I think we all have one author whose words align closely to our own perceptions. It’s inspiring to think such a person could have the courage and tenacity to construct a work of fiction that portrays an idea that is so contentious to the mainstream world, even if it makes the comfortable disturbed. That being said, last month, I read the most gut-wrenching, twisted, mind-provoking, and intuitive novel I’ve ever read in my eighteen and a half years: Native Son by Richard Wright.
Richard Wright was among the most prominent, intellectual, and outspoken African American authors of the twentieth century. Native Son was published in 1940, and of course, a work dealing with race relations in that time, caused quite the disturbance. Even today this book still creates discomfort not only among the black population–as it depicts the negative stereotype of a brute Negro character who inevitably murders two innocent characters–but between blacks and whites alike. Why? Just like the opening page of the novel begins with the sound of an alarm, Mr. Wright wants America to wake up concerning racism.
The book was ahead of it’s time, and even today the hypocritical violent acts of the main character, Bigger Thomas, are mind boggling and difficult to decipher. It left me breathless and wanting more on the last page.
What is so intriguing about this work of fiction is that Mr. Wright plants Bigger, a twenty-year-old black boy from the deep South of Mississippi, in the extremely cold-hearted racially segregated city of Chicago in the 1930s. The South Side (What the narrator refers to as the Black Belt) is comprised of the struggling working class of African Americans who are unable to escape the exploitation of the racial/social caste system that was created by the white race in power.
Bigger has become a product of this environment, otherwise known as the native son. But he is more than just the violent, masculine, ape-like caricature white America has depicted of black males for over a century. What lies beneath that one-dimensional image is a lost, confused, and insecure young boy who desperately longs for the same opportunities known to his white counterparts but unavailable to him because he is black.
Through the entire book he struggles to find his meaning on earth, other than being a second-class citizen and living subordinate to white power.
The book explores the idea of what it means to be blind, both physically and metaphorically. Essentially, Mr. Wright argues that most of America is blind to the racial inequality, and the dismal lack of sympathy white Americans have, as well as blacks–however subtle or overt they may be.
It will cause you to question the social norms and structures in American society that were created to sustain white supremacy. It challenges why public institutions function the way they do, why racism exists, who started and perpetuates these beliefs, why is there such animosity and discomfort regarding those different than us just by the pigmentation of our skin, and why have African Americans like myself grown accustomed to this lifestyle?
This novel has motivated me to keep fighting, keep pushing for change regarding race relations, and to educate those around me to not be blind. We don’t live in a post-racial America; Not in Richard Wright’s time, and not in ours. We must stay awake and keep our eyes open, for racism–along with prejudice and stereotypes–is a sly, cunning belief system that gnaws underneath the surface of our everyday lives.
