The Native Son Literary Analysis

The Native Son “Was what he had heard about rich white people really true? Was he going to work for people like you saw in the movies…”. In book one Bigger sits in a movie and imagines what it will be like when he does to work for Mr. Dalton. Bigger has no relationship or understanding of white people except for what he sees in movies. Same goes for how white people see blacks, as savages. Richard Wright published the book Native Son in 1940 with the purpose of expressing the continuous oppression of blacks during that time period. He also used a host of literary devices to create a sense of fate and free will. He also creates a sense of fear and race. In the beginning of the book we are introduced to Biggers’ family and welcomed by a rat. At this point Bigger and his family are poor and living off of government assisting but Bigger is given the opportunity to get a job. This is where fate and free will kicks in. Bigger is poor by fate but he has the free will to take this job. Wright uses the rat to symbolize the fate of blacks and he also uses it to symbolize Bigger. The rat enters Biggers’ apartment is eventually killed. Bigger comes into the Daltons’ home and is ultimately killed. Bigger also introduces us to his friends Gus, J.H., and blank. The ‘gang’ and Bigger often commit petty crimes to bring in extra money. Bigger …show more content…
James Baldwin an admirer of Wright was a notable critic of Wright. Baldwin didn’t like that fact that Wright portrayed Bigger as a sexual and physical threat to white women. He felt that this contributed to the stereotype that African American men where sex-obsessed and violent. But he also felt that the novel did a good job of show how unjust the social system is. Wright uses literary devices to create these dramatic changes throughout the novel and create a vivid image that the reader could clearly