Blog One
Native Son
In the book Native Son by Richard Wright, characters from the Communist Party
of America often try to sympathize with Bigger Thomas and even point out that
they are in the same situation as Bigger. The Communists try to form a type of
brotherhood with Bigger through having the same societal rejection. The
Communists however are wrong; Wright’s naturalistic ideology leads him to point
out that Bigger is a product of his environment. Bigger’s hate and anguish has
been embedded into his brain by a society that hates him for being born with a
certain skin tone, black.
The crucial difference between Bigger and
those who are apart of the Communist Party of America is the choice of free
will. The communists in the story may be ridiculed for their beliefs and want
of a new government system but, many of them are white and could change to
being capitalist and mainstream white at any time. In Native Son, the communists try to relate the ridicule they face to
the mistreatment of black people but, as the reader we remain unconvinced. The mistreatment
of African Americans is a struggle that began before America was even a
country. Communists may receive backlash from society but, they’re environment
has not created a literal fear to talk to a whole race.
This brotherhood through struggle
and the white communists attempt to talk and relate to Bigger actually
alienates the main character of Native
Son. This alienation quickly turns to resentment against Jan and Mary over
the course of a short evening together. Although they believe in equality, Jan
and Mary still talk to Bigger as if he is some sort of animal at a zoo. They
talk of wanting to go into Black apartments to see how they live. The word “they”
gives the reader a sense that Jan and Mary still believe that African Americans
are “other.” These people who have colored skin and live in the slums are not
quite human. Jan and Mary constantly try to befriend Bigger but, in reality he
is pushed away because he feels so uneasy around white people and would rather not
be around them at all. Jan and Mary view Bigger’s opportunity to be around them
as a privilege that he should honor and take advantage of. They don’t understand
the social fear and anxiety that Bigger feels around white people. Even as
people who believe they are communists, they are unable to overcome the ingrained
belief of black inferiority.
The brotherhood communists want to
feel is invalid because, the history behind each discrimination is so
different. White communists may try to help African American people but, like
Mary they have an undertone of superiority. Communists may be blamed for many
upper class white struggles but, the fear and feeling of superiority pointed at
black people from whites is apparent throughout the story and in many cases
continues to this day.
Well said. The difference in the Communists' and the African Americans' ability to choose becomes even more interesting in conjecture with Wright's use of Max, a Communist, as a mouth piece for his own reasoning. Wright has the ability to choose because he "escapes," paralleling Max's relatively greater free will.
ReplyDeleteWell said. The difference in the Communists' and the African Americans' ability to choose becomes even more interesting in conjecture with Wright's use of Max, a Communist, as a mouth piece for his own reasoning. Wright has the ability to choose because he "escapes," paralleling Max's relatively greater free will.
ReplyDeleteThe is a really interesting posts, I hadn't really thought about the role of the communists as a whole in Native Son before. It's interesting how Bigger kind of unconsciously doesn't trust them because, even as they're oppressed, like you said they're still part of the "white world" Bigger is so accustomed to distrusting.
ReplyDeleteI think the use of communists in this book is quite interesting because Wright himself was a communist. Does anyone think he was trying to portray how he would be doubly mistrusted for being both black and communist? There are so many nuances of Native Son that could or could not be easily related to Wright himself when looking at the books in different lights.
ReplyDeleteI find these dynamics to be particularly interesting. There clearly is a theme of attempted empathy throughout this book--not only in this situation with the Communists, but also with Mary's interactions with Bigger. Just like the Communists claim to have some sort of understanding of Bigger's life story, Mary feels as though she knows what Bigger has been through. Ultimately, despite the likely good intentions at first, both interactions end up being disrespectful and ignorant, given that each person/group's experiences are very individualized.
ReplyDeleteWright might be critical of the American communists' too-easy assumption of "common cause" with black people, because of their allegedly common history of discrimination. But in many other ways the novel does affirm their basic critique of American capitalist culture and how it divides the lower classes against one another (there's irony in Bigger not knowing anything about communists except that they are "bad"; the value judgment precedes any actual information, which is the definition of prejudice). Max is presented as a kind of hero of the novel, and his indictment of the "environment" that produced Bigger is more or less the same as Wright's own. So Jan might be a little too quick to assert his "brotherhood" with Bigger, which makes for an awkward social dynamic, but in the end the novel does treat quite seriously the idea that the American communists were committed to equal rights and antiracism before the civil-rights movement became a cause-celebre for American liberals.
ReplyDelete