Native Son, by Richard Wright
Native Son, by Richard Wright, is set in 1930’s Chicago, a time of extreme racial prejudice and oppression. In an era of Jim Crow laws and judicial injustices, the novel highlights the impact of such extremes upon the individual psyche through the protagonist Bigger Thomas, who unintentionally murders a white socialite with a pillow in an attempt to silence her. This one action leads to a downward spiral for Thomas, who also murders his girlfriend to keep her from revealing his crime. Through Native Son, Wright traces how, in a system of division and extreme punitive measures for violating either the Jim Crow laws or the social mores that governed the “‘social etiquette’ of white and black interaction” (Church and Mertz), such crimes born of fear were possible. According to Ellen Church and Kimberly Mertz, the “Native Son’s underlying theme that warns of the dangerous psychological effects of racial oppression upon humanity.”
Historical Context
In order to fully understand Native Son, you must first understand the historical context of the novel, primarily Wright’s own experiences with racial prejudice and the Jim Crow laws.
“The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch,” by Richard Wright
Resources
Church, Ellen and Kimberly Mertz. “Richard Wright: Native Son (1937).” University of North Carolina. 27 January 2009. Web. 5 June 2016.
Pilgrim, David, Dr. “What Was Jim Crow?” Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia: Using Objects of Tolerance to Teach Tolerance and Promote Social Justice. Ferris State University, 2012. Web. 5 June 2016.
Wright, Richard. “The Ethics of Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch.” New York: Viking Press, 1937. rpt. in American Stuff: Work from the Federal Writers Project. Web. 5 June 2016.
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