Native Son

Native Son is a novel written by one of the best African-American writers, Richard Wright. This story is set in Chicago in the 1930's. This novel is about a poor and uneducated man, named Bigger Thomas, who is living in the ghettos of a "White World." To survive and care for his family he is forced to work as a chauffeur at the Dalton's, a rich white family. On the first day of his job he accidentally suffocates Mary Dalton, the daughter, because he was terrified that Mary would reveal him. To cover up the crime Bigger burns Mary's body in the furnace and accuses Jan, Mary's communist boyfriend, of the crime. After Bigger's next victim Bessie, Bigger's girlfriend, gets murdered, Bigger is on the run. After Bigger's capture, he is sentenced with the death penalty and put in trial. Jan brings his friend Boris A. Max to defend Bigger, but in the end Bigger ends up taking the death penalty. The point Richard Wright is making in this novel is that Bigger was not originally violent, but the white's oppression towards blacks made him what he is. Thus, Bigger is a "Native Son."

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Native Son

Richard Wright

Harper Perennial

13+

Novel