, and so many others like him, no other choice. No summation of Richard Wright's magnum opus, Native Son, can do his argument and story justice--so I urge you to read the book. You won't regret it. It might just change the way you see history and the world around you.

The book I read was called Native Son. The author is Richard Wright. The year the book was published was 1940. This book is available in Valley High School's library. This book would be classified under the historical African American fiction. The story begins with a young man named Bigger Thomas. He is a poor, black boy of 20 years who lives in the Chicago projects in the year 1932. The story starts out when the young man is caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Bigger attempts to evade the authorities that are persecuting him for his devious crime. This novel serves as a model for an aspiring novelist or the everyday writer. Wright's ability to capture the realism described through the experiences that Bigger views within his poverty stricken life is captivating and easily distinguishable from the mundane description of a John Grisham "thriller." This passage portrays realism and feeling within Bigger Thomas's perceptions. "He stretched his arms above his head and yawned; his eyes moistened. The sharp precision of steel and stone dissolved into blurred waves. He blinked and the world grew hard again, mechanical, distinct. A weaving motion in the sky made him turn his eyes upward; he say a slender streak of billowing white blooming against the deep blue. A plane was writing high up in the air." This is only one of many paragraph long excerpts of visual imagery and figurative language. Native Son is so strong and transfixing, that the reader can honestly see Bigger's world through their eyes. Every situation that falls upon Bigger's story is thoroughly analyzed from a psychological point of view. Wright accomplishes this feat through a wonderful description of a certain conflict or situation then analyzes the predicament within the complex analytical personality contained within Bigger. This novel is so deep and psychological that a psychology class could easily study it. Wright's powerful novel is an unsparingly reflection of the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the county and what it means to be black in America. The powerful novel can bring a consciousness of sympathy and anger to all readers of any ethnic background. The reader can honestly empathize and feel the complexity and confusion between Bigger and the white society that dominates and controls his actions and reactions to the events that unfold. The novel is a true realization of the causes of hypocrisy and ignorance breeding hopelessness and desperate measures such as murder in Bigger Thomas's case. Every sentence in this book is in relation to Bigger Thomas. There are no side plots and no other main characters that deviate from the central path of the plot and themes. I have never read a book like this and I don't think I probably ever will. I have never felt such a catharsis, purging of feelings and emotions while reading. The description and syntax create a presentation of ideas and thoughts that the reader cannot help in reacting mentally and emotionally. I would recommend this book to anyone who is willing to not only think openly but also feel openly in regards to the experiences of others in any social class or race.

As the author of a debut novel that deals with social inequities in contemporary America, I believe Richard Wright tackled that subject better than any other writer has before or since in NATIVE SON. Mr. Wright tells the story of Bigger Thomas and the world of poverty, discrimination, and desperation in which he is trapped. When he murders a white woman in a moment of panic, there is no way for Bigger to escape his doom. NATIVE SON takes on what America was like in Wright's time, an America eerily similar to the America of today in too many ways.

Although "Native Son" is not written in the first person, the narrative concentrates almost exclusively on the central character, Bigger Thomas. This gives the story all the intensity and focus of a first-person account, but enables the author to use a more articulate voice than his subject would have been capable of. Few novelists have employed this technique in such an uncompromising way. We are with Thomas every breath, every step. I think few readers will get to like him, any more than Wright himself does, but we get to know and understand him. He is a product of 1930s America, of deeply ingrained racial prejudice and extreme economic disparity. Wright does not suggest that this excuses Bigger, only that it explains him. The writing style is lean and muscular, sparse and direct. We are given only bare descriptions as Wright allows action and dialogue to carry the story.
It is worth dealing with a couple of criticisms posted by other reviewers: firstly, the wooden axe handle does not survive the fire; we are told specifically that only the metal axehead remains. Secondly, it is entirely plausible that, in his panic, Bigger did not think to hide under the bed. Indeed, depending on the style of bed, it may not have been possible. The plot is actually quite sound, the only really implausible element being the gathering of the entire cast of characters in the prison cell, something Wright himself acknowledged could not happen in reality but for which he allowed himself dramatic license. It is true though, that the final phase goes on too long and the long diatribes from Max are unconvincing. Another socialist writer, Upton Sinclair, suffered from the same tendency to preach instead of relying on the story to carry the message. Despite these reservations, "Native Son" remains an important social commentary and a forceful and compelling portrait of a lost soul.

When I saw the movie for Native Son I was unsatisfied and wanted so bad to read the book. Well the book is hell of amazing and I got to read Bigger's mind, plus I notice Richard Wright's originality for the first time. The story felt so real that I hardly though of it as fiction and even I don't like politics, Richard's political thoughts were well written and convincing. He had a point. So to everyone that saw the movie, please read the book. It is much better than any movie can beat.

I bought Richard Wright's novel when I was on vacation in Chicago, trying to get a better insight into the past and present of this city. From the very first pages, this book totally grasped my mind, I was fascinated and at the same time shattered by the course of events. At times, I could not find my way out of Bigger's head, which left me sleepless some nights, worrying about how anything could have prevented the horrible story from starting. I put it down after a few days and left the rest for later (after vacation), because this book is a great work of literature but it certainly is no "light" reading. It is a scaring trip into the mind of a person we otherwise wouldn't understand at all. After having finished the book, I still cannot understand Bigger, but now I can "feel" part of him. Very recommended for non-Americans, who are not that close with the history of racism against black people. - I have to admit that some passages are somewhat long-drawn-out, thus only four stars.

I liked this book because it was about a character who face many struggles. He had conflicts between family, friends, girl friend, and his own behavior on life. I could understand where the character was coming from especially on his situations, money wise. The story gave me a sense of feeling on living a poverty life and what occurs in our mind. Loved this novel will get you to read, lots of exiting events in characters life

Native Son is a very deep book that explores the race relations (or lack of them) in Chicago in the 1940s. A black twenty-year old named Bigger Thomas accidentally kills a prominent white woman and then tries to cover it up. Wright goes deeply into the feelings of Bigger, mostly in regard to his attitude toward the whites. Bigger has been so oppressed by the whites that his major feelings are hate and fear. Native Son really made me think about how hard it was for blacks back then and, to some extent, even now. The book is very depressing to read because Bigger is such a sad character. He has no options in life, so after his accidental murder, he's almost happy because now something is happening to him. He's finally the center of attention, and he matters in the world. The parts where he covers up the murder, the reporters find the dead girl, and the police's chase of him through the streets and apartments of Chicago are very exciting. However, the rest of the book focuses mainly on Bigger's emotions, and gets a little boring. The best part about the book is how the author, speaking through Bigger's lawyer, explains how the oppression of blacks has made all blacks hate and fear whites, forcing Bigger to murder. This attitude is much different than the one expressed in To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. While that book has a hopeful outlook on race relations, Native Son has a much more negative viewpoint. Wright feels that the oppression and dehumanization of blacks has made it so that blacks and whites will never treat each other as they would members of their own race. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a long book that isn't easy to read but really makes one think.

Native Son's strength lies in its message, and unflinching portrayal of a young black man doomed to die by the entrenched racism and cultural chasm that split America in the 1940s. It is successful in this, and the terrible and ignorant beliefs of the public made relentlessly evident.

However, in comparison with similar works such as to Kill A Mockingbird, Native Son is poorly written. Wright lack subtlety in his writing; he knows the point he wants to get across and then makes this extremely obvious - Bigger is forced into his terrible actions by the social pressures stemming from the white world, yet feels empowered too - we get it, there is no need to repeat this every other page. The law scenes are also protracted excessively. Speaking through Max, Wright outlines his thoughts at great length, though nearly everything he says would have been understood by the reader already.

This book was very good but emotional. In the beginning the book catches your attention quickly and gets you wondering what is going to happen next. This is one of the ways Wright build suspence in the story,making the reader want to read more. Then,in the second book flight it starts to explain what society is really about and how it is a shame what was going on back then. It also explains the theme of the story which was to show that society can be cruel just because of fear of something diffrent. I feel the characthers are defined very well,especially Bigger Thomas. He was a great symbol of everyday life which is good because it makes you as a reader think why do people do what they do. Towards the end it got kind of boring,but still had my mind thinking about why things like this happen and how it was delt with.In some parts it was very emotional. I would recommend it to highschool students,and adults. It will give them an idea of are society back then and today,it will also give them an idea of every day life in this decade and more to come.

Richard Wright gives life to bigger thomas only to let us know about the cruelty of slavery in Dixie. He wrote this book also to inform the reader about the official oppresion of the Amerian society in those days.On the other hand,his life experiences in the south and in the urban Chicago marked his path toward the current of existentialism. Every human being should read this book. This is what I call pure LITERATURE.

I complete the restored text version of this book and was completely engaged. I found Wright's writing style to be captivating, and character descriptions were thorough. I especially liked the fact that while I didn't agree with Bigger's thoughts and decisions, I could actually see the conflicts and struggles within himself. I could see, if not totally understand, his decisions. I think is great writing when I'm able to experience that through the characters of a book. A great book and a great voice of his time.

Frenzy dominated him. He held his hand over her mouth and his head was cocked at an angle that enabled him to see Mary and Mrs. Dalton by merely shifting his eyes. Mary mumbled and tried to rise again. Frantically, he caught a corner of the pillow and brought it to her lips. He had to stop her from mumbling, or he would be caught. Mrs. Dalton was moving slowly toward him and he grew tight and full, as though about to explode. Mary's fingernails tore at his hands and he caught the pillow and covered her ntire face with it, firmly. Mary's body surged upward and he pushed downward upon the pillow with all of his weight, determined that she must not move or make any sound that would betray him. His eyes were filled with the white blur moving toward him in the shadows of the room. Again Mary's body heaved and he held the pillow in a grip that took all of his strength. For a long time he felt the sharp pain of her fingernails biting into his wrists. The white blur was still. - Richard Wright's Native Son (Part 2)

A man killed his family, drove to a Walmart parking lot, and killed himself. Another man injected cyanide into his girlfriend as she was packing her clothes to leave him, then drank a cup of cyanide, both died. More and more people are cracking under the pressures that bare down on us these days. Unemployment is high and many lost jobs will not returned. Half of those who are unemployed are not even acknowledged. Programs that help to feed, clothe, and shelter those of us struggling are all being illuminated. Even those institutions that were stable for decades like hospitals and our children's schools are disappearing. How can we survive without losing our minds? We can actually use our minds. Create our own businesses by finding out what we are good at and doing it. I am promoting my academy every chance that I get. We will have to eat less, minimize our wardrobes, and find the best places to shelter ourselves. I know a homeless man that sleeps in the ATM section of a local bank, it's warm and it's safe. We are in a cycle of extreme social Darwinism so we have to elevate our consciousness in order not to fall into a state of savagery.

In self defense he shut out the night and day from his mind, for if he had thought of the sun's rising and setting, of the moon or the stars, of clouds or rain, he would have died a thousand deaths before they took him to the chair. To accustom his mind to death as much as possible, he made all the world beyond his cell a vast grey land where neither night nor day was, people by strange men and women whom he could not understand, but with those lives he longed to mingle once before he went.

He did not eat now; he simply forced food down his throat tasting it, to keep the gnawing pain of hunger away, to keep from feeling dizzy. And he did not sleep; at intervals he closed his eyes for a while, no matter what the hour, then opened them at some later time to resume his brooding. He wanted to be free of everything that stood between him and his end, him and the full and terrible realization that life was over without meaning, without anything being settled, without conflicting impulses being resolved.

I often think about life through the eyes of black children. They attend a bad schools that are determined to keep them confused, but that also feeds them during the day. As the bad schools close our children become free to go hungry. Our children do not know their fathers. This lack of connection to a past takes a toll on the psyche of our children. We tell our children that if they overcome these deficits early in their lives, they will be able to become doctors or lawyers. However, black people do not control any medical or law schools. As a matter of fact black children cannot look any place and see a black person controlling anything. Everyone who looks like our children works for someone else from parts of the world other than Africa. The only chance our children have is for us to wake up out of our fog to build institutions, no matter how small. If we cannot develop and protect our children ourselves, then they will end up like the countless others serving the penal system for life.

Native Son reflected racial discrimination in American in 1930s. Through the explanation of the main character Bigger, like he robbed Blum, killed Marry and his girl friend, these plots all show readers he was afraid of the society. Native Son just uses Bigger's actions to reflect the reality life in 1930s. On the surface of the book, it just describe a black boy who lived a poor house and he hate his family, robbed people and did very bad things. But we can in-depth look at the novel of Native Son; this is a satirical novel that influences racial discrimination in the country in the 1930s. At the beginning of the novel, there is a long alarm ring; not only has it waked up Bigger's family, but also gives American a warning. It is dangerous if people also keep race relations in the state. Native Son just uses Bigger's actions to reflect the reality life in 1930s.

I thought this book about Bigger Thomas was very interesting. It had many great points about how people should be treated. It tells us what happened back in the 1930s and how prejudice changed the way people thought about each other as a consequence of being different colors. It should teach us that if someone is a different color, that person should be able to have the same rights as anyone else. This book changed the way I felt about what happened back in the 1930s. It showed me that times were worse than I expected. Racism should never be an issue, which resulted in the separation of people throughout the U.S. for many years.

I had to read this book with an English class that I am attending. All of us in the group thought that this book told a great story and that no one should use race as a matter of having different rights. It did not let different color people have the same rights. Our group changed the way we thought about the 1930s and now we think that what people did back then was horrifying and we should try to never have this happen again.

An astounding work!... For all the years of personal pain that went into it, Richard Wright wrote breathlessly, and I read the novel in one big gulp. Bigger's world was familiar and alien, captivated and shocked at the same time. There they were... the unchanging themes of American "civilization:" the hysterical press feasting on the sensationalism of an interracial murder, Mary Dalton's misguided liberalism, and her family's blind charity (substitute midnight basketball for ping-pong tables and you'll get the picture!), and above all... Bigger himself--a towering, lonely figure with complex emotional life we (but non one else in the book!) get to see as close as anyone could hope for. My invitation to the readers: take a front row seat in that courtroom; you won't enjoy it, but, hopefully, you'll come out with a bit more understanding and a lot more humility... I certainly did!

I recently read Native Son,by Richard Wright, in my 8th grade English class while my class was reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Native Son is the shocking story of a young African American man, Bigger Thomas, living in the "black belt" of Chicago. Every second of his life he encounters the hateful separation society has put between blacks and whites. One night, caught in fear, anger and hate he commits his first murder against the daughter of his employer. Reading the two books simultaneously, I found many interesting comparisons between Native Son and To Kill a Mockingbird. They are both about the trial of a black man. In To Kill a Mockingbird the black man is innocent, however the racist town convicts him. Yet in Native Son he is guilty. Harper Lee tells her story through the point of view of a white person ( she herself is white) yet Richard Wright (a black man) tells the tale through Bigger's eyes. It is interesting to compare the two points of view, telling a similar tale through the two sides of racism. Both authors show their side of the story. Bigger's tale is told in a bigger and more dramatic way than how the whites regard the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird. Both stories portray the separation between African Americans and whites. Reading about this separation in both stories taught me a lot about this countries history. I learned about the strong hate that came between the races and the fear, anger and rage that results from it. The content of Native Son, is not always light. The hideous crimes Bigger commits are hardly small sins, but actions that effect an entire society. Wright's phenomenal writing described the hateful emotion of racism I will never understand. I found it difficult reading such horrible tales of hate, fear and anger. However, I found that reading it helped me to understand a lot of the scandalous society I live in. I learned to what degree racial discrimination of any kind can affect a person. It taught me a lot about issues I don't encounter everyday. I could not honestly say I liked this book; it is not a book one enjoys. It was a book that taught me a lot about our countries history and simple human emotions. I can only say that I am glad I read it, for it was a worthwhile experience. It is a hard book to read, both in language in content, but it shows an account that most likely happened at some time. Its historical aspects teaches the reader not only about racial discrimination but hate, anger and fear. Everyone living in America should read Native Son.

While the first two-thirds of this book is rather dull and slow, it is worth it for the last third, which is the trial. Techniques used by the State to convict Bigger Thomas of the murder and rape of a younger, white woman, is as interesting as Bigger's lawyer's explanation of how Whites have caused these flaws in the Black society. Very informative and emotional.

Is a sociopath born or made? Once formed is he beyond redemption? Mr. Wright's Bigger Thomas raises these questions in a compelling and gripping manner. He is a supurb writer and story teller. Despite the age of the novel and its pre-WWII setting, the issues raised are as important as ever. There are no real heros, no innocents and like many novels raising important questions, no clear answers. The latter are left to the readers for generations to come.

Native Son
by
Richard Wright
I read the Native Son By Richard Wright. I liked the beginning of the story because it gives you an insight to Bigger Thomas's pre-story life. It explains that Bigger had been involved in criminal activites and attended a reform school. Also in the beginning of the story, it shows his demeanor when he kills a rat in a very disgusting way. This re-enforced the fact that he was troubled.
I also like that the typical stereo type of white people hating blacks is cleared up showing that even before the equal opportunity laws existed, some whites gave African Americans chances to better themselves. An example from this story would be how Mr. Dalton, aka the Rich white man, takes the risk of hiring a young black man, who has had a criminal history, to be his family's chauffer. Another instance is when Mrs. Dalton asks Bigger if he wishes to attend night school to better his education, since he was only educated to the 8th grade.
Another interesting part is where the plot starts to add up. On the first night on the job, Bigger is faced with some excitement and some peculiar happenings. For instance, he is driving Mary Dalton, the Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dalton, and picks up one of Mary's friends, Jan. He is a boy with a weird name, kind of like a "Boy named Sue." Jan insists on driving. Jan happens to be a Communist and try's to push some communist pamphlets on to Bigger to show that the Communist party wants to help the African American community. This surprised Bigger and made him feel uncomfortable.
The one thing that I didn't like about this book was the graphic description of a later incident with Mary Dalton, when he tries to conceal an event that happens between them.
I also looked to find some information on Richard Wright. I found that in real life he was connected to the communist party and had actually married a white woman. He later divorced and then married another white women. I believe that he put some of his real life experiences and feelings into this book. Maybe he was thinking of his first wife when he came up with the character Mary Dalton because in the story there are bitter feelings toward Mary and since he divorced his first wife there may have been bitter feelings.

It`s my personal opinion that Richard Wright`s Native Son is one of the best books ever written by an African-American writer. In his book he desribes the pains of ghetto life for the negroes in Chicago`s black belt, cira 1920. Never has an author ever caught the thoughts and feelings of a single person as Wright did with the main character Bigger. Bigger`s life is portrayed as bleak and dark but, things start to look up when he accepts a job as a driver for the millionaire Dalton`s. He is getting paid well with extra spending money and the opportunity to get an education. His first job is to take the Dalton`s daughter to a university function but, there is a change of plans, a change that turns out to be fatal. I don`t want to give the whole book away so I highly suggest read and find out what happens to Bigger. So if you enjoy reading classic American books you will enjoy Richard Wright`s Native Son.

This book has an amazing plot and it will definitly keep you awake! Not recomended for week stomachs however. Many grusome details, but it is truly the reality of young boy caught up in his emothions. There is also a 20 page testimony of one man talking near the end. That takes a while to get through. This book is not for young children.

The Native Son written by Richard Wright is a novel with the most detailed chronologies and authoritative notes. It feels like you are in the novel with Bigger. This novel lets you feel as if you were the main character. You struggle and triumph along side Bigger. If you pick the book up you'll be finished when you set it down

Brilliantly composed novel of African-Americans and the struggle of oppression, fear, and racism in the 1930's. They were faced with poverty, hate, and discrimination daily. They lived completely segregated from the wealthy white people and you will be surprised to learn of the conditions they are faced with. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat and is extremely educational. IT IS A MUST READ!!!!!

I love the novel Native Son, it was extremely good...this novel kept me at the edge of my seat, with every turn of the page...Whether it was waiting for Bigger to get caught, or whether it was him awaiting his sentence ....your heart will always pound as if it was you on trial awaiting your sentence.....A MUST READ BOOK

Reading Native Son made me feel the harsh life that African Americans experienced during the 1930's. I thought that reading this book really hit me between the eyes and changed the way I think on issues of race. The book was by far more powerful than any diversity training session that my company has sent me through.

The novel, Native Son, is a great story that illustrates racism in America. The main character, Bigger Thomas is continually treated unfairly because he is black. When he gets a job with a wealthy white family he accidently murders their daughter out of fear. He tries to cover up the murder and burns her body. He continues to try to escape because he is afraid that he is going to get arrested. He continues to run and gets into more trouble trying to escape. All of Bigger's acts of violence were done out of fear. Bigger is arrested and treated as a violent criminal. This novel illustrates that people can be mischaracterized by their actions when people don't actually know the person. In this novel, the reader gets to know Bigger's innocent, fearful character. This makes the reader feel sorry for Bigger and allows the reader to understand the effects of racism. The novel is filled with action and suspense that keeps the reader interested.

My opinion that the courtroom scene at the end drags on a bit too long and is basically one big monologue rather than a continuation of the riveting plot of this masterpiece is the only thing that keeps me from awarding it 5 stars. Not only a great novel, but an important one.

I did not enjoy reading this book, but it is an extremely importanat piece of literature. My reasons for not liking it are seeded in the effectiveness of Wright's storytelling devices...being inside Bigger's head was sometimes more than I could handle, and closing the book to return to my sane reality was often a relief. The intended message however can be corrupted by those lacking the capacity or the desire to read into a frighteningly dark novel. Wright does not seek to justify the horrible crimes of a severely opressed individual, but instead presents of view of society that should serve as a lesson for the concievable.

This is an important book. The ideas of the characters are enlightening. But most of all the book is really good. I couldn't put it down. The space taken up by the sharing of enlightening information is earned.

Native Son is a long but wonderful book. The main theme in the book would have to be fear not guilt. What Bigger (the main character) fears is himself. Native Son is divided into 3 books which begins very fast but slows down by book 3. Very interesting reading with many different themes involved.

Bigger Thomas was a young black man with the education, sophistication and cultural refinement of a rhinoceros. Mary Dalton was educated and sophisticated but was also a spoiled, little rich bitch. She was naive and stupid and acted like a total airhead. I'm glad they both wound up dying. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

All the customer reviews so far have seemed to overlook the fact that the book is very simply an argument of social determinism versus personal responsibility. Bigger murders Mary, and although it was accidental he refuses to take responsibility for it. Later he goes on to kill Bessie in order to protect himself. He goes to trial and Max uses the Communist based argument of social determinism. Wright shows us his Communist colors and beliefs vividly during this portion of the book. It is obvious that he was a member of the Communist Party when he wrote this novel. And at this point I think it isn't because he really feels responsible or remorse but because he wants Max to realize that he really doesn't care either way. Bigger had known from the time that he was a young black boy that he would probably end up in jail or dead.

The main character of Wright's novel, Bigger Thomas, is a sociopath. Filled with hatred and confusion, both at his own blackness and world around him, Bigger has no attachment to society.He lives in an isolated and invisible world of despair, from which he strikes out. Wright uses Bigger to vividly illustrate the products of segregation, racism and limited opportunity. Bigger is a natural result of his racist classist society. If you read this book you may gain some insight into the reason why we have so many violent youth in our cities that seem to lack the fundamentals of morality and humanity. We can see from the news that Bigger is still with us. What does this tell us about the society in which we live?

Wow, what a book! Native Son is a book that you cannot compare with anything else. Richard Wright experimented with so many diffrent styles, it was at times hard to keep reading. The one thing I didn't really like about the book was, well, I didn't like the main charater. From the start I didn't like what he did or how he thought. It was hard for me to feel for him. I felt sorry for all of the people that Bigger knew. If you think about it, Bigger screwed up his relationship with ANYONE! All of the sub characters were only trying to help Bigger and he spit in the face in one way or another. He didn't support and was mean to his mother, he killed his girfriend, he threatened to kill his bestfriend, he turned down and framed the white man trying to be nice to him. I was so ready for Bigger to get caught. I didn't want him to get the money and run off with it and I didn't want him to live freely.
However, on the bright side, the message Wright uses in a lot of his books came across strongly. "Why couldn't the whites just leave the blacks alone."
In every point of view. Of course, I'm not a believer of this in the year 2003, but in this story, had Mary just left Bigger alone, she wouldn't have been murdered. People like Bigger shouldn't be bothered! If it was important to her, she should have tried to befriend Bessy or bigger's mother. They are the people who deserved the kind, warm hands of Mary and Jan not someone who will cut them off!!!
The ending (and when I say ending I mean the last 3 pages!) is what got me though. I finally realized what Bigger needed. A friend he could just trust, maybe another chance, or perhaps a completely diffrent life! I felt sorry for him because he was physiclly and mentally trapped behind the bars of his personality and life. He could have been a hard working, affective, loving (well, maybe) man.
In all, I don't regret reading this book.

I recently read Native Son,by Richard Wright, in my 8th grade English class while my class was reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Native Son is the shocking story of a young African American man, Bigger Thomas, living in the "black belt" of Chicago. Every second of his life he encounters the hateful separation society has put between blacks and whites. One night, caught in fear, anger and hate he commits his first murder against the daughter of his employer. Reading the two books simultaneously, I found many interesting comparisons between Native Son and To Kill a Mockingbird. They are both about the trial of a black man. In To Kill a Mockingbird the black man is innocent, however the racist town convicts him. Yet in Native Son he is guilty. Harper Lee tells her story through the point of view of a white person ( she herself is white) yet Richard Wright (a black man) tells the tale through Bigger's eyes. It is interesting to compare the two points of view, telling a similar tale through the two sides of racism. Both authors show their side of the story. Bigger's tale is told in a bigger and more dramatic way than how the whites regard the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird. Both stories portray the separation between African Americans and whites. Reading about this separation in both stories taught me a lot about this countries history. I learned about the strong hate that came between the races and the fear, anger and rage that results from it. The content of Native Son, is not always light. The hideous crimes Bigger commits are hardly small sins, but actions that effect an entire society. Wright's phenomenal writing described the hateful emotion of racism I will never understand. I found it difficult reading such horrible tales of hate, fear and anger. However, I found that reading it helped me to understand a lot of the scandalous society I live in. I learned to what degree racial discrimination of any kind can affect a person. It taught me a lot about issues I don't encounter everyday. I could not honestly say I liked this book; it is not a book one enjoys. It was a book that taught me a lot about our countries history and simple human emotions. I can only say that I am glad I read it, for it was a worthwhile experience. It is a hard book to read, both in language in content, but it shows an account that most likely happened at some time. Its historical aspects teaches the reader not only about racial discrimination but hate, anger and fear. Everyone living in America should read Native Son.

I obsolutly love this book, it is so graphic and electrifying. I definitly do not think that this book in any way is about "black violence", it's about the corruption of American Dream. It puts you into the body of Bigger Thomas, so you can feel every single emotion he has. I loved Bigger's character and I forgave him all the killing and lying. the book is also very realistic and honest about communism not being the evil of the world, and Mary's "good" parents being ignorant, phonie and blind.

So your white and you think you understand the african-american struggle and the perspective on life it can bring to them. Read this book and see if you still feel the same. This is an intense novel that will keep you thinking while you stay up all night turning the pages. Bigger Thomas has to go down as one of the most famous characters in the history of American Literature. This isn't a book for lovers of abstract prose, Wright's writing style is clear, simple, and to the point. I also highly recommend the Recorded Books unabridged version read by Peter Francis James, which is masterfully narrated.

Native Son, a novel based on social standards in America. Bigger Thomas was a product of a victim in society. Bigger was brought up in a society where his ethnicity was consider inferior to the whites. BUT Bigger victimized those who tried to help him.

Although there are parts replete with 'graphic' violence, they are key to Wright's accurate painting of the American Negro of the era's moral makeup. This is one of those books that relays a message much greater than the sum of its words. It's also an interesting study of the human animal. An American classic.

Native Son has become one of my favorite all time books. I am a reader who doesn't enjoy predictability. If you are like me, you will find Native Son to be a book that challanges you. In the middle of the book you will find yourself embracing a character who otherwise deserves reprimanding, not sympathy!

This is history. A novel like "Native Son" is what really shows us what brought us to where we are today. Wright combines incredible insights into a man who was the epitome of troubled black America. This along with his wonderful storytelling ability make for one of the most enriching experiences I have had. This is the kind of book that actually does impact your life, well after all of the pages have been turned.

This book is absolutely wonderful. I didn't want to read it because it looked so long but once I began to read it, I couldn't put it down. I was able to read on what it feels/felt to be African American in America! I highly recommend it!

The book is riveting and paints a great picture in the reader's mind about the plight of the African American living in the big city. In some parts, Richard Wright carrys on, frustrating the reader. However, Wright has many good descriptions in the book and, despite this rambling on, holds the reader spellbound with his raw descriptions and social commentary. Any person interested in the plight of the African Americans and the sociology surrounding their oppressed existence must read Native Son, and should also explore his other works(Black Boy-Uncle Tom's Children and many others).

The basis for the book Native Son is an excellent one, and that Bigger is not an immediately likable character makes the message of the book stronger. However, I quickly found myself bored with the overexplanatory and oversimplified style of Richard Wright. I kept accidentally rereading parts that I had already read because the events of the book just didn't stick in my mind. The pages-long argument of Max in the trial was tedious and tiresome. Although I love the idea behind this book, the way it was written kept me from being interested in it. I much prefer Ellison or Baldwin.

Wow, I read this book for my English class, and the book was like no other. It was unique and compelling. The first part of the book may not be great, but once you get to the middle and the end, then the book's plot begins to thicken. It's a really great book, gives you an insider's look on how people lived back then, the similarities and differences.

Have you ever met a person who you can't decide if you love them, hate them, or if you just pity them? This is the type of person Bigger Thomas is. He has a naturally violent nature about him, but as the story unfolds the root of his actions unfold. I begin to understand Bigger and he becomes so real that I feel the pain that he is feeling and I become emotionally trapped in the book. I have never found myself so disturbed over a book. This book will really make you think about the way society shapes some young peoples minds.

"He closed his mouth and swallowed. Should he catch the cat and kill it and put it in the furnace, too?" I wonder if I'd scoured the book for an hour I could have found a more appropriate quotation. Sometimes just flipping to a random page and pointing can do the trick. I think that if you feel as though you have been afforded a 'lot' in life, Wright's struggle through Bigger Thomas will connect with you. The beauty of the novel is that when it's all over, you see that it doesn't have to be that way.

Native Son explores the concept that society determines our earthly course more than we are willing to admit. More precisely, Wright forces us to experience the apparent helplessness of Bigger Thomas, a black man whose life takes a terrible turn when he attempts to exert some control over it. But the plight of Bigger rises above race, and his message applies to all oppressed people. Those in power dangle the carrot of freedom before us, yet our struggle toward it only reveals their ability to keep it just out of reach.

This is a fabulous work by a even more fabulous writer. However, it disturbs me that the same problems that the black man faced in the 1930s, when the book was set and even in 1945 when the book was written, he still faces today. The fact that less money is appropriated to black schools simply astounds me. People think that since public lynchings have been outlawed, that racism does not exist. Nothing could be further from the truth. Regardless of all the injustice of the world, this is still an excellent book.

This is an amazing book, a real page turner. I could not put it down until I was finished. Richard Wright is an amazing story teller, now one of my favorite writers. I am going to read more of his work, for sure.

I enjoyed this book. I initially found it difficult to read but then I got into it and could not put it down. It is an amazing, well laid out story. Bigger Thomas....sigh! I have never been more aggravated by a character's stupidity.

While Richard Wright does an excellent job of writing the book and depicting Bigger's (The main character) feelings and motivations, he has a major problem: He portrays Bigger as a human without a conscience both through Bigger's thoughts and through Max's (Bigger's lawyer) testimony. By doing this, he (shockingly) arrives at the conclusion that Bigger is not responsible for his two gruesome murders. The one redeeming quality of the book (when it's not graphically depicting violence and sex) is that it inspires a large amount of thought.

This book combines social/political commentary in the 1930's with a breathless, page turning experience that actually disturbed my sleep. I flew through this book. Wright has a deft touch making this compelling, fascinating reading.

absolutely the most suspenseful novel I have ever read! In fact, I have not been able to read another book w/o comparing it to Native Son. This book definitely raised the bar for me and what I read..and I have yet to have read a better told story. Richard Wright was a genius!

This Is a great book. One written for a specific purpose. Richard wright not only criticizes the white community but the black community as well. He comes through his characters quite a bit as well. However this book is not for everyone. The first two parts vary greatly from the last part of the book. And I personally was not convinced by he dramatic change in tone and language. Good book, worth reading if you are and English major but it's not the best book I've ever read either

Native Son was on the "recommended" list for a grad class, so I was expecting something dense with vocabulary words and filled with symbolism, a sort of intellectual interpretation of gender and race.
What I got was an in-your-face portrayal of Bigger Thomas. The separate parts or "books" vividly convey Bigger's disenfranchised childhood, his "break" as a young adult, and the events that lead to his demise. I gasped and bemoaned Bigger's very movements or utterances dozens of times, wanting so badly to stop knowing this story but at the same time completely incapable of putting it down. You have to find a way to read this book.

So I had to read the book, as an assignment in my english class. I really don't recommend anyone to read the introduction of the book. The introduction is garbage, it talks about why the author wrote the book, So I skipped a few pages in it. Bigger committed a few murders, big deal!

The book didn't get interesting till the end where Bigger Thomas was at the court room with Max. Max did put up a good fight and stood by Bigger throughout the whole thing. I think the true stars of the book were Max and Jan. Jan because he wasn't mad at Bigger for casting blame on him and Max because he treated Bigger like a human, and totally out shunned the State Attorney.

The book showed the oppression of blacks throughout the 1940's, yes the book was hella boring but it thought a good lesson, treat people with respect!

Wright gives insight to the pyschological conditioning that can effect a person choices(another person mentioned choices but the book is deeper than just choices it goes in the aspect of what sociological elements effect decisions). A major aspect of the book is the power of fear and how it can effect decisions. In addition the wonderful underlying message(s) in the book the plot takes you on a dramatic journey.

Although this book's setting takes place in Chicago, it really didn't appeal to me. Richard Wright's style of writing is prolonged and boring. He can be suspenseful (at times! ), but you need more than that to appreciate a book. Why does it take 430 pages to tell a story about a young man who kills two girls and rapes one? Honestly, thats the whole plot itself. Another thing is that Richard Wright tries to emphaize everything on "white people". White is just a color, not a race. I understand things weren't easy back then for "blacks", but the more we look at it that way, the more people will keep thinking of our society as racist! Now that's a problem. I also didn't appreciate all the violence inflicted onto women. I'm not even from this country and this book seemed so silly to me.

The Native Son has to be Richard Wrights best novel ever. In this narrative he portray's a vivid side of a medial black child in an idealistic society. The book is very engaging and is a great book for those who have a foreshadowing immagination.

This story is told in three books. After the first book, when Bigger is caught, the story plunges into a anticlimax. The story stops completely. This is the first and only book that I didn't finish reading.

I recommend Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

Native Son was a great book. I thought that Richard Wright has really out-done himself. It took you to get past maybe the first chapter before it really catches your interest. But once it gets your interest, you can't put it down. The book is great until the final chapter which takes place in a courtroom.

The Native Son has to be Richard Wrights best novel ever. In this narrative he portray's a vivid side of a medial black child in an idealistic society. The book is very engaging and is a great book for those who have a foreshadowing immagination.

The descriptions and details of Bigger's life and social encounters, are wonderful. Richard Wright was in to character when he wrote this book. A wonderful mixture of emotions run through 'Native Son'. Absolutely wonderful!

As far as the shape and price of the book I was very pleased.. The book was not for me, it was for my brother in law.. I had no trouble finding what i needed, and had no trouble finalizing and paying for my order. Very satisfies with the store and will refer friends and family to the site.

I'm a young white male, and this was a great eye-opening book. We know that blacks are/were treated unfairly, inhumanely, and unjustly, but this book really shows us how bad. The writing is fabulous. THough, the end drags a bit, overall very worthwhile.

This book has so much more than meets the eye. If you like books like Conrad's Heart of Darkness, then you will really love this one. It actualy has a plot you can follow. Look for black and white symbolism, and red too, foreshadowing, and much more!

I really liked this book. It told me a lot about things that were done back in the 1900's. I believe Bigger Thomas was not looking for trouble, but it always seemed to find him. It was an excellent book. I would definitely recommend this book to others!

Some are missing the point of this book. The novel is about the choices people make. It is a parody of African-American life. Yes, it does tell about the poverty-stricken life of a young Black man in American society, yet it reveals his disturbing choices that he makes that turn into disaster.

He makes a martyr of himself instead of doing all of the sensible things the standard African-American would have done. Through making the right decisions, anyone can overcome their adversity instead of leading themselves to a road of destruction and non-resolution. It is all about choices that everyone to relate to in this novel.

sure this tells us all about racism and how it affects people, but this book is so BORING... i slept 3 or 4 times trying to read it. The end is the worst, its like 40 pgs of a lawyer talking and then the State.
-dont read it unless you have to

Native Son was a very good and influential novel. I should be read by ever high school student around the world. It teaches and tells a story in the most entertaining way. You will never want to put down the novel. Each page is filled with great description and great detail. It deserves ***** stars.

It could just be the way my class interpreted the book, but it seems as though everyone reading it felt so sorry for Bigger and kept making excuse after excuse for his actions. I'm sorry but I refuse to listen to a woe is me from a murdering rapist/theif. And it was discusting listening to everyone excuse rape. Absolute filth

Native Son is a book that I was required to read for school. I had high hopes for the book , but they were dashed as I read on. The writing style is extremely sub-par. Wright struggles to get his point across succinctly. The book is characterized by muddled and repetitive narrative. I kept trying to like the character of Bigger throughout the novel, but I was unable to do so. His apparent lack of remorse for his actions is apalling. The argument that his fear and society is the cause of his murders can only apply to his murder of Mary Dalton. His willingness to profit from the murder and sense of pride about it afterword is sick. I see no literary value in this book. We read it because in public schools today we are forced to read literature about how America is racist towards blacks every year. Schools try to jam the theme of racism against blacks down our throats every year in an effort to "emotionally move us" and make us feel guilty for something that occurred long before we were born. I assure you that this book would not have achieved the title "classic" if the author was white. In America we ignore the plight of other ethnic groups and focus solely on the cause of the African American. I get the point we studied it enough already.

I was forced to read this in high school and it was awful. The characters behave idiotically as if they have no common sense. Liberals including my literature teacher love this book because of of the pro-communist and "blame the white man" views. I'm not white, and I still found it impossible to relate to Bigger. Young adults would enjoy books more if they weren't forced to read bad novels like this.

There are two messages in this book. First is that the main character is not responsible for killing 2 people. Second, is the United States should abandon capitalism for the Soviet model. I find it bizarre that people talk about this book as a great classic without mentioning either one.

like the title says to this review it blows so hard that i would rather get aids and die then read this piece of filth. its about some black dude that decides to rape this girl. well he does and the only good thing about this book is he dies. the only reason it gets a star is i cant put anything less, otherwise, it would get a negative 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 star. do not buy this book it is garbage that should be burnt with the body of osama bin laden.