(outside of Natchez) on a plantation where his illiterate father was a sharecropper. Wright was raised by his relatives at by the age of 17, he was ready to get out into the world. He headed into Memphis, Tennessee (his relatives lived right outside the city) where he worked odd jobs and educated himself. He read array of novels as he grew up and his education helped him realize the unjust ways of segregation.

In 1927, Wright moved to Chicago after the peak of the Harlem Renaissance (a pivotal time for African Americans to express themselves through music, writings, and art). In Chicago, he worked as a postal worker, but was laid off with the depression. Wright then joined the Federal Writers Project, a state sponsored guild for authors, in which Wright composed his first novel, Uncle Tom's Children. During this time, Wright joined the Communist party, which was often carried out into his writings. By 1939, Wright had moved to New York City and kept ties with the party for only a few more years. He married in 1941, and had left the communist party by 1944.

During World War II, Wright lectured around New York. With the end of the War, Wright moved t

Reverend Hammond - As the pastor of Bigger's mother's church, he comes to visit Bigger to try to lead him towards Christ. Bigger acts very inactive to the pastor, but accepts the cross he gives to him. The cross, however, becomes symbolic when he sees a Ku Klux Klan mob burning a cross to frighten him, and he rejects the cross.

Mrs. Dalton - Wife of Mr. Dalton, went blind during their marriage. Mary is their only child.

the African Americans and Wright hoped that a leader for a civil rights movement would come forward. The central themes of the novel include racial injustice and social immorality. As the African Americans are kept on the 'black belt', or forced to live in South-side Chicago, we are slowly introduced to the methods the white businessman uses to keep African American suppressed. Patronizing is a trait often innate in the white man, for example, although Mr. Dalton will not rent to African Americans in certain areas of Chicago, he feels guilty so he gives the African American youth community trivial items such as Ping-Pong tables.

The allusions Wright uses represent the time and what outside forces encourage the daily lives of Chicago society. As Bigger and Gus pretend they are different people in a different time, they pretend to be J.P. Morgan and the President, "I want you to sell twenty thousand shares of U.S. Steel in the market this morning (Wright 18)." Bigger and Gus show us the desires of men of their position and how they can only pretend to ever be important. "You've read about them Scottsboro boys (Wright 75)?", is an allusion to an important court case of the time (which Richard Wright was a lawyer for) to remind us of the racial tensions of the time. Also to show the time period and to show the fear of Communism, it is mentioned: "..Bruno Hauptmann, the one who snatched the Lindy baby, did it for the Nazis (Wright 193)." To tell this story, Wright used third person omnison point of view, where the narrator is not directly involved with the story but knows everyone's inner thoughts, or more particularly, that of the main character.

Buddy Thomas - is Bigger's younger brother. Buddy tends to sit back in the shadows and vision what life could be like without doing much. He envious of Bigger's job yet is willing to "kill" all the people who hurt Bigger. He tends to have a conformist sense about him because he spends most of his time agreeing with what Bigger says and simply trying to protect him, like when Bigger dropped a large sum of money and Buddy did not tell.

9. "Your Honor, remember that men can starve from a lack of self-realization as

3. The story of Native Son takes place in Chicago in the 1930's. The main character, Bigger Thomas, lives in what is known as the 'Black Belt', or the South-side of Chicago, where all African Americans are basically "belted off" and not allowed to live or rent anywhere else in the city. This is the time of the countrywide (as well as worldwide) economic depression, so it's hard for most African Americans to find good work, simply just to pay rent. This is representative of the way real estate agents of the time would refuse to rent to blacks in other neighborhoods than a confined area, housing shortages would arise, allowing landlords to charge high prices. Blacks had little or no opportunity for advancement or education in this time, they simply lived day to day with no understood purpose.

Vera Thomas - Vera is Bigger's younger sister, who is ruled by her emotions.

o France in 1947 where he continued to write his novels, which often contained themes of racism, poverty, and political matters. His books were often partly based on his life and what he had observed in his lifetime. Wright was the first African American author to be featured in the "Book of the Month Club" for his novel Native Son. In 1995, all of Wright's books were reissued in 1995 in their original context after being censored by publishers for the explicit nature of his nov

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Approximate Word count = 4279
Approximate Pages = 17 (250 words per page double spaced)