Native Son [Hardcover]

Richard Wright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1997

Widely acclaimed as one of the finest books ever written on race and class divisions in America, this powerful novel reflects the forces of poverty, injustice, and hopelessness that continue to shape out society.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Bigger Thomas is doomed, trapped in a downward spiral that will lead to arrest, prison, or death, driven by despair, frustration, poverty, and incomprehension. As a young black man in the Chicago of the '30s, he has no way out of the walls of poverty and racism that surround him, and after he murders a young white woman in a moment of panic, these walls begin to close in. There is no help for him--not from his hapless family; not from liberal do-gooders or from his well-meaning yet naive friend Jan; certainly not from the police, prosecutors, or judges. Bigger is debased, aggressive, dangerous, and a violent criminal. As such, he has no claim upon our compassion or sympathy. And yet...

A more compelling story than Native Son has not been written in the 20th century by an American writer. That is not to say that Richard Wright created a novel free of flaws, but that he wrote the first novel that successfully told the most painful and unvarnished truth about American social and class relations. As Irving Howe asserted in 1963, "The day Native Son appeared, American culture was changed forever. It made impossible a repetition of the old lies [and] brought out into the open, as no one ever had before, the hatred, fear and violence that have crippled and may yet destroy our culture."

Other books had focused on the experience of growing up black in America--including Wright's own highly successful Uncle Tom's Children, a collection of five stories that focused on the victimization of blacks who transgressed the code of racial segregation. But they suffered from what he saw as a kind of lyrical idealism, setting up sympathetic black characters in oppressive situations and evoking the reader's pity. In Native Son, Wright was aiming at something more. In Bigger, he created a character so damaged by racism and poverty, with dreams so perverted, and with human sensibilities so eroded, that he has no claim on the reader's compassion:

"I didn't want to kill," Bigger shouted. "But what I killed for, I am! It must've been pretty deep in me to make me kill! I must have felt it awful hard to murder.... What I killed for must've been good!" Bigger's voice was full of frenzied anguish. "It must have been good! When a man kills, it's for something... I didn't know I was really alive in this world until I felt things hard enough to kill for 'em. It's the truth..."

Wright's genius was that, in preventing us from feeling pity for Bigger, he forced us to confront the hopelessness, misery, and injustice of the society that gave birth to him. --Andrew Himes --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Wright's classic 1940 novel about a young African-American man who murders a white woman in 1930s Chicago is a truly remarkable literary accomplishment. Peter Francis James has never been better, bringing the character of Bigger Thomas to life in a profound and moving performance that is as touching as it is truthful. James's powerful baritone demands to be heard, captivating listeners with Wright's realistic portrayal of life in the inner city, capturing the mood of each and every scene. With moderate yet believable variations in tone and dialect for each of the characters, James ignites the collective imagination of his audience. Wright's novel is real, raw and brutally honest and James's reading follows suit. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Buccaneer Books (December 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156849694X
• ISBN-13: 978-1568496948
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (195 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,842,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard T. Wright holds a Ph.D in biology from Harvard University and is professor emeritus of biology at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and is widely sought as a lecturer in biology and ecology.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book to learn from, May 18, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Native Son (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EMOTIONAL, GUT-WRENCHING, CHILLING.... BOTTOM LINE: TRUTHFUL, July 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Native Son (Mass Market Paperback)

Before I read this novel, I was burdened with a strong ambivalence. Certain people around me who have read NATIVE SON say that it's a horrible depiction of African Americans, structuring them as callous murderers and strictly unlikable. Yet others claimed it to be a masterpiece and when it ranked as one of the top 100 English language novels of the 20th century, I decided to give it a chance. WAKE UP. That's the feel when we start the novel and as it proceeds, nothing much happens for the first several pages. We familiarize with Bigger's violent temper and reputation for being the way he is. He gets a job working for a wealthy white family, a family very charitable to Negroes. Well, even though it seems they do it mainly to unhold the kindheartedness associated with their family name, the family takes in Bigger. There's the daughter, Mary, who introduces Bigger to her boyfriend, Jan, and they are sympathetic with the Negro race. Sympathetic to the point where Bigger hates them for it. While delivering Jan drunk to her room later that night, Bigger inadvertantly smothers her with a pillow while trying to cover up her unsobriety as her blind mother enters the room, killing her. Scared, Bigger cuts off her head and throws her remains into the furnace. Brutal, yeah. I won't say what else happens next but I will tell you my overall opinion on the novel. I think it's wonderful, excellent, and a masterpiece that simply has to be read. Even though if Bigger had been a real person and I was watching his trial on television, I would have said, "Yeah, execute the man", this novel does put something into perspective that some might find disturbing to ruminate over yet will have to agree with. HATE BREEDS HATE. The hate that the white people had administered to him created violent rifts into Bigger, transforming him cold-blooded man. It completely desensitized him and all he knew was how to return the hate rather than to ignore or overcome it. And once hate is constructed, the road to redemption, the road to extrication from that hate is filled with sharp glass and nails and you're a traveller walking barefoot miles and miles upon its path. For example, the scene where Jan and Mary take Bigger to the diner. They're kind, yes, but their sympathy makes Bigger feel like they are still treating him inferior, that he is an animal. It is one of the novels that made me cognizant of a society that cannot exist and that the only way we can survive is by coexisting. I don't know if others got that message but I sure did.

Richard Wright, I believe, made a huge risk by writing this novel but it is ultimately grand and groundbreaking. His portrait of human emotions is realistic and unparalleled and though he does not drown the novel with a flood of description, we get the basic idea of Bigger's surroundings. We can see the raggedy conditions at his home, we can feel the hate as Bigger is apprehended, and we feel his isolation as he remains in his jail cell. PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS NOVEL. Thanks for your time.

- Timmy

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He Never Had a Chance, January 22, 2007

By 

Sean K (Anaheim, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Native Son (Paperback)

"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.