Native Son (Abridged) Rating :
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #3938 in Books
- Published on: 2003-09-30
- Released on: 2003-09-30
- Original language:
English - Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 1.03" h x
5.40" w x
8.02" l,
.75 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 398 pages
Product Description
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright's novel is just as powerful today as when it was written -- in its reflection of poverty and hopelessness, and what it means to be black in America.
This abridged edition includes an introduction, "How Bigger Was Born," by the author, as well as an afterword by John Reilly.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
There are still resonances of the Bigger Thomas in American society
By Herbert L Calhoun
This is one of Wright's most important novels. It tells the story of the short life of Bigger Thomas, perhaps as an allegorical prototype of the typical life of a Black Chicagoan, or indeed maybe the archetype for all young black men in America, where the forces of society press upon them to live fast and die young, or live long and end up in prison or be ignored and live a social death on the outer margins of American life.Bigger seemed to have had no redeeming qualities, and never showed any remorse, for anything he did. He had absolutely nothing going for him but bottomless hatred and bitterness towards whites and an innate ability to observe and size them up. A great deal of his life and thoughts were spent playing a double game: pretending to befriend them at the same time that he was watching their every move and stalking them as if they were prey.One of Wright's gifts is that he allows the reader to be "ear witness" to Bigger's innermost thoughts. The dialogue is told from the point of view of what is going on in Bigger's head. He is constantly muttering his hatred and distrust of whites, both of which border on the pathological and continue increasing until they reach a crescendo, when an explosion seems imminent even when there were no obvious reasons for one. This passion for hatred and distrust eventually does spill over and comes to an ignominious climax, when Bigger rapes a white girl who has befriended him and as he is about to be caught in a her bedroom, he spares himself the need to explain or be caught red-handed, by killing her.The story then switches to his trial and the relationship between Bigger and his Socialist lawyer, who himself tries to use the trial to make a point about the injustice in American society, remaining totally unaware that Bigger's hatred for whites also extends to him as well.Native Son is obviously as much an ideological as a literary work, and while Wright's prose gets heavy-handed at times, and often gets in the way, he does eventually make his points well. All the issues are finally resolved, however cumbersomely done so.The resonance in the subtext is that: unbridled and mindless hatred and bitterness always leads to ignominious and diminished ends, and to an overall diminishment of humanity. American society in the 1940s, as is still true today, is a constant theater where hatred is always being played out on stage, and not necessarily by the "Bigger Thomases" of our nation. Hatred is still a cottage industry and our nation's most sacred and most religious product.Five Stars.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.Russians had, "Crime and Punishment", African Americans had, "Native Son"
By Travis Godbold
This book is stellar crime fiction, although the court room drama is pretty riddled with long oratories from both lawyer and prosecutor. Saw much of Raskolinkov from Crime in Punishment in Bigger Thomas. Both books are similar in many ways. Wondering if the Teaparty will ever do a spinoff from this book, called, "When Bigger Thomas became president", where the convicted killer doesn't die from sitting on the electric chair, but is able to escape prison with superpowers, then becomes leader of the USA. The book never states Bigger being executed for his crimes, and the reader is left hanging. Don't want them to write it, but was thinking about the idea, when I got to the end of this book. I was like thinking the book would end after his execution. They've done spinoffs of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with weird twists, so it would not be the first time. I'm a Democrat though, so I hope they don't.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.Good Book
By Ashley
I had to read this book for my AP LIT class, and it was really thrilling. I couldnt stop reading it because it was so intense. Then at the end it got really literary and boring with speeches, so I kinda skimmed it. But overall was a great book about murder and being on the run. I would definitley read this if in a lit class or if you like literature. The themes are racism and communism. && the main character is a young black man who lives a hard life because of the seperation of black and white skin in the 1930's
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