Top 30 Modern Classics - XXVII

Native Son

Richard Wright

Native Son , written by African American author Richard Wright, was published in 1940.

Bigger Thomas is a 20 year old black American lives in poverty in Chicago.

Bigger Thomas lives in a small room with his brother Buddy, his sister Vera, and their mother.

Bigger hates Whites. H along with his friends, Gus, GH and Jack, plan to rob whites. However the plan does not materialise because of fear, which none of them wants to admit.

Bigger meets a rich white, Mr Dalton, for a job which he gets. Bigger finds himself uncomfortable in that environment although the Daltons are kind to him. He meets Mary, Mr Dalton's daughter, who has leftist leanings. Mary dies not hesitate in calling her father a Capitalist and advises Bigger to join an Union.

Mary introduces Bigger to her leftist boyfriend, Jan. They all have dinner together at a diner inhabited by the blacks. At the diner, they buy a bottle of rum. Bigger drive.after drinking rum. On coming back home, Bigger carries Mary's listless body to her room. On the way Bigger can not resist the temptation of kissing Mary.

Just then, the bedroom door opens, and the blind Mrs. Dalton enters. In the anxiety of the moment, Bigger could not reason. To ensure that Mrs Dalton does not become aware of their presence in the bedroom, Bigger presses a pillow on Mary's face. However Mrs. Dalton smells the alcohol, scolds Mary and leaves. Mary dies due to suffocation. To prove to the world that Mary has left Chicago, Bigger burns her body in the house furnace.

Mr. Dalton calls for the services of a private detective, Britten. Bigger, on being interrogated by Britten, tells the events in a way that puts suspicion on Jan. Jan is surprised by Bigger's story but offers him help.

Bigger, in an effort to divert the investigation, slips a kidnapping note under the front door of Mr Dalton's  to project that Mary has been kidnapped. The investigation is taken over by the police. Journalists also crowd the house. One of the journalists finds the remains of Mary's bones and an earring inside the furnace. Bigger runs away.  

Bigger goes to his girlfriend, Bessie, and tells her the whole story. Bessie, realising the danger Bigger is in, runs away with Bigger and take shelter in an abandoned building. there Bigger rapes Bessie. Bigger decided to kill Bessie in her sleep . He hits her on the head with a brick and throws her in an air shaft.

Bigger runs through the city. Eventually the police catch him. Bigger is despised by both, white and black, communities.

During his first few days in prison, Bigger does not eat, drink, or talk to anyone. Jan and another leftist lawyer, Max come to his help and fight his case in the court. Max makes the case that there is no escape from this destiny for his client or any other black American because of the social norms that formed their beliefs. Max helps. Max helps Bigger come to terms with his perceptions of family, whites and the world in general.Then Jan comes to visit him. Bigger is found guilty in front of the court and sentenced to death for murder.

Namaste

Prabir