Native Son – A Review

While doing a degree that focuses on issues of race, gender, and class, you often find literature that impacts on you, often in a way you cannot explain, or fathom. Well, recently I read Native Son, by Richard Wright, not only did I fall in love with this novel, and I did cry when I read it, it was one of the novels that leaves a lasting legacy.

The novel is a protest novel, and it focuses a black man in Chicago, named Bigger. Without ruining too much of the plot, as it is a fantastic read (and available in the library), the novel follows Bigger throughout his life, from his killing of a white woman, to his run with the Communist Party, to his court trial. The novel covers many contemporary issues, (despite being written in 1940) mainly of race, and race relations in America. For me, this novel was so hard hitting, because despite the era this was written, many of the race tensions resonate today. All you need to do is hear how Trump talks about Latino’s, Mexican’s, and Muslims, to see how divided America is with race. The unjustifiable killings of unarmed black men in American by police officers, the fact that black on black murders more often than not go solved. In Native Son Bigger does not get trialled for a black woman’s murder, the police only use her dead body to prove what a terrible human he is. The police use unnecessary force on Bigger, they allow in the court room people to hit him. Bigger is thoroughly treated as inhuman, he’s described as an ape, a beast, and his trial reflects that of a man named Robert Nixon, a black man from American, and executed in Chicago in 1939 for multiple crimes. The press ripped Nixon to shreds in the press, using racial derogatory language to describe him.

These presentations of Nixon are reflected in Native Son, a rather heart breaking reality, that just 70 years ago, this was acceptable, and how in the US race tensions are still prevalent.

Another element of the book follows Jan a Communist Party member, the US has never had positive relationships with Communism, there was the Bay of Pigs Invasion against Cuba, there dealings in Columbia with communist rebels, Venezuela, and more recently, The USSR, China, and Guatemala. Communism remains an issue for America, they believe that once communism takes hold it will spread until everywhere becomes a communist state, and because of this, they keep invading places. At Bigger’s trial, he is represented by a Jewish man, Max, who is also a communist, and in the court he gets a lot of hate for these two facts. His identity as a Jewish man is brought up, with several racial slurs aimed at him. Max is one of my favourite characters in this novel, his hard hitting speech at Bigger’s trial, is one of the most gripping and heart breaking things I’ve read so far this year.