The Importance Of Max The Ideal In Arthur Miller's Native Son

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With Wright becoming more involved in his writing, he began to formulate ideas of bridging the chasm between whites and blacks. This idea was promoted in the Communist party, and as a result, Wright was drawn to Communist ideals. Wallach states, “He was inspired by certain elements of their message and dared believe in the possibility of interracial cooperation, even though his years in the Jim Crow South had shown him little evidence that such a thing could be possible” (52). With this attraction to an interracial world, Wright was urged by fellow writers to join the political party, and upon doing so, the Communists gave him a platform to publish his writing. This opportunity to promote interracial relations through his love of writing attracted …show more content…
In Native Son, Wright describes, “Max had given him [Bigger] the faith that at bottom all men lived as he lived and felt as he felt” (536). Max is the first man to offer this thought to Bigger, and in doing so, he represents ties between Wright and the John Reed Club through their similar ideas. Both Wright and the Communist vied for an interracial community, and through Max, this ideal was introduced to Bigger. Miller also states that “Max’s probing questions awaken Bigger to a sense of his own reality which he has not experienced before” (113). Like Bigger, Wright was introduced to people who wanted to build the same bridge to connect the divided races. In both situations, Wright and Bigger were both surprised and grateful for the Communists’ respectful behavior towards them, which resulted in the Communist party having a large impact on both of their lives. For Bigger, he was finally able to see that all races are comprised of humans who experience the same emotions, thoughts, and ambitions, and are merely divided by their skin color. As for Wright, they had given him a foundation to start his career as a writer, and they ultimately influenced his later works as

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