Native Son by Richard Wright

Set in Chicago in the 1930's, a young black man's fear and perceived oppression, cause him to make life-altering decisions.

This book contains violence; inflammatory racial commentary; controversial social commentary; sexual activities; sexual nudity; profanity/derogatory terms; and alcohol use

Illustrates the destructive nature of racism, oppression and inequality on oneself and society

This book is one that should be read by everyone, but perhaps not until college. This book was written in 1940. That’s significant because it provides a perspective on how life was like for many prior to the Civil Rights Movement. The books informs the reader about the dangers of having unequal justice and other laws. Like holding a ball under the water, it will eventually explode. That’s the cautionary tale this book tells.

This book does NOT preach CRT. The time period it was written and it’s setting all matter. It doesn’t preach hate of white people either. It speaks about the harms to oneself and others because of inequality and resultant oppression. I will explain further below by providing a more thorough summary of the book below.

If you don’t want the book spoiled…don’t read ahead…

It’s a story of a twenty-year-old black man who hasn’t really done anything with his life. For money, he terrorizes his fellow neighbors and robs the local stores. He and his friends decide they are going to try to rob a white-owned store but they are more afraid because the police take crimes against white people more seriously. They end up not going through with it because the main character, Bigger is really fearful but portrays his fear in increased bravado and acts like he’s going to kill one of his friends just before they attempt the robbery.

After that, Bigger gets a job as a chauffer for a rich white family who are “friendly to negros.” The first night, he is driving the family’s college-age daughter around and she meets up with her boyfriend who is a communist. They try to show Bigger that they are friendly to black people by taking him out to eat and get drinks. Everyone is drunk, but the girl and her boyfriend are sloppy drunk.

Bigger gets everyone home. He takes the girl upstairs to her room and gets her into her bed. He’s admiring her body while she’s passed out. He even touches her breast (inexplicit detail in it). She begins to make noises while passed out. He hears her blind grandmother calling for her. He gets scared because he’s certain that as a black man in a room with a white girl, he will be accused of raping her and therefore killed. He tries to silence the girl by putting a pillow over her face. She gets louder and he presses harder on the pillow. He ends up suffocating her. He gets even more fearful because he killed a white woman and thinks no one would understand and would just send him to the electric chair because he’s black. He chops her up and throws her body in the furnace. He then makes up a story that she may be missing because she may have been kidnapped.