Richard Wright (1908-1960) is best known for his partial autobiography, Black Boy (1945), and his best-selling and now classic novel, Native Son (1940).
Before he wrote Native Son, Wright had become a member of the Communist Party in 1932 in Chicago. In a few years, he moved to New York City and published his first book, a collection of short stories, Uncle Tom’s Children, in 1938. When he was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, he left his job with the Federal Writers Project and was able to devote his time to writing Native Son.
Poet and novelist Margaret Walker gave Wright newspaper clippings on Chicago’s Robert Nixon case. Nixon was an 18-year-old African American who was accused of brutally murdering five people, one of whom was a woman who he apparently killed with a brick. He was described in derogatory animal images in the press. Those clippings, the Communist ideology, segregation and its effects in American society, and African-American male rage comprised much of Wright’s inspiration for Native Son.
With the publication of Native Son, Wright garnered fame and fortune. He became the first nationally acclaimed, best-selling African-American novelist. It was also the first book by an African-American author to be picked up by the Book-of-the-Month Club.
Very briefly, in Native Son, the character Bigger Thomas lives with his mother, sister, and brother in squalid conditions in Chicago’s South Side. He gets a job as a chauffeur for the Dalton family, white well-to-do slumlords. He accidentally kills the daughter, Mary Dalton. In his flight from the police, he deliberately kills his girlfriend, Bessie. He is caught, tried, and sentenced to death for Mary’s murder.
The novel moves with the intensity of a powerfully realistic crime novel. However, it is much more than that. Wright raises issues concerning the underlying problems of black men living lives that are stifled by the oppression of racism and classism. Murder is for Bigger a way to feel his own power.
Although Mary’s death was an accident, Bigger begins to relish the powerful feeling being in the company of the police as they try to solve the mystery of Mary’s disappearance. Killing her has defined his sense of importance.
Wright presents a grim picture of human degradation its destructive results caused by racism. At Bigger’s trial, through his communist-oriented lawyer, Max, Wright presents a worldview of a more equitable society that would, possibly, not have produced a person like Bigger.
Native Son greatly influenced African-American authors of realistic fiction of the post-World War II era such as James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, John A. Williams, Ann Petry, and others—and continues to be an important classic for contemporary writers.
It was adapted for film. Richard Wright, unfortunately, took the role of Bigger in the first production, which premiered in 1950. He was clearly twice the age of the character, which contributed to the negative reception of the movie. Oprah Winfrey played Bigger’s mother in a 1986 remake of the adaptation. This movie fared better and was nominated for awards (Critics Award and Independent Spirit Award)..Also, there have been theater productions. The latest was very well received in 2006 at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle.
