Native Son Essay
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Richard Wright's novel, Native Son, stirred up a real controversy by shocking the sensibilities of both black and white America. The protagonist, Bigger Thomas, is from the lowest ring of society, and Wright does not blend him with any of the romantic elements common to literary heroes. Bigger is what one expects him to be because of the social conditions in which he lives: he is sullen, frightened, violent, hateful, and resentful. He is the product of the condemnation the “white” society has brought upon him. He is a “native son.”
Native Son opens with an act of violence. The alarm clock abruptly awakens Bigger and his family to their miserable reality--a rat-infested, one bedroom apartment in the urban ghetto of Chicago. Bigger's battle with the rat reveals his capacity for brutality. He crushes the rat's head after he has killed it with a skillet. Bigger represents a persuasive racial stereotype of black men--violent, criminal, and cowardly. The powerful, racist white majority considers his personality a "natural" characteristic of his race. However, Wright shows how Bigger's consciousness is in fact shaped by his environment. Bigger was not born a violent criminal, but became one in the unforgiving world of racism and poverty in American society.
Bigger's entire existence is a prison. His crowded, rat-infested apartment is only one of his "prison cells." He is imprisoned in the urban ghetto by racist rental policies. His own consciousness is a prison. His entire life is filled by a sense of failure, inadequacy, and most importantly, unyielding fear. Racist white society, his mother, and even Bigger himself all believe that he is destined to meet a bad end. His relentless conviction of an impending awful fate demonstrates that Bigger feels a nearly complete lack of control over his life. He is permitted access only to menial jobs, substandard housing, substandard food. Basically, white society permits him no choice but a substandard life.
Gus and Bigger play-act at being "white." They alternately play at being a general, J.P. Morgan and President. Gus and Bigger act out a skit in which the President wants to keep the "niggers" under control. They associate whiteness with the power, wealth, and authority to deny them control over their own lives. Bigger hates and fears "whiteness." Therefore, he has a latent desire to do violence to the force that oppresses him. Backed into a corner, he is primed to lash out at the very force...
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