![]() The trouble is that Bigger is so malicious, and therefore the suggestion that racism made him what he was is so much harder to accept. Richard Wright wrote with the intention of telling readers "what had made and what he meant." His explanation would have been easier to grasp had he written a straightforward protest novel about an innocent victim. But if I look at the novel as a message, I do not know quite how to take it. The crux of the plot is a murder committed involuntarily by a young African American, Bigger Thomas, out of fear of being found with a young white woman, Mary, in her bedroom, and the prevailing psychological mood of resentment at racial injustice, segregation, hostility, and contempt is compelling. If I look at Native Son simply as a novel, it is a good one, inspired by Crime and Punishment, but set in the context of racial segregation in Depression-era Chicago. ![]()
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