Native Son (Summary)

A detailed Summary of Native Son (Summary)

In the novel Native Son the author, Richard Wright, conveys the attitudes and the feelings of the characters very effectively. The characters actions represent their personality and their approach and view of life. This concept is best demonstrated throught the character traits of the main character Bigger Thomas. Therefore Bigger's actions are justified by the emotions that stem from his view upon life and society. Brought up in a poor black community, Bigger has been exposed to such ideas of white supremacy because blacks were denied opportunities of advancement and the opportunity to prove themselves intelligent and capable of becoming more than survants. This surfaces in the novel when Giffer and his friend Gus watch a sky writing plane. "I could fly a plane if I had the chance," Bigger said with Gus replying, "If you wasn't black and if you had some money and if they'd let you go to that aviation school, you could fly a plane." During this conversation the two boys imply the impossibility of achievement in a world dominated by whites. Then later Bigger responds by

saying, "Maybe they right in not wanting us to fly, 'cause it I took a plane up I'd take a couple bombs along and drop'em sure as hell..." By saying this Bigger reflects the feeling that he feels frustrated and angry with the whites for how they cna simply deny them certain opportunities. This also proves something of hes attitude and his emotions toward white society, in that he knows the boundaries set between the race of whites and blacks. Fear represents an even larger factor in the definition of his personality in the instance of the murder of the Dalton's Daughter Mary. Early on when he meets Mary he expresses he hate for her as a result of Mary and her friend Jan treating him like an equal. Mary and Jan are trying to convince Bigger to come in and eat with them, but Bigger is puzzled by their behavior and refuses only to be confronted with more pressure from Mary and Jan. "Bigger felt trapped. Oh goddamn! He saw in a flash that he could have made all of this very easy if he had simply acted from the beginning as if they were doing nothing unusual. But he didn't

Some common words found in the essay are:
Bigger Gus, Dalton Mary's, Richard Wright, Jan Bigger, Thomas Bigger's, Mary Jan, Daughter Mary, Native Son, richard wright, view life, murder mary, fly plane, , mary jan,

Approximate Word count = 730
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Native Son (Summary)

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