Decisions Exposed In Richard Wright's 'Native Son'

Native Son There are many aspects in our lives that determine the way one acts. In the novel Native Son by Richard Wright, the author describes the poor living conditions Bigger had to go through, the segregation happening and the difficulties he had to go through because of his race. Many African men get stereotyped as criminals, so everywhere he went he was scared of being judged. After a while he stopped caring and started doing criminal things like planning to rob stores with his friends. All the decisions he made were based on the way he was raised, the society he grew up in, and the way he saw people of a higher class. In Bigger Thomas’ case, he acted that way because of his social conditions. Bigger came from a poor family, almost no education, and did not have a job. Because he did not have a lot in his life, he did not care whether his actions affected others. His mother pushed him to work at a wealthier family’s home, but in doing so he felt insecure. He …show more content…
He saw how African Americans were discriminated. So in seeing that as a young person, he grew up fearing Americans. whenever he would be in a place where Americans where, he felt fear(Wright). Once he started working, he felt ate toward the Americans because of the lifestyle he had to live through and what they make him go through. Because of this, Bigger accidently kills her. He fears Americans because they control what the African Americans can and can't do. Growing up Bigger saw how if a person from his race did a crime, automatically post it on the news and give them a really long sentence. When an American commited a crime, the authority really didn't give them a sentence that they needed to get. Equal punishment is not granted because Americans are more respected than African Americans. Everyone sees African Americans as criminals just because of their race. Even today people still see the same thing