Native Son
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Product Description
Not regularly is a black man the protagonist in American literature, but in Native Son, there is fiery, dramatic conflict in the tale of Larger Thomas, the man who wages a war between himself and the outside white world. Wright has agreed us a dramatic and impassioned look at life in the oppressed Black America.Amazon.com Review
Larger Thomas is doomed, trapped in a downward spiral that will lead to arrest, prison, or death, driven by despair, frustration, poverty, and incomprehension. As a young black man in the Chicago of the ’30s, he has no way out of the walls of poverty and racism that surround him, and after he murders a young white woman in a moment of panic, these walls start to close in. There is no help for him–not from his hapless family tree; not from liberal do-gooders or from his well-meaning yet naive friend Jan; certainly not from the police, prosecutors, or judges. Larger is debased, aggressive, treacherous, and a violent criminal. As such, he has no aver upon our compassion or sympathy. And yet…
A more compelling tale than Native Son has not been written in the 20th century by an American writer. That is not to say that Richard Wright made a novel free of flaws, but that he wrote the first novel that successfully told the most painful and unvarnished truth about American social and class relations. As Irving Howe asserted in 1963, “The day Native Son appeared, American culture was changed forever. It made impossible a repetition of the ancient lies [and] brought out into the open, as no one ever had before, the hatred, dread and violence that have crippled and may yet ruin our culture.”
Additional books had all ears on the experience of growing up black in America–including Wright’s own highly successful Uncle Tom’s Children, a collection of five tales that all ears on the victimization of blacks who transgressed the code of racial segregation. But they suffered from what he saw as a kind of lyrical idealism, setting up sympathetic black characters in oppressive situations and evoking the reader’s pity. In Native Son, Wright was aiming at something more. In Larger, he made a character so hurt by racism and poverty, with dreams so perverted, and with human sensibilities so eroded, that he has no aver on the reader’s compassion:
“I didn’t want to kill,” Larger shouted. “But what I killed for, I am! It must’ve been pretty deep in me to make me kill! I must have felt it dreadful hard to murder…. What I killed for must’ve been excellent!” Larger’s voice was full of hyperactive anguish. “It must have been excellent! When a man kills, it’s for something… I didn’t know I was really alive in this world until I felt things hard enough to kill for ‘em. It’s the truth…”
Wright’s genius was that, in preventing us from feeling pity for Larger, he forced us to confront the hopelessness, misery, and injustice of the society that gave birth to him. –Andrew Himes
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Native Son is a book that I was required to read for school. I had high hopes for the book , but they were dashed as I read on. The writing style is extremely sub-par. Wright struggles to get his point across succinctly. The book is characterized by muddled and repetitive narrative. I kept trying to like the character of Larger throughout the novel, but I was unable to do so. His apparent lack of remorse for his actions is apalling. The argument that his dread and society is the cause of his murders can only apply to his murder of Mary Dalton. His willingness to profit from the murder and sense of pride about it afterword is sick. I see no literary value in this book. We read it because in public schools today we are forced to read literature about how America is racist towards blacks every year. Schools try to jam the theme of racism against blacks down our throats every year in an effort to “emotionally go us” and make us feel guilty for something that occurred long before we were born. I assure you that this book would not have achieved the title “classic” if the leader was white. In America we snub the plight of additional ethnic groups and focus only on the cause of the African American. I get the point we studied it enough already.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Native son was a excellent book that showed the life back in the time of the civil war which is a time period which i reflect is very appealing. I read this book for school and if i did not have to read it i would have probably never gave it a chance. I did feel that it was dull especially when there was a 20 page closing statement. That i felt was dull. Overall, it was not the worst book i have ever read but i would probably never read it again.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
I was forced to read this in high school and it was dreadful. The characters behave idiotically as if they have no common sense. Liberals including my literature teacher like this book because of of the pro-communist and “blame the white man” views. I’m not white, and I still establish it impossible to tell to Larger. Young adults would delight in books more if they weren’t forced to read terrible novels like this.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
well.. a name who murders anyone..out of panic either (which is a really stupid, irrational reason) does not deserve any sympathy. I felt the book was mainly about black people hating white people..as usual. now, tell me anyone….if there was a book about a white person facing discrimination in Africa..or being killed because stones are thrown at them, then everyone would look down on them. poorly written.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
This book native son was a very suspensful book. Yeah that was about it, This book was writen by an leader with some obviously serious race issues. I give this book two stars, one because it was well written, and the second because it kept me on the edge of my seat with suspense. Additional than that this book was a total disgust to me, and I am half black, I do not recomend this book, Richard Wright is a pig racist, I do not know why there has to be people like him in this world. I hope nobody takes offence to this articl but its just that I despise it when people choose to read a book, because of the constant race bashing in them. If people continue to read books like this there will never be peace among races, hell we might as well start killing eachother now.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5