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<li id="toc-Book_One:_Fear" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Book_One:_Fear"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.1</span> <span>Book One: Fear</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Book_One:_Fear-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Book_Two:_Flight" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Book_Two:_Flight"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.2</span> <span>Book Two: Flight</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Book_Two:_Flight-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Book_Three:_Fate" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Book_Three:_Fate"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.3</span> <span>Book Three: Fate</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Book_Three:_Fate-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Development" 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href="#Title"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Title</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Title-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Literary_significance_and_criticism" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Literary_significance_and_criticism"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>Literary significance and criticism</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Literary_significance_and_criticism-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Literary significance and criticism subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Literary_significance_and_criticism-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Censorship_in_the_United_States" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Censorship_in_the_United_States"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.1</span> <span>Censorship in the United States</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Censorship_in_the_United_States-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Native_Son_and_the_Bible" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Native_Son_and_the_Bible"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.2</span> <span><i>Native Son</i> and the Bible</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Native_Son_and_the_Bible-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Influence_on_Wright_by_Stowe's_Uncle_Tom's_Cabin" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Influence_on_Wright_by_Stowe's_Uncle_Tom's_Cabin"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.3</span> <span>Influence on Wright by Stowe's <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i></span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Influence_on_Wright_by_Stowe's_Uncle_Tom's_Cabin-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Influence_of_Communism_on_Native_Son" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Influence_of_Communism_on_Native_Son"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.4</span> <span>Influence of Communism on <i>Native Son</i></span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Influence_of_Communism_on_Native_Son-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Allusions_and_references_in_other_works" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Allusions_and_references_in_other_works"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>Allusions and references in other works</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Allusions_and_references_in_other_works-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Allusions and references in other works subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Allusions_and_references_in_other_works-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Films" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Films"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7.1</span> <span>Films</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Films-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Literature" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Literature"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7.2</span> <span>Literature</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Literature-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Music" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Music"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7.3</span> <span>Music</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Music-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Television" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Television"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7.4</span> <span>Television</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Television-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Adaptations" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Adaptations"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>Adaptations</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Adaptations-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Adaptations subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Adaptations-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-On_stage" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#On_stage"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8.1</span> <span>On stage</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-On_stage-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-In_films" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#In_films"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8.2</span> <span>In films</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-In_films-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Critical_reception" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Critical_reception"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9</span> <span>Critical reception</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Critical_reception-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Analysis" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Analysis"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">10</span> <span>Analysis</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Analysis-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">11</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Footnotes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Footnotes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">12</span> <span>Footnotes</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Footnotes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">13</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Further_reading" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Further_reading"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">14</span> <span>Further reading</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Further_reading-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">15</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" title="Table of Contents" > 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.hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">For other uses, see <a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(disambiguation)" class="mw-disambig" title="Native Son (disambiguation)">Native Son (disambiguation)</a>.</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1257001546">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme)>div:not(.notheme)[style]{background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme) div:not(.notheme){background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media(min-width:640px){body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table{display:table!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>caption{display:table-caption!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>tbody{display:table-row-group}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table tr{display:table-row!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table th,body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table td{padding-left:inherit;padding-right:inherit}}</style><table class="infobox vcard"><caption class="infobox-title" style="font-size:125%; font-style:italic; padding-bottom:0.2em;">Native Son <span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Native+Son&rft.author=%5B%5BRichard+Wright+%28author%29%7CRichard+Wright%5D%5D&rft.date=March+1%2C+1940&rft.pub=%5B%5BHarper+%28publisher%29%7CHarper+%26+Brothers%5D%5D&rft.place=United+States&rft_id=info:oclcnum/61277693"></span></caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Frameless"><a href="/wiki/File:Native_Son_(1940)_front_cover,_first_edition.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Native_Son_%281940%29_front_cover%2C_first_edition.jpg/220px-Native_Son_%281940%29_front_cover%2C_first_edition.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="320" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Native_Son_%281940%29_front_cover%2C_first_edition.jpg/330px-Native_Son_%281940%29_front_cover%2C_first_edition.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Native_Son_%281940%29_front_cover%2C_first_edition.jpg/440px-Native_Son_%281940%29_front_cover%2C_first_edition.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1337" data-file-height="1946" /></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">First edition</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Author</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/wiki/Richard_Wright_(author)" title="Richard Wright (author)">Richard Wright</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Language</th><td class="infobox-data">English</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Genre</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/wiki/African-American_literature" title="African-American literature">African-American literature</a>, <a href="/wiki/Social_protest_novel" class="mw-redirect" title="Social protest novel">Social protest novel</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Publisher</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/wiki/Harper_(publisher)" title="Harper (publisher)">Harper & Brothers</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Publication date</div></th><td class="infobox-data">March 1, 1940</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Publication place</th><td class="infobox-data">United States</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Media type</th><td class="infobox-data">Print (hardback & paperback)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)"><abbr title="Online Computer Library Center number">OCLC</abbr></a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/61277693">61277693</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;"><a href="/wiki/Dewey_Decimal_Classification" title="Dewey Decimal Classification">Dewey Decimal</a></div></th><td class="infobox-data">813.52</td></tr></tbody></table> <p><i><b>Native Son</b></i> (1940) is a novel written by the American author <a href="/wiki/Richard_Wright_(author)" title="Richard Wright (author)">Richard Wright</a>. It tells the story of 20-year-old <a href="/wiki/Bigger_Thomas" title="Bigger Thomas">Bigger Thomas</a>, a black youth living in utter poverty in <a href="/wiki/Douglas,_Chicago" title="Douglas, Chicago">a poor area</a> on Chicago's <a href="/wiki/South_Side_(Chicago)" class="mw-redirect" title="South Side (Chicago)">South Side</a> in the 1930s. Thomas accidentally kills a white woman at a time when racism is at its peak and he pays the price for it.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>While not apologizing for Bigger's crimes, Wright portrays a systemic causation behind them. Bigger's lawyer, Boris Max, makes the case that there is no escape from this destiny for his client or any other black American, since they are the necessary product of the society that formed them and told them since birth who exactly they were supposed to be. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Plot_summary">Plot summary</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Plot summary"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Book_One:_Fear">Book One: Fear</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Book One: Fear"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Twenty-year-old Bigger Thomas lives in one room with his brother Buddy, his sister Vera, and their mother. Suddenly, a rat appears. The room turns into a maelstrom, and after a violent chase, Bigger kills the animal with an iron skillet and terrorizes his sister Vera with the dead rat. She faints, and Mrs. Thomas scolds Bigger, who hates his family because they suffer and he cannot do anything about it. </p><p>That evening, Bigger has to see Mr. Dalton, a white man, for a new job. Bigger's family depends on him. He would like to leave his responsibilities forever, but when he thinks of what to do, he only sees a blank wall. </p><p>Bigger walks to a poolroom and meets his friend, Gus. Bigger tells him that every time he thinks about whites, he feels something terrible will happen to him. They meet other friends, G.H. and Jack, and plan a robbery. They are all afraid of attacking and stealing from a white man, but none of them wants to admit their concerns. Before the robbery, Bigger and Jack go to the movies. They are attracted to the world of wealthy whites in the newsreel and feel strangely moved by the tom-toms and the primitive black people in the film, yet also feel they are equal to those worlds. After the film, Bigger returns to the poolroom and attacks Gus violently, forcing him to lick his blade in a demeaning way to hide Bigger's own cowardice. The fight ends any chance of the robbery occurring, and Bigger is vaguely aware that his actions were intentional. </p><p>When he finally gets the job, Bigger does not know how to behave in Dalton's large, luxurious house. Mr. Dalton and his blind wife use strange words. They try to be kind to the young man, but actually make him uncomfortable; Bigger does not know what they expect of him. </p><p>Then their daughter, Mary, enters the room, asks Bigger why he is not in a union, and calls her father a "capitalist". Bigger does not know the word and becomes even more confused and fearful that he may lose the job. After the conversation, Peggy, an Irish cook, takes Bigger to his room and tells him the Daltons are a nice family, but he must avoid Mary's <a href="/wiki/Communism" title="Communism">Communist</a> friends. After she leaves, Bigger marvels that he has never had a room of his own before. </p><p>That night, he drives Mary around and meets her Communist boyfriend Jan. Throughout the evening, Jan and Mary talk to Bigger, oblige him to take them to a diner where their friends are eating, invite him to sit at their table, and tell him to call them by their first names. Bigger does not know how to respond to their requests and becomes frustrated, as he is simply their <a href="/wiki/Chauffeur" title="Chauffeur">chauffeur</a> for the night. At the diner, they buy a bottle of rum, then Bigger drives throughout <a href="/wiki/Washington_Park_(Chicago_park)" title="Washington Park (Chicago park)">Washington Park</a> while Jan and Mary drink and make out in the back seat. Jan departs, but Mary is so drunk that Bigger has to carry her to her bedroom when they return home. He is terrified someone will see him with her in his arms; however, he still cannot resist the forbidden temptation and kisses her. </p><p>Just then, the bedroom door opens, and Mrs. Dalton enters. Bigger knows she is blind but is terrified she will sense him there. Frightened of the consequences if he, a black man, were to be found in Mary's bedroom, he silences Mary by pressing a pillow into her face. Mary claws at Bigger's hands while Mrs. Dalton is in the room, trying to alert Bigger that she cannot breathe. Mrs. Dalton approaches the bed, smells alcohol in the air, scolds her daughter, and leaves. As Bigger removes the pillow, he realizes that Mary has suffocated to death. Bigger starts thinking frantically, and decides he will tell everyone that her boyfriend Jan took Mary into the house that night. </p><p>Thinking it will be better if Mary disappears as she was supposed to leave for Detroit in the morning, Bigger decides in desperation to burn her body in the house furnace. Her body initially will not fit through the furnace opening, but after decapitating it, Bigger finally manages to put the corpse inside. He adds extra coal to the furnace, leaves the corpse to burn, and goes home. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Book_Two:_Flight">Book Two: Flight</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Book Two: Flight"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Bigger's current girlfriend Bessie Mears suspects him of having done something to Mary. Bigger goes back to work. </p><p>Mr. Dalton has hired a private detective, Mr. Britten, who interrogates Bigger accusingly, but Dalton vouches for Bigger. Bigger relates the events of the previous evening in a way calculated to throw suspicion on Jan, knowing Mr. Dalton dislikes Jan because he is a Communist. When Britten finds Jan, he puts the boy and Bigger in the same room and confronts them with their conflicting stories. Jan is surprised by Bigger's story, but offers him help. </p><p>Bigger storms away from the Daltons'. He decides to write a false kidnapping note when he discovers that Mr. Dalton owns the rat-infested flat that Bigger's family rents. Bigger slips the note under the Daltons' front door and then returns to his room. </p><p>When the Daltons receive the note, they contact the police, who take over the investigation from Britten, and journalists soon arrive at the house. Bigger is afraid, but does not want to leave. In the afternoon, he is ordered to remove the ashes from the furnace and make a new fire. He is terrified and starts poking the ashes with the shovel until the whole room is full of smoke. Furious, one of the journalists takes the shovel and pushes Bigger aside. He immediately finds the remains of Mary's bones and an earring in the furnace, and Bigger flees. </p><p>Bigger goes directly to Bessie and tells her the whole story. Bessie realizes that white people will think he raped the girl before killing her. They leave together, but Bigger has to drag Bessie around because she is paralyzed by fear. When they lie down together in an abandoned building, Bigger rapes Bessie and falls asleep. In the morning, he decides he has to kill her in her sleep. He hits Bessie on the head with a brick before throwing her through a window and into an air shaft, then realizes that the money he had taken from Mary's purse was in Bessie's pocket. </p><p>Bigger flees through the city, during which he sees newspaper headlines and overhears various conversations about the crime. Whites hate him for the murder and blacks hate him even more for the shame he brought to the black community. After a frantic chase over the city rooftops, the police finally catch him. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Book_Three:_Fate">Book Three: Fate</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Book Three: Fate"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>During his first few days in prison, Bigger does not eat, drink, or talk to anyone. Then Jan comes to visit him. He says Bigger has taught him a lot about black and white relationships, and offers him the help of a Communist lawyer named Boris Max. In the long hours that Max and Bigger spend talking, Bigger starts understanding his relationships with his family and with the world. He acknowledges his fury, his need for a future, and his wish for a meaningful life. He reconsiders his attitudes about white people, whether they are aggressive like Britten or accepting like Jan. </p><p>Throughout the trial, the prosecuting team focus primarily on Mary's murder and pay significantly less attention to Bessie's murder. It is also falsely argued that Bigger raped Mary before killing her. The novel finishes with Max's lengthy <a href="/wiki/Closing_argument" title="Closing argument">closing argument</a>. In it, he does not argue that Bigger is innocent. Rather he talks about how whites have intentionally blinded themselves to <a href="/wiki/Racism" title="Racism">racial oppression</a>, and that the <a href="/wiki/Ghetto" title="Ghetto">ghettos</a>, in turn, have fueled oppression and crime. He concludes with the statement that the court cannot sentence Bigger to death when they have not even acknowledged that as a human being he has <a href="/wiki/Natural_rights_and_legal_rights" title="Natural rights and legal rights">the right to exist</a>. Max urges for them to give him <a href="/wiki/Life_imprisonment" title="Life imprisonment">life in prison</a> instead. </p><p>Bigger is found guilty and sentenced to death for murder. As his execution draws near, he appears to have come to terms with his fate. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Development">Development</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Development"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Book-of-the-Month_Club" class="mw-redirect" title="Book-of-the-Month Club">Book-of-the-Month Club</a> exerted influence to have <i>Native Son</i> edited. Wright originally had a scene where Bigger and a friend illegally masturbate in a movie theater, and other lines showing that Mary sexually arouses Bigger. <a href="/wiki/Library_of_America" title="Library of America">Library of America</a> published a restored draft version of the book assembled by editor <a href="/wiki/Arnold_Rampersad" title="Arnold Rampersad">Arnold Rampersad</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Characters">Characters</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Characters"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-POV plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-POV" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span class="skin-invert" typeof="mw:File"><span><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Unbalanced_scales.svg/45px-Unbalanced_scales.svg.png" decoding="async" width="45" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Unbalanced_scales.svg/68px-Unbalanced_scales.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Unbalanced_scales.svg/90px-Unbalanced_scales.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="400" data-file-height="354" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">The <b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view" title="Wikipedia:Neutral point of view">neutrality</a> of this section is <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NPOV_dispute" title="Wikipedia:NPOV dispute">disputed</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Relevant discussion may be found on the <a href="/wiki/Talk:Native_Son" title="Talk:Native Son">talk page</a>. Please do not remove this message until <a href="/wiki/Template:POV#When_to_remove" title="Template:POV">conditions to do so are met</a>.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">September 2018</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p><b><a href="/wiki/Bigger_Thomas" title="Bigger Thomas">Bigger Thomas</a>:</b> The protagonist of the novel, Bigger, commits crimes and is put on trial for his life. He is convicted and sentenced to the electric chair. His acts give the novel action but the real plot involves Bigger's reactions to his environment and his crime. Through it all, Bigger struggles to discuss his feelings, but he can neither find the words to fully express himself nor does he have the time to say them. However, as they have been related through the narration, Bigger —typical of the "outsider" archetype — has finally discovered the only important and real thing: his life. Though too late, his realization that he is alive — and able to choose to befriend Mr. Max — creates some hope that men like him might be reached earlier. </p><p>Debatable as the final scene is, in which for the first time Bigger calls a white man by his first name, Bigger is never anything but a failed human. He represents a black man conscious of a system of racial oppression that leaves him no opportunity to exist but through crime. As he says to Gus, "They don't let us do nothing... [and] I can't get used to it." A line goes, one cannot exist by simply reacting: a man must be more than the sum total of his brutalizations. Bigger admits to wanting to be an aviator and later, to Max, aspire to other positions esteemed in the <a href="/wiki/American_Dream" title="American Dream">American Dream</a>. But here he can do nothing . . . just be one of many blacks in what was called the "ghetto" and maybe get a job serving whites; crime seems preferable, rather than accidental or inevitable. Not surprisingly, then, he already has a criminal history, and he has even been to reform school. Ultimately, the snap decisions which the law calls "crimes" arose from assaults to his dignity, and being trapped like the rat he killed with a pan, living a life where others held the skillet. </p><p><b>Mary Dalton:</b> An only child, Mary is a rich white girl who has far leftist leanings. She is a Communist sympathizer recently understood to be frolicking with Jan, a known Communist party organizer. Consequently, she is trying to abide, for a time, by her parents' wishes and go to Detroit. She is to leave the morning after Bigger is hired as the family chauffeur. Under the ruse of a University meeting, she has Bigger take her to meet Jan. When they return to the house, she is too drunk to make it to her room unassisted and thus, Bigger helps her. Mrs. Dalton comes upon them in the room and Bigger smothers Mary for fear that Mrs. Dalton will discover him. Although she dies earlier in the story, she remains a significant plot element, as Bigger constantly has flashbacks during stressful times, in which he sees various scenes from her murder. </p><p><b>Henry Dalton:</b> Father of Mary, owns a controlling amount of stock in a real estate firm that maintains the black ghetto. Blacks in the ghetto pay too much for rat-infested flats. As Max points out at the inquest, Mr. Dalton refuses to rent flats to black people outside of the designated ghetto area. He does this while donating money to the <a href="/wiki/NAACP" title="NAACP">NAACP</a>, buying ping-pong tables for the local black youth outreach program, and giving people like Bigger a chance at employment. Mr. Dalton's philanthropy, however, only shows off his wealth while backing up the business practices that contain an already oppressed people. An example of this is when the reader learns that Mr. Dalton owns the real estate company that controls a lot of the South Side (where most of the black community lives), but instead of using his power to improve their situation, he does things such as donate ping-pong tables to them, or hire individual blacks to work in his house. Mr. Dalton is blind to the real plight of blacks in the ghetto, a plight that he maintains. </p><p><b>Mrs. Dalton:</b> Mary Dalton's mother. Her blindness serves to accentuate the motif of racial blindness throughout the story. Both Bigger and Max comment on how people are blind to the reality of race in America. Mrs. Dalton betrays her metaphorical blindness when she meets Mrs. Thomas. Mrs. Dalton hides behind her philanthropy and claims there is nothing she can do for Bigger. </p><p><b>Jan Erlone:</b> Jan is a member of the Communist Party as well as the boyfriend of Mary Dalton. Bigger attempts to frame him for the murder of Mary. Nonetheless, Jan uses this to try to prove that black people aren't masters of their own destinies, but rather, a product of an oppressive white society. Jan had already been seeking a way to understand the 'negro' so as to organize them along communist lines against the rich like Mr. Dalton. He is not able to fully do so, but he is able to put aside his personal trauma and persuade Max to help Bigger. He represents the idealistic young Marxist who hopes to save the world through revolution. However, before he can do that, he must understand the 'negro' much more than he thinks he does. </p><p><b>Gus:</b> Gus is a member of Bigger's gang, but he has an uneasy relationship with Bigger. Both are aware of the other's nervous anxiety concerning whites. Consequently, Bigger would rather brutalize Gus than admit he is scared to rob a white man. </p><p><b>Jack Harding:</b> Jack is a member of Bigger's gang and perhaps the only one Bigger ever views as a real friend. </p><p><b>G.H.:</b> G.H. is another member of Bigger's gang. He is the neutral member of the gang who will do what the gang does, but will not be too closely attached to any one member of the gang. </p><p><b>Mr. Boris Max:</b> A lawyer from the Communist Party who represents Bigger against the State's prosecuting attorney. As a Jewish American, he is in a position to understand Bigger. It is through his speech during the trial that Wright reveals the greater moral and political implications of Bigger Thomas' life. Even though Mr. Max is the only one who understands Bigger, Bigger still horrifies him by displaying just how damaged white society has made him. When Mr. Max finally leaves Bigger, he is aghast at the extent of the brutality of racism in America. The third part of the novel, called Fate, seems to focus on Max's relationship with Bigger, and because of this Max becomes the main character of Fate. </p><p><b>Bessie Mears:</b> Bigger's girlfriend. She drinks often, saying that she is trying to forget her hard life. At the end of Book 2, Bigger takes her to an abandoned building and rapes her, then proceeds to kill her in haste to keep her from talking to the police. This is his second killing in the book. </p><p><b>Peggy:</b> Peggy is the Daltons' Irish-American housekeeper and, like Max, can empathize with Bigger's status as an outsider. However, she is more typical of poor whites who are sure to invest in racism if only to keep someone / anyone below themselves. Peggy hides her dislike for blacks and treats Bigger kindly. </p><p><b>Buddy Thomas:</b> Buddy, Bigger's younger brother, idolizes Bigger as a male role model. He defends him to the rest of the family and consistently asks if he can help Bigger. </p><p><b>Mrs. Thomas:</b> Bigger's mother. She struggles to keep her family alive on the meager wages earned by taking in laundry. She is a religious woman who believes she will be rewarded in an afterlife, but as a black woman accepts that nothing can be done to improve her people's situation. Additionally, she knows Bigger will end up hanging from the "gallows" for his crime, but this is just another fact of life. </p><p><b>Vera Thomas:</b> Vera is Bigger's sister. In her, Bigger sees many similarities to his mother. Bigger fears Vera will grow up to either be like his mother, constantly exhausted with the strain of supporting a family, or like Bessie, a drunk trying to escape her troubles. </p><p><b>Buckley:</b> The state prosecutor. </p><p><b>Britten:</b> The Daltons' investigator. He seems quite prejudiced, first toward Bigger (because Bigger is black) and then toward Jan (because Jan is a Communist). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="True_crime_influence">True crime influence</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: True crime influence"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Wright based aspects of the novel on the 1938 arrest and trial of <a href="/wiki/Robert_Nixon_(serial_killer)" class="mw-redirect" title="Robert Nixon (serial killer)">Robert Nixon</a>, executed in 1939 following a series of "brick bat murders" in Los Angeles and Chicago.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Title">Title</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Title"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><i>Native Son</i> was the original title of Chicago writer <a href="/wiki/Nelson_Algren" title="Nelson Algren">Nelson Algren</a>'s first novel, <i><a href="/wiki/Somebody_in_Boots" title="Somebody in Boots">Somebody in Boots</a></i>, based on a piece of doggerel about the first Texan. Algren and Wright had met at Chicago's <a href="/wiki/John_Reed_Club" class="mw-redirect" title="John Reed Club">John Reed Club</a> circa 1933 and later worked together at the <a href="/wiki/Federal_Writers%27_Project" title="Federal Writers' Project">Federal Writers' Project</a> in Chicago.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> According to Bettina Drew's 1989 biography <i>Nelson Algren</i>: <i>A Life on the Wild Side</i>, he bequeathed the title "Native Son" to Wright. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Literary_significance_and_criticism">Literary significance and criticism</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Literary significance and criticism"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Wright's protest novel was an immediate best-seller; it sold 250,000 hardcover copies within three weeks of its publication by the <a href="/wiki/Book-of-the-Month_Club" class="mw-redirect" title="Book-of-the-Month Club">Book-of-the-Month Club</a> on March 1, 1940. It was one of the earliest successful attempts to explain the racial divide in America in terms of the social conditions imposed on African Americans by the dominant white society. It also made Wright the wealthiest Black writer of his time and established him as a spokesperson for African American issues, and the "father of Black American literature." As <a href="/wiki/Irving_Howe" title="Irving Howe">Irving Howe</a> said in his 1963 essay "Black Boys and Native Sons": "The day <i>Native Son</i> appeared, American culture was changed forever. No matter how much qualifying the book might later need, it made impossible a repetition of the old lies ... [and] brought out into the open, as no one ever had before, the hatred, fear, and violence that have crippled and may yet destroy our culture."<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The novel's treatment of Bigger and his motivations is an example of literary <a href="/wiki/Naturalism_(literature)" title="Naturalism (literature)">naturalism</a>. </p><p>The book also received criticism from some of Wright's fellow African-American writers. <a href="/wiki/James_Baldwin_(writer)" class="mw-redirect" title="James Baldwin (writer)">James Baldwin's</a> 1948 essay, <i>Everybody's Protest Novel,</i> dismissed <i>Native Son</i> as protest fiction, as well as limited in its understanding of human character and in artistic value.<sup id="cite_ref-Rampersad_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Rampersad-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The essay was collected with nine others in Baldwin's <i><a href="/wiki/Notes_of_a_Native_Son" title="Notes of a Native Son">Notes of a Native Son</a></i> (1955). </p><p>In 1991, <i>Native Son</i> was published for the first time in its entirety by the <a href="/wiki/Library_of_America" title="Library of America">Library of America</a>, together with an introduction, a chronology, and notes by <a href="/wiki/Arnold_Rampersad" title="Arnold Rampersad">Arnold Rampersad</a>, a well-regarded scholar of African American literary works. This edition also contains <a href="/wiki/Richard_Wright_(author)" title="Richard Wright (author)">Richard Wright</a>'s 1940 essay "How 'Bigger' Was Born." The original edition had a masturbation scene removed at the request of the Book-of-the-Month club.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p><i>Native Son</i> is number 27 on <i>Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_8-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The <a href="/wiki/Modern_Library" title="Modern Library">Modern Library</a> placed it number 20 on its list of the <a href="/wiki/Modern_Library_List_of_Best_20th-Century_Novels" class="mw-redirect" title="Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels">100 best novels of the 20th Century</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Time_Magazine" class="mw-redirect" title="Time Magazine">Time Magazine</a></i> also included the novel in its <i>TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.</i><sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Censorship_in_the_United_States">Censorship in the United States</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Censorship in the United States"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The novel has endured a series of challenges in public high schools and libraries all over the United States. Many of these challenges focus on the book's being "sexually graphic,"<sup id="cite_ref-American_Library_Association_10-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-American_Library_Association-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> "unnecessarily violent,"<sup id="cite_ref-American_Library_Association_10-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-American_Library_Association-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and "profane."<sup id="cite_ref-American_Library_Association_10-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-American_Library_Association-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Despite complaints from parents, many schools have successfully fought to keep Wright's work in the classroom.<sup id="cite_ref-American_Library_Association_10-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-American_Library_Association-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Some teachers believe the themes in <i>Native Son</i> and other challenged books "foster dialogue and discussion in the classroom"<sup id="cite_ref-Chen,_Grace_11-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Chen,_Grace-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and "guide students into the reality of the complex adult and social world."<sup id="cite_ref-Chen,_Grace_11-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Chen,_Grace-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <i>Native Son</i> is number 27 on <i>Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_8-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The book is number 71 on the <a href="/wiki/American_Library_Association" title="American Library Association">American Library Association</a>'s list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Native_Son_and_the_Bible"><i>Native Son</i> and the Bible</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Native Son and the Bible"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Biblical allusions appear frequently throughout <i>Native Son,</i> but they do not serve as an uplifting component of Bigger Thomas' life. Instead, Richard Wright seems to allude to the Bible with irony. Bigger is exposed to Christianity through his religious mother, Reverend Hammond, a Catholic priest, and his encounter with the church. However, Bigger's constant rejection of Christianity and the church reveals Wright's negative tone toward the religion. He views Christianity as an opiate of the black masses.<sup id="cite_ref-Kinnamon_13-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Kinnamon-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Bigger has several negative encounters with religion. In one instance, Bigger hears his mother singing a hymn when he sneaks into his flat to get his pistol to prepare for robbing Blum's delicatessen. His mother is singing the words: "<a href="/wiki/Lord,_I_want_to_be_a_Christian" class="mw-redirect" title="Lord, I want to be a Christian">Lord, I want to be a Christian</a>, /In my heart, in my heart."<sup id="cite_ref-Kinnamon_13-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Kinnamon-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Her hymns and prayers are wholly ineffective and do nothing to forestall his violence.<sup id="cite_ref-Kinnamon_13-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Kinnamon-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Even toward the end of the novel, with her son facing a possible death sentence, Bigger's mother pleads with him to pray to God for repentance. Reverend Hammond also preaches to Bigger, yet he does not understand the words of Reverend Hammond and does not pray for repentance. Instead, Bigger does the opposite and rejects Christianity. When he later sees the fiery cross that the <a href="/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan" title="Ku Klux Klan">Ku Klux Klan</a> displays, he tears the cross which Reverend Hammond had given him from his neck and throws it to the ground. In yet another instance, Bigger overhears the church choir singing and ponders whether he should become Christian. However, his contemplation of changing his heart into a humble heart causes him to reject the idea because it meant, "losing his hope of living in the world. And he would never do that."<sup id="cite_ref-Kinnamon_13-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Kinnamon-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Wright directly alludes to the Bible in the <a href="/wiki/Epigraph_(literature)" title="Epigraph (literature)">epigraph</a> of <i>Native Son</i>. The epigraph states, "Even today is my complaint rebellious; my stroke is heavier than my groaning" (Job 23:2). This quotation is from the <a href="/wiki/Book_of_Job" title="Book of Job">Book of Job</a>. According to the Bible, <a href="/wiki/Job_(biblical_figure)" title="Job (biblical figure)">Job</a> was a faithful man of God. However, Job experienced immense suffering in his lifetime, losing his children and his great wealth. He was stricken with poverty and boils. In these afflictions, God was silent, leaving Job in a state of deep spiritual anguish. This tone of anguish and despair is established in the epigraph at the outset of <i>Native Son</i> and emphasizes Bigger's suffering.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Job and Bigger are parallel characters in their dealings with suffering. That further suggests the aptness of Wright's epigraph.<sup id="cite_ref-Savory_15-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Savory-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Job suffered trials from an outside force that he could not control. Similar to Job, Bigger struggled with an outside force of the racial norms of society. The parallel is further strengthened by the freedom both characters display in their defiance. </p><p>Savory has mentioned two quotes in the book of Job and <i>Native Son</i> that suggest Bigger and Job's parallel stories. The protagonist of the book of Job lifts himself proudly through his suffering. "If the charges my opponent brings against me were written down so that I could have them, I would wear them proudly around my neck, and hold them up for everyone to see. I would tell God everything I have done, and hold my head high in his presence".<sup id="cite_ref-Savory_15-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Savory-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> During this point of the passage, Job has yet to confess his sins to God. Convinced of his innocence, Job asserts that he will stand proud and tall in God's presence. </p><p>Bigger has a similar experience. He muses, "He had done this. He had brought all this about. In all of his life these two murders were the most meaningful things that had ever happened to him. He was living, truly and deeply, no matter what others might think, looking at him with their blind eyes. Never had he had the chance to live out the consequences of his actions: never had his will been so free as in this night and day of fear and murder and flight."<sup id="cite_ref-Savory_15-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Savory-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It is the first time in the novel where Bigger does not throw the blame on others but instead asserts that he was responsible for his actions. Through that, he finally experiences free will and finds freedom. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Influence_on_Wright_by_Stowe's_Uncle_Tom's_Cabin"><span id="Influence_on_Wright_by_Stowe.27s_Uncle_Tom.27s_Cabin"></span>Influence on Wright by Stowe's <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Influence on Wright by Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><i>Native Son</i> contains several allusions to other works that were significant during Wright's time. One of the major works that influenced <i>Native Son</i> was <a href="/wiki/Harriet_Beecher_Stowe" title="Harriet Beecher Stowe">Harriet Beecher Stowe</a>'s <i><a href="/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin" title="Uncle Tom's Cabin">Uncle Tom's Cabin</a></i> (1852), the best-selling novel of the 19th century which also played a major role in the <a href="/wiki/Abolitionism_in_the_United_States" title="Abolitionism in the United States">abolitionist movement</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Wright's <i>Native Son</i> (1940) contains multiple similarities to <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>. Like <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>, <i>Native Son</i> can be interpreted as an illustration of the harsh reality of racial injustice in the United States. James Baldwin, writing in the <i><a href="/wiki/Partisan_Review" title="Partisan Review">Partisan Review</a></i>, boldly linked the two novels.<sup id="cite_ref-Notes_17-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Notes-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In both books, racial injustice is a "pre-ordained pattern set upon the living reality".<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> There is little the characters can do to escape racial discrimination. Additionally, both of these novels are a form of <a href="/wiki/Social_protest_novel" class="mw-redirect" title="Social protest novel">social protest</a>, seek to disprove the idea that society neatly analyzes and treats race, and portrays African Americans who emerge confused, dishonest, and panicked as they are trapped and immobilized as prisoners within the American dream.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The title and content of another book Wright published, the collection of short stories <i><a href="/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Children" title="Uncle Tom's Children">Uncle Tom's Children</a></i> (1938), suggest the inspiration Stowe's work provided Wright in his own books. Both <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i> and <i>Uncle Tom's Children</i> exploit the term "Uncle Tom," attacking an African American who seems to act in a subservient manner toward white people. However, while these two titles are similar and contain similar themes, Wright's <i>Native Son</i> can also be considered reactionary against <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin.</i> Bigger Thomas is the antithesis of Uncle Tom. Bigger is fearful of and angry toward white society. He also lacks the religious background and Christian faith that Uncle Tom possessed. This contrast between the characters of Bigger Thomas and Uncle Tom may be Wright's attempt to show the contemporary racial conflicts that persisted long after the publication of Stowe's novel in 1852.<sup id="cite_ref-Notes_17-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Notes-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Influence_of_Communism_on_Native_Son">Influence of Communism on <i>Native Son</i></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Influence of Communism on Native Son"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Wright was affiliated with the Communist Party of the United States both prior to and following his publishing of <i>Native Son</i>. The Communist ideas in <i>Native Son</i> are evident as Wright draws a parallel between the <a href="/wiki/Scottsboro_boys" class="mw-redirect" title="Scottsboro boys">Scottsboro boys</a> case and Bigger Thomas' case. One parallel is the court scene in <i>Native Son</i>, in which Max calls the "hate and impatience" of "the mob congregated upon the streets beyond the window" (Wright, p. 386) and the "mob who surrounded the Scottsboro jail with rope and kerosene" after the Scottsboro boys' initial conviction.<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Critics attacked Max's final speech in the courtroom, claiming that it was an irrelevant elaboration on Wright's own Communist beliefs and unrelated to Bigger's case. <sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (July 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>There are many different interpretations concerning which group was the intended target of Max's speech. <a href="/wiki/James_Baldwin" title="James Baldwin">James Baldwin</a>, a renowned critic of Wright's, presented his own interpretation of Max's final speech in <i>Notes by a Native Son</i>; Baldwin says Max's speech is "addressed to those among us of good will and it seems to say that, though there are whites and blacks among us who hate each other, we will not; there are those who are betrayed by greed, by guilt, by blood, by blood lust, but not we; we will set our faces against them and join hands and walk together into that dazzling future when there will be no white or black" (Baldwin, p. 47). However, other critics, such as Siegel, have argued that the original text in <i>Native Son</i> does not imply "the dazzling future when there will be no white or black".<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (July 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p><br /> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Allusions_and_references_in_other_works">Allusions and references in other works</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Allusions and references in other works"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Films">Films</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Films"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><i>Native Son</i> is mentioned in a flashback in the film <i><a href="/wiki/American_History_X" title="American History X">American History X</a></i> (1998), when Dennis criticizes his son Derek's teacher for including lessons on <a href="/wiki/African-American_literature" title="African-American literature">African-American literature</a> and <a href="/wiki/Affirmative_action" title="Affirmative action">affirmative action</a>. </p><p>An <a href="/wiki/Allusion" title="Allusion">allusion</a> to the story is presented in part 1 of <i><a href="/wiki/The_Second_Renaissance" class="mw-redirect" title="The Second Renaissance">The Second Renaissance</a></i> (2003), a short <a href="/wiki/Anime" title="Anime">anime</a> film from <a href="/wiki/The_Animatrix" title="The Animatrix">The Animatrix</a> collection. In this film, a domestic robot named "B1-66ER" is placed on trial for murder. The name is created using <a href="/wiki/Leet_Speak" class="mw-redirect" title="Leet Speak">Leet Speak</a>. </p><p>In the motion picture <i><a href="/wiki/The_Help_(film)" title="The Help (film)">The Help</a></i> (2011), the main character (played by <a href="/wiki/Emma_Stone" title="Emma Stone">Emma Stone</a>) is seen in an oblique camera angle to have a copy of <i>Native Son</i> on her bookshelf. </p><p>Film adaptations were released in <a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(1951_film)" title="Native Son (1951 film)">1951</a>, <a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(1986_film)" title="Native Son (1986 film)">1986</a> and <a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(2019_film)" title="Native Son (2019 film)">2019</a>. The 2019 adaptation was directed by <a href="/wiki/Rashid_Johnson" title="Rashid Johnson">Rashid Johnson</a> and starred <a href="/wiki/Ashton_Sanders" title="Ashton Sanders">Ashton Sanders</a> (as <a href="/wiki/Bigger_Thomas" title="Bigger Thomas">Bigger Thomas</a>), <a href="/wiki/Margaret_Qualley" title="Margaret Qualley">Margaret Qualley</a>, <a href="/wiki/Nick_Robinson_(American_actor)" title="Nick Robinson (American actor)">Nick Robinson</a> and <a href="/wiki/KiKi_Layne" title="KiKi Layne">KiKi Layne</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Literature">Literature</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Literature"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>James Baldwin's short story <a href="/wiki/Previous_Condition" class="mw-redirect" title="Previous Condition">Previous Condition</a> mentions a lead part in a play production of <i>Native Son</i> as "type-casting". </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/Cecil_Brown_(writer)" title="Cecil Brown (writer)">Cecil Brown</a>'s novel <i>The Life and Loves of Mr. Jiveass Nigger</i> (1969), the protagonist, George Washington, states that he is not fearful, that he is not a "Bigger Thomas". </p><p><i>Native Son</i> is mentioned in <a href="/wiki/Edward_Bunker" title="Edward Bunker">Edward Bunker</a>'s novel <i><a href="/wiki/Little_Boy_Blue_(novel)" title="Little Boy Blue (novel)">Little Boy Blue</a></i> (1981) as being read while in solitary confinement by the main character, Alex Hammond, who is said to be greatly fascinated by it. </p><p>A large section of <a href="/wiki/Percival_Everett" title="Percival Everett">Percival Everett</a>'s novel <i><a href="/wiki/Erasure_(novel)" title="Erasure (novel)">Erasure</a></i> (1999) contains a parody of <i>Native Son</i>, entitled "My Pafology". </p><p>A line from the trial speech by Bigger Thomas' lawyer, Boris Max, is woven into the plot of <a href="/wiki/Lemony_Snicket" title="Lemony Snicket">Lemony Snicket</a>'s book, <i><a href="/wiki/The_Penultimate_Peril" title="The Penultimate Peril">The Penultimate Peril</a></i> (2005): "Richard Wright, an American novelist of the realist school, asks a famous unfathomable question.... 'Who knows when some slight shock,' he asks, 'disturbing the delicate balance between social order and thirsty aspiration, shall send the skyscrapers in our cities toppling?' .. So when Mr. Wright asks his question, he might be wondering if a small event, such as a stone dropping into a pond, can cause ripples in the system of the world, and tremble the things that people want, until all this rippling and trembling brings down something enormous,..."<sup id="cite_ref-Snicket_21-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Snicket-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/Ron_Suskind" title="Ron Suskind">Ron Suskind</a>'s book, <i><a href="/wiki/A_Hope_in_the_Unseen" title="A Hope in the Unseen">A Hope in the Unseen</a></i> (1998), <i>Native Son</i> is referenced during a discussion the main character takes part in at Brown University. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Music">Music</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Music"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Bigger Thomas is mentioned in one of the lyrical hooks of "The Ritual" in <a href="/wiki/Saul_Williams" title="Saul Williams">Saul Williams</a>' <i><a href="/wiki/The_Inevitable_Rise_and_Liberation_of_NiggyTardust!" title="The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!">The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!</a></i> (2007). </p><p>The <a href="/wiki/U2" title="U2">U2</a> song "<a href="/wiki/Vertigo_(U2_song)" title="Vertigo (U2 song)">Vertigo</a>" was called "Native Son" by the band during the recording sessions for <i><a href="/wiki/How_to_Dismantle_an_Atomic_Bomb" title="How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb">How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb</a></i> (2004). The song was originally released digitally as part of <i><a href="/wiki/Unreleased_and_Rare#Unreleased_&_Rare" class="mw-redirect" title="Unreleased and Rare">Unreleased & Rare</a></i>, which debuted in <a href="/wiki/The_Complete_U2" title="The Complete U2">The Complete U2</a> (2004),<sup id="cite_ref-u2_04baby_22-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-u2_04baby-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>22<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and later in <i><a href="/wiki/Medium,_Rare_%26_Remastered" title="Medium, Rare & Remastered">U2: Medium, Rare & Remastered</a></i> (2009). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Television">Television</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Television"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>On the HBO series <i><a href="/wiki/Brave_New_Voices" title="Brave New Voices">Brave New Voices</a></i>, during the 2008 finals, the Chicago team performed a poem called "Lost Count: A Love Story". This poem addresses the youth on youth murder in Chicago and includes the phrase: "Being brown in Bigger Thomas' town".<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>23<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In the <i><a href="/wiki/Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine" title="Star Trek: Deep Space Nine">Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</a></i> episode, "<a href="/wiki/Far_Beyond_the_Stars" title="Far Beyond the Stars">Far Beyond the Stars</a>" (1998), Benny Russell cites <i>Native Son</i> as an example of a significant work of African-American literature. </p><p>HBO released <i>Native Son</i>, a film adaptation of the book, on April 6, 2019. It was directed by Rashid Johnson, starring Ashton Sanders as Bigger Thomas and Kiki Layne as Bessie Mears. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Adaptations">Adaptations</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Adaptations"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="On_stage">On stage</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: On stage"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Canada-Lee-Native-Son-1941.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Canada-Lee-Native-Son-1941.jpg/220px-Canada-Lee-Native-Son-1941.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="266" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Canada-Lee-Native-Son-1941.jpg/330px-Canada-Lee-Native-Son-1941.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Canada-Lee-Native-Son-1941.jpg/440px-Canada-Lee-Native-Son-1941.jpg 2x" data-file-width="7100" data-file-height="8590" /></a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Canada_Lee" title="Canada Lee">Canada Lee</a> as <a href="/wiki/Bigger_Thomas" title="Bigger Thomas">Bigger Thomas</a> in the original Broadway production of <i><a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(play)" title="Native Son (play)">Native Son</a></i> (1941), produced and directed by <a href="/wiki/Orson_Welles" title="Orson Welles">Orson Welles</a></figcaption></figure> <p><i>Native Son</i> was adapted for the stage by Wright and <a href="/wiki/Paul_Green_(playwright)" title="Paul Green (playwright)">Paul Green</a>, with some conflict between the authors affecting the project.<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>24<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The <a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(play)" title="Native Son (play)">initial production</a>, directed by <a href="/wiki/Orson_Welles" title="Orson Welles">Orson Welles</a> and with <a href="/wiki/Canada_Lee" title="Canada Lee">Canada Lee</a> as Bigger, opened at the <a href="/wiki/St._James_Theatre" title="St. James Theatre">St. James Theatre</a> on March 24, 1941.<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>25<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The book was newly adapted and directed again by Kent Gash (in conjunction with the Paul Green Foundation) for Intiman Theatre in <a href="/wiki/Seattle,_Washington" class="mw-redirect" title="Seattle, Washington">Seattle, Washington</a>, in 2006.<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-26"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>26<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The production, featuring <a href="/wiki/Ato_Essandoh" title="Ato Essandoh">Ato Essandoh</a> as Bigger Thomas, was a more literal translation of the book than the 1941 version and was a critical success.<sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In 2014, a stage adaptation by <a href="/w/index.php?title=Nambi_E._Kelley&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Nambi E. Kelley (page does not exist)">Nambi E. Kelley</a> played the <a href="/wiki/Court_Theatre_(Chicago)" title="Court Theatre (Chicago)">Court Theatre</a> in Chicago with Jerod Haynes starring as Bigger Thomas. Directed by Seret Scott, the show was the highest grossing straight play in the theatre's 60-year history, went on to win multiple awards, and has had celebrated productions across the country, most notably at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. The play can be purchased through Samuel French Publications.<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>28<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="In_films">In films</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: In films"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><i>Native Son</i> has been adapted into a film three times: <a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(1951_film)" title="Native Son (1951 film)">once in 1951</a>, <a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(1986_film)" title="Native Son (1986 film)">again in 1986</a> and <a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(2019_film)" title="Native Son (2019 film)">a third released in 2019</a>. The first version was made in <a href="/wiki/Argentina" title="Argentina">Argentina</a>. Wright, aged 42, played the protagonist despite being twice the age of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas. The film was not well received; Wright's performance was a particular target of critics.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Critical_reception">Critical reception</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: Critical reception"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Critical reception remains mixed given disparities in the perception of Bigger Thomas: "Is he a helpless victim of his environment? A symbol of the proletariat empowered by violence? Is the incompleteness of Bigger's personality a realistic portrayal or an act of bad faith that succumbs to racist caricature?" Audiences were also split along the divide of race and gender: they were forced to choose between sympathizing with a rapist, or condemn him and ignore that he was a victim of systemic racism.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-31"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>31<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Said Ayana Mathis of <i><a href="/wiki/The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times">The New York Times</a></i>, "I don't imagine many black people would have embraced such a grotesque portrait of themselves. […] What future, what vision is reflected in such a miserable and incompletely realized creature?"<sup id="cite_ref-MathisMishra_32-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-MathisMishra-32"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>32<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p><a href="/wiki/James_Baldwin" title="James Baldwin">James Baldwin</a> wrote, "No American Negro exists who does not have his private Bigger Thomas living in his skull." <a href="/wiki/Frantz_Fanon" title="Frantz Fanon">Frantz Fanon</a> discussed the novel in his 1952 essay "L'expérience vécue du noir" ("The Fact of Blackness"). "In the end", wrote Fanon, "Bigger Thomas acts. To put an end to his tension, he acts, he responds to the world's anticipation." The book was a successful and groundbreaking best seller. However, it was also criticized by Baldwin and others as ultimately advancing Bigger as a stereotype, and not a real character. </p><p>The novel was intended to educate its audience about the black experience in the ghetto. Thus, its intended audience was white people. Baldwin called it a "pamphlet in literary disguise," exaggerating characters with the sole purpose of carrying his message. He went on to say that Wright failed because of his "insistence that it is … categorization alone which is real and which cannot be transcended." Wright exaggerated his characters with the intention of gaining the sympathies of white people, but many of his audiences felt that it perpetuated stereotypes of African Americans with little to no benefit. One of the few successes noted was that the controversial, struggling Bigger Thomas was a strong attack on white people who wanted to be comforted by complacent black characters onstage.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (February 2021)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Analysis">Analysis</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=23" title="Edit section: Analysis"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>David Bradley wrote in <i><a href="/wiki/The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times">The New York Times</a></i> that, in his first reading of the novel, while he strongly disliked the work, "It wasn't that Bigger failed as a character, exactly" as Bradley knew of the author's intentions to make Bigger unlikeable, but Bradley felt the author did not succeed in making Bigger symbolize ordinary black men.<sup id="cite_ref-Bradley_33-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Bradley-33"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>33<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Upon reading an edition of the book with an introduction, Bradley stated "Suddenly I realized that many readers of <i>Native Son</i> had seen Bigger Thomas as a symbol".<sup id="cite_ref-Bradley_33-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Bradley-33"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>33<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Upon researching other writings from the author Bradley interpreted Bigger as Wright's autobiographical view of himself, and Bradley changed his own view to see the work as a tragedy despite Wright initially not meaning for this.<sup id="cite_ref-Bradley_33-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Bradley-33"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>33<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Clyde Taylor, an associate professor of English at <a href="/wiki/Tufts_University" title="Tufts University">Tufts University</a>, criticized Bradley's view, claiming that the analysis failed to perceive how the work "disrupted the accommodation to racism through polite conventions in American social discourse".<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-34"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>34<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=24" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1130092004">.mw-parser-output .portal-bar{font-size:88%;font-weight:bold;display:flex;justify-content:center;align-items:baseline}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-bordered{padding:0 2em;background-color:#fdfdfd;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;clear:both;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-related{font-size:100%;justify-content:flex-start}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-unbordered{padding:0 1.7em;margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-header{margin:0 1em 0 0.5em;flex:0 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href="/wiki/Portal:Illinois" title="Portal:Illinois">Illinois</a></li><li class="portal-bar-item"><span class="nowrap"><span class="mw-image-border" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Book_collection.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Book_collection.jpg/21px-Book_collection.jpg" decoding="async" width="21" height="17" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Book_collection.jpg/32px-Book_collection.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Book_collection.jpg/42px-Book_collection.jpg 2x" data-file-width="299" data-file-height="238" /></a></span> </span><a href="/wiki/Portal:Novels" title="Portal:Novels">Novels</a></li></ul></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/African-American_literature" title="African-American literature">African-American literature</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Black_Boy" title="Black Boy">Black Boy</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Richard_Wright_(author)" title="Richard Wright (author)">Richard Wright</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Footnotes">Footnotes</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=25" title="Edit section: Footnotes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns 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a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFWright2009" class="citation book cs1">Wright, Richard (16 June 2009). <i>Native Son</i>. Harper Collins. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-06-193541-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-06-193541-1"><bdi>978-0-06-193541-1</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Native+Son&rft.pub=Harper+Collins&rft.date=2009-06-16&rft.isbn=978-0-06-193541-1&rft.aulast=Wright&rft.aufirst=Richard&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMenand1992" class="citation magazine cs1">Menand, Louis (July 20, 1992). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1992/07/20/the-hammer-and-the-nail">"The Hammer and the Nail"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/The_New_Yorker" title="The New Yorker">The New Yorker</a></i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">February 22,</span> 2021</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=The+New+Yorker&rft.atitle=The+Hammer+and+the+Nail&rft.date=1992-07-20&rft.aulast=Menand&rft.aufirst=Louis&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fmagazine%2F1992%2F07%2F20%2Fthe-hammer-and-the-nail&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://onbunkerhill.org/theAstoria">"Life and Death Of and In the Astoria"</a>. <i>onbunkerhill.org</i>. 18 April 2008.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=onbunkerhill.org&rft.atitle=Life+and+Death+Of+and+In+the+Astoria&rft.date=2008-04-18&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fonbunkerhill.org%2FtheAstoria&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFTaylor2009" class="citation web cs1">Taylor, David A. (March 2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://theamericanscholar.org/literary-cubs-canceling-out-each-others-reticence/">"Literary Cubs, Canceling Out Each Other's Reticence"</a>. <i>The American Scholar</i>. Phi Beta Kappa Society<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">September 6,</span> 2011</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=The+American+Scholar&rft.atitle=Literary+Cubs%2C+Canceling+Out+Each+Other%27s+Reticence&rft.date=2009-03&rft.aulast=Taylor&rft.aufirst=David+A.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Ftheamericanscholar.org%2Fliterary-cubs-canceling-out-each-others-reticence%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081219231923/http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/s_z/r_wright/wright_life.htm">"Richard Wright's Life"</a>. <i>uiuc.edu</i>. 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"Introduction". <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/nativesonperenni00rich"><i>Native Son </i> (restored text established by The Library of America)<i><span></span></i></a>. <a href="/wiki/Harper_Perennial" title="Harper Perennial">Harper Perennial</a>. xxii. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-06-083756-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-06-083756-3"><bdi>978-0-06-083756-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Introduction&rft.btitle=Native+Son+%28restored+text+established+by+The+Library+of+America%29&rft.pages=xxii&rft.pub=Harper+Perennial&rft.date=1993&rft.isbn=978-0-06-083756-3&rft.aulast=Rampersad&rft.aufirst=Arnold&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fnativesonperenni00rich&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Miles, Jack (November 3, 1991), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-03-bk-1666-story.html">"The Lost (and Found) Turning Point of 'Native Son'"</a>, <i>Los Angeles Times."</i></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-:0-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:0_8-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_8-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=136590">"Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List"</a>, <i><a href="/wiki/Random_House,_Inc" class="mw-redirect" title="Random House, Inc">Random House, Inc</a></i>. 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Retrieved <span class="nowrap">May 20,</span> 2010</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Time&rft.atitle=All+Time+100+Novels&rft.date=2005-10-16&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.time.com%2Ftime%2F2005%2F100books%2Fthe_complete_list.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-American_Library_Association-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-American_Library_Association_10-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-American_Library_Association_10-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-American_Library_Association_10-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-American_Library_Association_10-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=136590">"Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century"</a>, <i><a href="/wiki/American_Library_Association" title="American Library Association">American Library Association</a>.</i> Retrieved April 27, 2012.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Chen,_Grace-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Chen,_Grace_11-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Chen,_Grace_11-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.publicschoolreview.com/articles/66">"High School Reading Lists: Pros and Cons of Controversial Books"</a>, <i><a href="/w/index.php?title=Public_School_Review&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Public School Review (page does not exist)">Public School Review</a></i>, December 28, 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2012.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=85714">The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Kinnamon-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Kinnamon_13-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Kinnamon_13-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Kinnamon_13-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Kinnamon_13-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Kinnamon, Keneth. "Native Son". <i>Bigger Thomas</i>. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1990, p. 67. 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Volume 15, Number 1, Spring 1963, pp. 65–75.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Pinsker, Sanford. "Spike Lee: protest, literary tradition, and the individual filmmaker". <i>The Midwest Quarterly</i> 35.1 (1993): 63+. Literature Resources from Gale. Retrieved April 17, 2011.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMaxwell1999" class="citation book cs1">Maxwell, William J (1999). <i>New Negro, Old Left: African-American Writing and Communism Between the Wars</i>. New York: <a href="/wiki/Columbia_University_Press" title="Columbia University Press">Columbia University Press</a>. p. 132.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=New+Negro%2C+Old+Left%3A+African-American+Writing+and+Communism+Between+the+Wars&rft.place=New+York&rft.pages=132&rft.pub=Columbia+University+Press&rft.date=1999&rft.aulast=Maxwell&rft.aufirst=William+J&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Snicket-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Snicket_21-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSnicket2005" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Lemony_Snicket" title="Lemony Snicket">Snicket, Lemony</a> (2005). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/penultimateperil00lemo/page/351"><i>The Penultimate Peril</i></a>. <a href="/wiki/HarperCollins" title="HarperCollins">HarperCollins</a>. pp. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/penultimateperil00lemo/page/351">351–352</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-06-441015-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-06-441015-1"><bdi>978-0-06-441015-1</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Penultimate+Peril&rft.pages=351-352&rft.pub=HarperCollins&rft.date=2005&rft.isbn=978-0-06-441015-1&rft.aulast=Snicket&rft.aufirst=Lemony&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fpenultimateperil00lemo%2Fpage%2F351&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-u2_04baby-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-u2_04baby_22-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.u2.com/news/title/download_to_die_for_1160/">"Download to Die For"</a>. <a href="/wiki/U2" title="U2">U2</a>. 25 Nov 2004. <q><span class="cs1-kern-left"></span>'But perhaps the most exciting section is titled 'Rare And Unreleased' which features not just alternative version of material from the new album like Yahweh, or the track that Vertigo was before it became Vertigo - Native Son - but early demo versions of the very first recordings U2 made, including Street Missions and The Fool.'<span class="cs1-kern-right"></span></q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Download+to+Die+For&rft.pub=U2&rft.date=2004-11-25&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.u2.com%2Fnews%2Ftitle%2Fdownload_to_die_for_1160%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-23">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cmplxsimplicity.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/love-story-to-be-jealous-of.html">"A Love Story To Be Jealous Of..."</a>, A Complex Simplicity, June 20, 2009.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-24">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=m7vUgQc_TpkC&pg=PA156">Hazel Rowley, "Backstage and Onstage: The Drama of <i>Native Son</i>"</a>, in Harold Bloom (ed.), <i>Richard Wright's "Native Son"</i>, Infobase Publishing, 2009, pp. 155–71.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=1089">"Native Son"</a>, IBDB.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-26">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20061022&slug=native22">"The Intiman Theatre tackles "Native Son," the classic novel of race and rage | The Seattle Times"</a>. <i>archive.seattletimes.com</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2022-08-23</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=archive.seattletimes.com&rft.atitle=The+Intiman+Theatre+tackles+%22Native+Son%2C%22+the+classic+novel+of+race+and+rage+%7C+The+Seattle+Times&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.seattletimes.com%2Farchive%2F%3Fdate%3D20061022%26slug%3Dnative22&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-27">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/all-over-the-map_9263.html">"All Over the Map | TheaterMania"</a>. <i>www.theatermania.com</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2022-08-23</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=www.theatermania.com&rft.atitle=All+Over+the+Map+%7C+TheaterMania&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatermania.com%2Fnew-york-city-theater%2Fnews%2Fall-over-the-map_9263.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-28">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.broadwayworld.com/chicago/article/Court-Theatre-American-Blues-Theater-Extend-NATIVE-SON-20140918">"Court Theatre & American Blues Theater Extend NATIVE SON"</a>, BroadwayWorld.com, September 18, 2014.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-29">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Chris Jones, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-ent-0922-native-son-review-20140923-story.html">"Review: 'Native Son' at Court Theatre"</a>, <i><a href="/wiki/Chicago_Tribune" title="Chicago Tribune">Chicago Tribune</a></i>, September 23, 2014.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-30">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Kyle Westphal, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.northwestchicagofilmsociety.org/2011/07/02/native-son-shot-in-buenos-aires-restored-in-dayton/">"<i>Native Son</i> – Shot in Buenos Aires, Restored in Dayton"</a>, Northwest Chicago Film Society, July 2, 2011.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-31"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-31">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"Richard Wright's Native Son." UChicago – Grad, October 2003.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-MathisMishra-32"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-MathisMishra_32-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMathisMishra2015" class="citation news cs1">Mathis, Ayana; Mishra, Pankaj (2015-02-24). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/books/review/james-baldwin-denounced-richard-wrights-native-son-as-a-protest-novel-was-he-right.html">"James Baldwin Denounced Richard Wright's 'Native Son' As a 'Protest Novel.' Was He Right?"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times">The New York Times</a></i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">February 22,</span> 2021</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=The+New+York+Times&rft.atitle=James+Baldwin+Denounced+Richard+Wright%27s+%27Native+Son%27+As+a+%27Protest+Novel.%27+Was+He+Right%3F&rft.date=2015-02-24&rft.aulast=Mathis&rft.aufirst=Ayana&rft.au=Mishra%2C+Pankaj&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2015%2F03%2F01%2Fbooks%2Freview%2Fjames-baldwin-denounced-richard-wrights-native-son-as-a-protest-novel-was-he-right.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Bradley-33"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Bradley_33-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Bradley_33-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Bradley_33-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBradley1986" class="citation web cs1">Bradley, David (1986-12-07). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/07/magazine/on-rereading-native-son.html">"ON REREADING 'NATIVE SON'<span class="cs1-kern-right"></span>"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times">The New York Times</a></i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">February 22,</span> 2021</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=The+New+York+Times&rft.atitle=ON+REREADING+%27NATIVE+SON%27&rft.date=1986-12-07&rft.aulast=Bradley&rft.aufirst=David&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F1986%2F12%2F07%2Fmagazine%2Fon-rereading-native-son.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-34"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-34">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFTaylor1987" class="citation web cs1">Taylor, Clyde (1987-01-25). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/25/magazine/l-on-rereading-native-son-659987.html">"On Rereading 'Native Son'<span class="cs1-kern-right"></span>"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times">The New York Times</a></i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">February 27,</span> 2021</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=The+New+York+Times&rft.atitle=On+Rereading+%27Native+Son%27&rft.date=1987-01-25&rft.aulast=Taylor&rft.aufirst=Clyde&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F1987%2F01%2F25%2Fmagazine%2Fl-on-rereading-native-son-659987.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=26" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><i>Native Son</i>, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-06-080977-9" title="Special:BookSources/0-06-080977-9">0-06-080977-9</a></li> <li><i>Native Son</i>, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-06-081249-4" title="Special:BookSources/0-06-081249-4">0-06-081249-4</a></li> <li><i>Native Son</i> (the restored text established by The Library of America), <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-06-083756-X" title="Special:BookSources/0-06-083756-X">0-06-083756-X</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/">Overview of <i>Native Son</i> at Sparknotes</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Further_reading">Further reading</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=27" title="Edit section: Further reading"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFWasserman1976" class="citation journal cs1">Wasserman, Jerry (Spring 1976). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/441289">"Embracing the Negative: <i>Native Son</i> and <i>Invisible Man</i>"</a>. <i>Studies in American Fiction</i>. <b>4</b> (1). <a href="/wiki/Johns_Hopkins_University_Press" title="Johns Hopkins University Press">Johns Hopkins University Press</a>: <span class="nowrap">93–</span>104. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fsaf.1976.0019">10.1353/saf.1976.0019</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:161578578">161578578</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Studies+in+American+Fiction&rft.atitle=Embracing+the+Negative%3A+Native+Son+and+Invisible+Man&rft.ssn=spring&rft.volume=4&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E93-%3C%2Fspan%3E104&rft.date=1976&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1353%2Fsaf.1976.0019&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A161578578%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.aulast=Wasserman&rft.aufirst=Jerry&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fmuse.jhu.edu%2Farticle%2F441289&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCole2000" class="citation journal cs1">Cole, Tammy (2000). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/cfcb3f8c7a70ac5deebc8099924bed12/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=40215">"THE MURDER OF BESSIE MEARS: SELF-HATRED/SELF-DESTRUCTION IN RICHARD WRIGHT'S NATIVE SON"</a>. NAAAS Conference Proceedings; Scarborough : National Association of African American Studies: <span class="nowrap">1146–</span>1155 – via <a href="/wiki/ProQuest" title="ProQuest">ProQuest</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=THE+MURDER+OF+BESSIE+MEARS%3A+SELF-HATRED%2FSELF-DESTRUCTION+IN+RICHARD+WRIGHT%27S+NATIVE+SON&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1146-%3C%2Fspan%3E1155&rft.date=2000&rft.aulast=Cole&rft.aufirst=Tammy&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fopenview%2Fcfcb3f8c7a70ac5deebc8099924bed12%2F1%3Fpq-origsite%3Dgscholar%26cbl%3D40215&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ANative+Son" class="Z3988"></span> <span class="cs1-visible-error citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Cite_journal" title="Template:Cite journal">cite journal</a>}}</code>: </span><span class="cs1-visible-error citation-comment">Cite journal requires <code class="cs1-code">|journal=</code> (<a href="/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#missing_periodical" title="Help:CS1 errors">help</a>)</span></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&action=edit&section=28" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>"The Difficult Lessons of Richard Wright's <i>Native Son</i>" (blog entry) at <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://aqua-eagle-7c7w.squarespace.com/config/">Hilary-Holladay.com</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042781/"><i>Native Son</i> (1951 film)</a> at <a href="/wiki/IMDb_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="IMDb (identifier)">IMDb</a> <span class="mw-valign-text-top noprint" typeof="mw:File/Frameless"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6980062#P345" title="Edit this at Wikidata"><img alt="Edit this at Wikidata" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png" decoding="async" width="10" height="10" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/15px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20" /></a></span></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091613/"><i>Native Son</i> (1986 film)</a> at <a href="/wiki/IMDb_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="IMDb (identifier)">IMDb</a> <span class="mw-valign-text-top noprint" typeof="mw:File/Frameless"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3898257#P345" title="Edit this at Wikidata"><img alt="Edit this at Wikidata" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png" decoding="async" width="10" height="10" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/15px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20" /></a></span></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUeeWDH6DB0"><span class="plainlinks">"Screen test for Native Son: Richard Wright as Bigger Thomas"</span></a> on <a href="/wiki/YouTube_video_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="YouTube video (identifier)">YouTube</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/american-icons-native-son-2">Discussion of Native Son on Studio 360</a>, aired September 6, 2013</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_1981-08-11_10_32/page/n2/mode/1up">Article on attempted censorship of the book in North Adams, Massachusetts</a></li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul 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this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Richard_Wright&#039;s_Native_Son_(1940)89" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Richard_Wright_(author)" title="Richard Wright (author)">Richard Wright</a>'s <i><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Native Son</a></i> (1940)</div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Film</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(1951_film)" title="Native Son (1951 film)">Native Son</a></i> (1951)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(1986_film)" title="Native Son (1986 film)">Native Son</a></i> (1986)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(2019_film)" title="Native Son (2019 film)">Native Son</a></i> (2019)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Stage</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Native_Son_(play)" title="Native Son (play)">Native Son</a></i> (1941 play)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Characters</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Bigger_Thomas" title="Bigger Thomas">Bigger Thomas</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?useformat=desktop&type=1x1&usesul3=0" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&oldid=1275745109">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Native_Son&oldid=1275745109</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" 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