Native Son [Gekürzte Ausgabe] [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Bigger is a twenty year-old poor black man hired by a wealthy white family, and then accidentally kills the prominent young daughter out of fear. In covering up her death, he allows his emotions to get the better of him, and he rapes and kills another girl.

The first two sections of the book are loaded with intrigue, suspense, and drama, as the reader is right there with Bigger as he tries to mislead the murder investigation, and then runs from the large angry masses once his cover-up is foiled. The third section allows you to get into Bigger's mind and feel his confused emotions. Here, the reader is treated to Wright's views on society mainly through the voice of Bigger's trial attorney.

The language in the book is easy-flowing, and not terribly descriptive, which was done intentionally, so the reader could read between the lines and make clear assumptions. All in all, the novel was quite entertaining and rather eye-opening.

Rspellman states that the emphasis is on the white man in Native Son. The book presents an altogether larger social matter that plagued Chicago in the 1930s and still continues with remarkable similiarity today. Native Son is about the social circumstances of that period--a crucial one, in fact, as it is when the Great Black Migration had begun and Chicago was attempting to find a way to respond to it--and therefore has placed emphasis not on the white or black man, but on both, and how they respond to one another.

Finally, Rspellman states that he understands things were not easy for blacks, "back then," and that in order for America to correct itself from racist attitudes it should simply stop thinking about how difficult it really was. The truth is, the education of America's tangled past with racism is the only sure way to prevent further racism. When you understand others, you have a much better chance of leaving behind marks on the world that will help make it better. Literature such as Native Son can be a force which moves us in that direction.

Rspellman states that he is from another country, and while I hesitate to point out the importance of this, I must do so. To truly understand the American experience, it often takes years of exposure. You find it through the schools of childhood, the colleges, the neighborhoods, travels, arts, and so on. In the experience itself, the one issue that you can never escape from, no matter how much you might try, is race. Any American who has a true sense of its history knows this to be, as sad as it is, the truth.

Further suggested readings on race in America: Nicholas Lemann's The Promised Land; Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man; Lillian Smith's Killers of the Dream