Book # 80 - Native Son by Richard Wright - Banned Books Week Edition part 2

It is a bit surprising to see that most of the books on our list have been challenged at one time or another. Another book that has great literary merit and historical significance but is frequently challenged is Native Son by Richard Wright... usually for "violence, sex, and profanity."

Native Son tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a young black man living in 1940's Chicago and struggling to figure out how to get by in life. His mom forces him to take a job as a chauffeur for a rich white family and then there is a huge plot twist that I somehow didn't see coming. Sometimes I don't like to know too much about something before I read it and in this case it paid off... anyhow I wouldn't want to say what happens next because it would be a huge spoiler. Let's just say that Bigger gets in trouble and most of the book is him trying to figure out what to do.

What is unusual is that Bigger is not in any way a likable character. I think it would be fair to say that most readers would be rooting against him. The point of the book seems to me that you shouldn't feel sympathetic towards Bigger, but that people need to realize that the social conditions of poverty and racism will create people like Bigger...the long term solution for a better society isn't to continually lock up people like Bigger but to fix our society so that everyone gets a chance and someone like Bigger never gets created. At least that's what I think Wright is trying to get across... I could see a pretty good discussion in an AP English class in which some kids would disagree with Wright's viewpoint.

At the time he wrote it, Richard Wright was a communist and Native Son definitely reflects that. Besides just showing racism, the book also shows how communists were discriminated against and targeted by police. Near the end of the book Bigger's lawyer gives a long speech that gets kind of preachy about how American society is partly responsible for Bigger's crimes and indirectly argues against capitalism. Whether or not you agree, I still think it is interesting to take in someone's viewpoint (as long as it isn't as long winded and heavy handed as Atlas Shrugged). Surprisingly none of the challenges on the book are for promoting communism.

I enjoyed the book... partly because I kept being shocked at how the main character kept getting more and more unlikable. It also has a strong political viewpoint and gave me something to think about and debate in my head. I'll have to give it an A.