Richard Wright

John Reilly

From the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It might have been for petty crime; by chance, it was for murder and rape. He was a "nigger" in a white manS world, and his crimes horrified the whole of Chicago. Caught up by forces he could neither understand nor control, Bigger found a sense of freedom and identity in acts of violence. 

NATIVE SON has captured, as no other novel has, the powerful emotions and suffering, the frustrations and yearnings, the restlessness and hysteria, of all the Bigger Thomases. Richard Wright's gripping novel has become a classic; it is dramatic, unsentimental, and uncompromisingly realistic.
--back cover

Native Son

Caryl Phillips

'The most important and celebrated novel of Negro life to have appeared in America' - James Baldwin Gripping and furious, Native Son follows Bigger Thomas, a young black man who is trapped in a life of poverty in the slums of Chicago. Unwittingly involved in a wealthy woman's death, he is hunted relentlessly, baited by prejudiced officials, charged with murder and driven to acknowledge a strange pride in his crime. Native Son shocked readers on its first publication in 1940 and went on to make Richard Wright the first bestselling black writer in America.

Meagan Fischer 

I read this a long time ago when I was probably too young for it, but I was a precocious reader. It definitely brought some Big Ideas into my awareness, although there's many things I do not remember, having read it so long ago. It might be worth a re-read at some point.

Sam O'Leary

Written in 1940 although feels like it could have been written yesterday. 
It was gripping and extremely stressful at times but ultimately well worth the read.

Native Son CD

Melody Izard

This opens with the cozy closeness of a family who does not have much materially – but they have each other. Well – that’s what I mistakenly thought. The mom wanted her older son, Bigger, to take care of something that she heard scratching in the wall. Ok – so it turned out to be a rat. A very big rat. And Bigger killed it with one of their few cooking utensils: an iron skillet. He really had to bash it. Blam! Blam! Blam! There was a bloody mess. Then he picked it up and shook it in his little sister’s face. But still – I was hanging on to the charm of life during the depression when you didn’t have much – but you sure had your family. Bigger’s mom got really mad at Bigger for dangling the rat in Vera’s face. She basically called him a loser destined to wind up sliding down a fast path to hell. A bit harsh I thought. Wasn’t that just the kind of shenanigans older boys might do to their younger sister? But as you read – the slicky slidy path comes more into focus. Bigger is going down – and in a big way. Life ain’t charming and Bigger sure isn’t a happy-go-lucky boy just a little down on his luck.

Daryl Houston

Andrea Badgley

Set in Chicago, Illinois in the 1930s, Native Son is not a sugar-coated tale. It is a tale of a black man trapped by rules that pin him down, pen him in, force him to live in a certain (rat-infested) part of the city, make him only have certain kinds of (subservient) jobs, instill fear in him in every interaction in the wold of whites, and kill his ambitions (to be a pilot) because in the world he lives in, he will never realize those dreams.

Native Son is the story of crime and criminals, and specifically, the crimes of Bigger Thomas, who, because he is a black man, is deemed a criminal before he commits his first crime. In Native Son, Bigger Thomas is not a hero. He is not likable. He commits atrocious acts, knowingly, and without remorse. But what’s fascinating about Native Son is the psychology of those crimes. The genius in Native Son is Wright’s ability to get us inside the mind and emotions of a poor black man who turns to crime because it is the only way he can truly be liberated — it is the only way he has control over his own life. Bigger is not admirable. The reader is not on his side. But he represents something bigger (ha!): what happens to humans when they are not free.

Carla Aquino

Just wow.!!! I know this book must have been controversial when it came out in 1940. So utterly truthful and still relevant in today’s society. I’ve felt some of the things Bigger felt in one point or another in my life. When you grow up a minority and witness oppression and poverty amongst your people it makes you think. 
When I was little I once told my mom that I wanted to live in a white neighborhood when I grew up. And, I wondered why Blacks and Latinos didn’t live in those neighborhoods. Why did we have to live in cramped neighborhoods while they get nice lawns and white picket fences. My parents always taught be me to aware of the oppressor. My dad told me that even though I’m light and could pass for a white person that they would know I wasn’t one of them and they would never let me get ahead, so I had to grab hold of what I wanted and fight for it. I didn’t really understand that when I was younger or even as a young adult. It wasn’t until I was in my mid 20’s that I understood what my dad told me. This book made me cry and really stirred up some feelings.

Janet Doré

This is not the story of an innocent black man who was wrongly accused. It is the story of Bigger Thomas, an angry and (rightfully) disillusioned 20 year old black man in 1930s Chicago. 

The first lesson I learned reading this book was not to read the lengthy intros inserted into some classic books—they are packed with spoiler alerts! So, before I even read the first line, not only did I know that Bigger Thomas was not going to be a likable character, I knew what was in store for him. I (very much) prefer to find this out on my own, so no more intros for me!

One of the central messages of this incredibly powerful story was first introduced to me in the movie "The Streets of Compton." Native Son filled in the gaps so it's fully solidified now—when powerful humans are disenfranchised, disabled and dehumanized, they will find a way to exercise that power and fight the enemy. No...matter...what...color...their...skin...is. When any form of energy isn't allowed to be expressed, it simply gets transformed. 

Despite Bigger Thomas being an unlikable character on the surface, I found him extremely sympathetic and relatable. I felt for him, I understood him and I cried for him. 

There was another equally powerful message that really hit home for me. After recently creating an extensive reading list of books on racism on my blog, I got a testy email from a black woman interpreting something I had intentionally left out (for privacy reason) as yet another example of white supremacy. I didn't get it. Now, I do. Richard Wright does a brilliant job of conveying that the empathy, kindness and efforts of white individuals is simply not enough to fix the centuries-long insidious damage that racism has caused. It will take major systemic changes and a VERY long time before people of color are not suspicious of the actions of every white person, no matter their stance on racism. 

The icing at the end of this cake was a lengthy essay by Richard Wright about how Bigger Thomas was born and the processes he went through in writing it. Says Richard...

"I had written a book of short stories which was published under the title of Uncle Tom’s Children. When the reviews of that book began to appear, I realized that I made an awfully naïve mistake. I found that I had written a book which even bankers' daughters could read and weep over and feel good about. I swore to myself that if I ever wrote another book, no one would weep over it; that it would be so hard and deep that they would have to face it without the consolation of tears. It was this that made me get to work in dead earnest."

If you're on a mission to be more educated about the issue of racism, this is a MUST read. Just save the intros for the end!

Native Son

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