Native Son by Richard Wright

A good read about oppression vs. injustice, popular opinion vs. morality…and mostly about hate – what breeds it and what it breeds. Outwardly, it is a novel about race. Truly, it is a novel about humanity. Though a sense of futility saturates its pages, this is a novel that attempts to shine a light into the deep wells of ignorance.

Native Son is separated into three ‘books’ – titled Fear, Flight, and Fate – which track the physiological development of the central character, Bigger Thomas. Bigger is a young black male (does the name resemble another word you know?) in 1930s Chicago. He is awarded a job from the relief office as chauffeur to a family of multimillionaires; however, on his very first night he unintentionally murders the family’s only child, a beautiful white girl about Bigger’s age. Bigger tries to cover up his crime and is ultimately caught.

Wright’s style is unaffected, sure and well-ordered. The final speeches made by Mr. Max and Mr. Buckley are especially gripping and poignant. I admit that I was expecting a more radical conclusion, à la A Time to Kill – not in regard to the actual verdict or the sentiments of the populace, but in the realizations of a few major characters and Bigger Thomas in particular. Instead, all other characters fade quietly out of the picture, and Bigger...well...

In the end he does grow, but he remains stunted. He recognizes new levels and facets of the society in which he lives and he acknowledges his feelings towards that world. He finds an identity…but he ultimately fails to understand it or to come to peace with it.