Native Son by Richard Wright Essay

Richard Wright was determined to make a intemperate state handst. In his novel, Native male child, he endeavors to get the horror of Negro liveing in the United States (Wright xxxiii). By considering such a fundamental topic, he sought to hold open a phonograph recording that no hotshot would weep over that would be so hard and deep that they would have to find it with out(a) the consolation of tears (xxvii). Native Son is a noticeary on the scantiness and servelessness experienced by relentlesss in America, and it illustrates the abhorrent slipway that blacks were treated, describes their awful surviving conditions and c wholes attention to the half-hearted efforts offered by egg unclouded sympathizers. Told from the positioning of his char doer large Thomas, Wright crafts a study depicting the oppressive equals endured by Negroes and makes it so despicable that it grabs the attention of the commentator and forces him to measure the state of society. Thith er is much in this novel that would cause a reader to cry, nevertheless, to Wrights point, the topic is so significant that it resonates more deeply and elicits a deeper response.bigger Thomas is the protagonist of the novel, but, to Wright, big as salutary exemplifies African Americans of the time. He is b arly educated, essay to find meaningful work and hold in an overcrowded slum with his family just uniform piece of musicy otherwises nearly him. large is scotch with his place in living story and finds it knockout to picture why the opportunities that are visible(prenominal) to whites are not available to him. During an substitute with his friend Gus, larger exclaims, Goddammit, look We live here and they live thither. We black and they white. They got things and we aint. They do things and we cant. Its comparable living in jail (23).bigger and Gus have no outlet to expect their individuality or emotions. Their feelings towards whites are perforate in them. bigger states, Whites live right mountain here in my stomach alwaysy(prenominal) time I think of em, I feel emIts anxiety fireThats when I feel the corresponding whateverthing awfuls loss to happen to meNaw it aint like something going to happen to me. ItsIts like I was going to do something I cant help (24). This statement summarizes how the everyday black man feels about his station in smell and the opportunities available to him. Additionally, it foreshadows the heinous features that exit overspread later in the novel.A turn point in Wrights degree comes when Bigger is offered a job as a chauffeur for the Dalton family. Mr. Dalton is a white real estate mogul that prides himself for organism a member of the NAACP. He employs three-year-old black men in an essay to rehabilitate them. On the surface, this is an ideal fortune for Bigger because it provides room and board and pays well enough to allow him to take care of his mother and siblings, but Wright is lookin g to emphasize how the trivial the actions taken by the white sympathizers do not actually address the challenges approach by the African American population.Bigger is not overwhelmed by this prospect or impressed that the last chauffeur had gone to night school. Moreover, this job last places Bigger in a maculation that he cannot control, and he accidentally smothers Daltons daughter, bloody shame. Bigger realizes, Though he had killed by accident, not once did he feel the need to tell himself that it had been an accident. He was black and he had been alone in a room where a white female child had been killed therefore he had killed her (101). This is the awful event that Bigger alluded to earlier in the story. cleaning bloody shame elicits feelings in Bigger that he had never experienced before. Bigger ack like a shotledges, He was more alive than he could ever remember having been his mind and attention were pointed, focus toward a goal (141). Bigger embraced these feeling s and move with a scheme to make everyone take that Mary had been kidnapped. With the assistance of his girlfriend Bessie, he plans to escape with $10,000 in ransom money. Wright uses Biggers emotions and his heightened sense of awareness at this point in the novel to comment on society at the time. Wright is stating that the act of murder is one of the only ways for young African American men to express themselves, to exert any independence and to get out from under the oppression of their daily tone.When the authorities realize that Bigger is the killer he flees to avoid creation captured, but he realizes that all his life he had been knowing that sooner or later something like this would come to him (207). choice becomes paramount to Bigger, escaping the law is his only priority, and Bessie becomes a liability. While attempting to hide from the police, Bigger realizes that it will be easier to escape without traveling with Bessie. In a tense scene, Bigger first gear rapes Bessie, lets her fall to sleep and finally bludgeons her. His actions are methodical as he move the brick again and again, until in falling it touch a sodden mass that gave mildly but stoutly to each arrive blow. Soon he seemed to be strike a wet wad of cotton, of some damp substance whose only life was the jarring of the bricks impact (222). lastly this second murder is unnecessary, as Bigger is soon apprehended.Bigger is arrested and indicted for the murder of Mary Dalton, and the character that Wright chooses to defend him is a white, Judaic attorney, named Boris gook. In the novel, muck takes the time to lambast to Bigger and understand the actions in his life that have influenced him. For the first time in his life, Bigger has someone interested in his thoughts and feelings, which result in Bigger counterbalance finding hope. Max does his best to egg on Bigger to fight to save his have life. Max pleads, Listen Bigger, youre cladding a sea of hate now thats no different than what youve faced all your life. And, because its that way, youve got to fight.If they can cross you out, then they can wipe others out too (320). Throughout this section of the book Bigger undergoes a transformation. By explaining his actions and feelings to Max, he finally emerges from the shell he has created around himself. Max works hard to understand the issues in Biggers life that culminated in his actions and the violence he exerted against Mary and Bessie, and he uses this information to form his defense. Although the offences that Bigger committed were horrific, the reader begins to sympathize with him as he describes more about himself and his feelings to Max as the story comes to a conclusion.Wrights goal with this novel was to evoke empathy for Bigger and to make a statement regarding the preaching of blacks at the time. Wright uses Maxs stopping point statement to the judge to summarize all of the points he wants the reader to contemplate. Max combine s everything that he learns about Bigger and weaves it together with the engagement of the blacks during the time and eloquently argues that Bigger should be timed to life in prison, rather than to execution. Max argues, This man is different, even though his crime differs from similar crimes only in degree. The multiform forces of society have isolated here for us a symbol, a shield symbol (354).Through Maxs monologue, the reader more clearly understands all of the factors that have contributed to the creation of Bigger and others like him, and he pleads with the judge to understand that there are larger forces in play, other than the specific crime that Bigger committed. Unfortunately, contempt Maxs valiant attempts, the sentence of the Court is that you, Bigger Thomas, shall die on or before midnight of Friday, March third, in a manner prescribed by the laws of this state (381). Initially, it would appear that with Biggers execution, Wright fails in his attempt to move stack to reevaluate the racial injustice of the times, but the conclusion is actually Wrights realisation that society was not quite effect to change.