Native Son
Summary
Native Son, Richard Wright's groundbreaking 1940 novel, is considered one of the most influential works of African American literature of the 20th century. The story follows Bigger Thomas, a young Black man in 1930s Chicago who commits a violent crime and must face the consequences in a racist society. With its unflinching portrayal of racial injustice and systemic oppression, Native Son became an immediate bestseller and established Wright as a leading voice on race relations in America.
Plot
Set in 1930s Chicago, Native Son tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a young African American man living in poverty on the city's South Side. Bigger gets a job as a chauffeur for a wealthy white family, the Daltons. One night while driving the Daltons' daughter Mary, Bigger ends up accidentally suffocating her to death. He panics after Mrs. Dalton enters Mary's bedroom, and he fears being discovered there. To cover up the accidental killing, Bigger burns Mary's body in the furnace and pretends she has been kidnapped.
As the police investigate Mary's disappearance, Bigger flees. After a manhunt, he is eventually caught and put on trial for rape (even though he did not actually rape Mary) and murder. His lawyer argues that Bigger is a product of a racist society. Still, Bigger is found guilty and sentenced to death. In prison awaiting execution, Bigger reflects on his crimes and his life, coming to terms with his fate.
Throughout the novel, Wright portrays how systemic racism and poverty have shaped Bigger's character and limited his opportunities, leading to his violent actions. Native Son serves as a critique of the racial injustice in America in the 1930s. While not excusing Bigger's crimes, the novel presents them as an almost inevitable result of the oppression and lack of options faced by young Black men at the time.
Themes
• Racial oppression and injustice
• Fear and violence as products of racism
• The damaging effects of poverty and lack of opportunity
• The search for identity and meaning
• Guilt and responsibility
• The failures of religion and political systems to address racial issues
• The dehumanizing nature of racism on Americans, both Black and white
Setting
Richard Wright's Native Son takes place in 1930s Chicago during the Great Depression. This era was characterized by widespread poverty, high unemployment, and stark racial segregation and discrimination, especially in major urban areas. For African Americans like the protagonist Bigger Thomas, opportunities were extremely limited and living conditions in the city's “Black Belt” ghetto were often overcrowded and squalid.
The novel is primarily set on Chicago's South Side, in the impoverished, predominantly Black neighborhoods created by discriminatory housing practices. Specific locations include the one-room apartment where Bigger lives with his family, the wealthy Dalton family's mansion where Bigger works as a chauffeur, and various streets and buildings throughout the South Side ghetto. The stark contrast between the cramped, rat-infested tenements of the Black Belt and the spacious Dalton home underscores the racial and economic divides of the period.
As the story progresses, the setting expands to include other parts of Chicago, including downtown areas, as Bigger flees from the authorities. The harsh winter weather of Chicago plays a role in the latter parts of the novel. Wright vividly describes the bleak urban landscape of Depression-era Chicago, from the crowded pool halls and movie theaters to the icy rooftops Bigger traverses while on the run. The oppressive, constricting nature of the segregated city serves as a reflection of Bigger's own feelings of fear and hopelessness.
Characters
• Bigger Thomas: The protagonist, a 20-year-old African American man living in poverty on Chicago's South Side. He accidentally kills a white woman and descends into a cycle of violence and flight.
• Mary Dalton: The daughter of Bigger's wealthy white employer. Her accidental death at Bigger's hands sets the plot in motion.
• Jan Erlone: Mary's Communist boyfriend who tries to befriend Bigger. He later helps defend Bigger, despite being framed for Mary's murder.
• Mr. Dalton: Mary's father and Bigger's employer. A wealthy real estate magnate who exploits Black tenants while claiming to help them.
• Mrs. Dalton: Mary's blind mother whose presence in Mary's room leads to her accidental death.
• Bessie Mears: Bigger's girlfriend whom he later rapes and murders to keep her quiet.
• Boris Max: The Communist lawyer who defends Bigger at his trial.
• Buckley: The state's attorney prosecuting Bigger.
• Gus, Jack, and G.H.: Bigger's friends and fellow gang members.
• Mrs. Thomas: Bigger's religious mother who struggles to support the family.
• Vera and Buddy Thomas: Bigger's younger sister and brother.
Quick facts
• Richard Wright wrote the first draft of Native Son in just four months while living in Brooklyn.
• Native Son was published in 1940 and became an immediate success, selling 250,000 copies within three weeks of publication.
• Native Son was the first book by an African American author to be selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club.
The character of Bigger Thomas was partly based on Robert Nixon, a real-life murderer executed in Chicago in 1939.
• Nelson Algren, an established writer and Wright’s friend, had planned to use “Native Son” as the title for his own novel but gave Wright permission to use it instead.
• Native Son has been banned and challenged numerous times in schools and libraries due to its violence, language, and sexual content.
• Wright originally included a scene where Bigger masturbates in a movie theater, but this was removed at the request of the Book-of-the-Month Club.
• Native Son was adapted into a Broadway play in 1941, directed by Orson Welles and starring Canada Lee as Bigger Thomas.
• Wright himself played the role of Bigger Thomas in a 1951 film adaptation of the novel, despite being twice the age of the character.
• More recently, Native Son was adapted into a 2019 HBO film directed by Rashid Johnson.
• Native Son is ranked #20 on the Modern Library's list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
• The novel's epigraph comes from the Book of Job in the Bible: “Even today is my complaint rebellious, My stroke is heavier than my groaning."
About the author
Richard Wright
Richard Wright (1908-1960) was an influential African American author whose works explored racial themes and the everyday lives of Black Americans. Born in Mississippi, Wright faced poverty and racial discrimination in his youth before moving North as part of the Great Migration. His experiences growing up in the Jim Crow South profoundly shaped his writing and worldview.
Wright's career as an author took off in the late 1930s with the publication of his short story collection Uncle Tom's Children. However, it was his 1940 novel Native Son that catapulted him to national prominence. The controversial book, which told the story of a young Black man in Chicago driven to violence, became a bestseller. Wright followed the novel in 1945 with his memoir Black Boy, further cementing his status as a leading voice on the Black experience in America.
In 1946, Wright left the United States and settled in France as an expatriate. During this period, he continued writing novels, essays, and nonfiction works, including The Outsider and White Man, Listen!. He also developed an interest in existentialism and became friends with French intellectuals like Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Though living abroad, Wright remained engaged with issues of race and politics in America and globally, writing about decolonization movements and traveling to emerging independent nations in Africa and Asia. Wright died in Paris at the age of 52, leaving behind a powerful literary legacy. His unflinching portrayals of racism and its psychological toll helped pave the way for future generations of Black writers and contributed to changing racial attitudes in mid-20th century America.