Individualism In Richard Wright's Native Son

Richard Wright once said that “all literature is protest.” Believing that books are weapons and through writing anyone can create whatever their desires: people, places, objects, events, or a way to get others to understand a piece of information of his or her choice. Raised in poverty and barely educated in rural Arkansas and Mississippi, Richard Wright grew up in a world of deficiency and hopelessness. Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son is one of the best descriptions of the lives of African American community in 1930’s. It was this institutional racism, which prohibited Bigger to feel a sense of identity or gain feelings of individualism. The novel portrays the struggle one black man faces while trying to live in a segregated society, which …show more content…
He was set up to fail from the beginning of his life in one way or another. It is not so hard to conceive that a man could commit horrible crimes when he was forced to grow up in a life situation which left him option less. Like his fellow African American men was given a choice by the white society. He could be miserable and work or be miserable and not work. Among these options there was little room for happiness, a sense of hope or the opportunity to better his situation in life. Even if he did work no matter how hard he worked he could never have moved out of his neighborhood because African Americans weren't allowed to move anywhere else. Throughout this novel, Wright illustrates the ways in which blindness can cause humans to be ignorant when it comes to life. Simply saying blindness is a little vague though. Blindness is often associated with not being able to physically see; however, in the Native Son it symbolizes the inability to understand reality. It can be broken down into two components: "ability to see and "willingness to see. All of the characters blind themselves one way or another so that they do not have to face life's realities. His material spat in the face of indifference, forcing readers to acknowledge the racist underside of the American dream. Showing the social and economic inequities that were imposed in the 30's in hope of making a …show more content…
According to Rowley “it was painful for Wright that almost no one understood why he wanted to leave. He was tired of the daily insults and petty humiliations…and…living on the edge of his nerves. And needed to be free if he were going to expand...and…wanted to stretch himself to the limits. He didn't want to be confined to writing about black experience” (Rowley). He continued to write novels, however, “many American critics claim that living abroad was bad for his writing; it cuts him off from the reality of contemporary America, cut him off from his roots and from the anger that fueled his writing” (Rowley). His naturalistic fiction no longer had the emotion it once