(Goodreads)
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.This is definitely a classic book. Think Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird. They're books you'll probably encounter (or have encountered) at one point or another in public school (at least in the US) and that have their own SparkNotes pages that can help you with essays and not actually having to read the book. Assigned books are tricky, I definitely didn't appreciate To Kill a Mockingbird until I was in college but I loved The Outsiders and The Watsons Go to Birmingham.
However, despite feeling daunted by the thought of 400+ pages, I decided to tackle this book (but I'll admit I left it at my desk for a few days with the definite thought of returning it). We meet Bigger Thomas. And the thing about Bigger Thomas is he's not a good person, he's not likable, he's not nice to his family or friends, and he doesn't seem to have any redeeming qualities. So why did I keep reading a character I almost hated?
That's where Richard Wright's character building comes in. Despite all these negative aspects associated with Bigger, I still sympathized with him. He's a real person, feeling these terrible feelings brought on by years of oppression to his race that make him lead such a crappy lifestyle. His options for his future are limited, none of them which lead to anything he truly wants to do. The brief moments in which he acts out on instinct liberate him from these rules and unfortunately land him in irreversible trouble. (And now I'm starting to sound like I'm writing an essay, right? Bare with me here!)
Hopelessness is a major theme in this novel and it's presented extremely well by Wright. There are tons of pages that touch on careful and slow epiphanies (some that don't even seem logical at times). However, at the same time, pages on pages on the same subject could easily push a reader away. (There was a speech that was about 25 pages long, yes, only one person speaking, and I'll admit to skimming through the last 10 pages of it). The book is split up into three different sections: Book One: Fear, Book Two: Flight, and Book Three: Fate. None of them have chapters and they rarely have breaks, so sometimes it can be hard to keep going with no space to pause.
Nonetheless, this book is truly a powerful piece. It's both sad and incredible to realize how little has changed since this book was published in 1940.
Memorable Quotes
"There was no day for him now, and there was no night; there was but a long stretch of time, a long stretch of time that was very short; and then–the end. Toward no one in the world did he feel any fear now, for he knew that fear was useless; and toward no one in the world did he feel any hate now, for he knew that hate would not help him." (273)
"An organic wish to cease to be, to stop living, seized him. Either he was too weak, or the world was too strong; he did not know which." (345)
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