Native Son Rhetorical Analysis

Native Son is written by an African-American author named Richard Wright and was published in 1940. Native Son tells a story of a 20-year-old African-American male named Bigger Thomas, who is living in extreme poverty on Chicago’s Southside in the 1930s. Bigger lives in a one bedroom apartment with his mother and two younger siblings. In the beginning of the novel the audience can sense Bigger has anger within himself and hatred towards his family. Bigger only had the opportunity to receive an eighth-grade education because his family is tremendously poor and could not afford to send him to school. Without having access to education, Bigger finds himself spending time with the wrong friends and repeatedly getting into trouble. Today,

education is extremely important. Lack of education can cause poverty, poor job skills, and overall awful life choices.
In the begging of the novel the Thomas family is woken up by a loud clang from an alarm clock, “in a dark and silent room.” Bigger’s younger sister, Vera, stood up in her nightgown and said “Turn your heads so I can dress” (Wright 3).

The entire Thomas family lives in a one room apartment. Which means when Vera or their mother wants to get dressed the guys must turn and face the wall or close their eyes and vice versa. By giving these details the author delivers a message to readers. Readers can imagine that the Thomas family is extremely poor and living in poverty. Next, Bigger kills a rat with an iron skillet. “Bigger crept on tiptoe toward the trunk with the skillet clutched stiffly in his hand, his eyes dancing and watching every inch of the wooden floor in front of him” (Wright 5). “Bigger aimed and let the skillet fly with a heavy grunt.” “I got ‘im”, he muttered, his clenched teeth bared in a smile” (Wright 6). Readers can assume Bigger has a lot of frustration and anger from this passage because of the way he kills the rat. He did not set up traps or try to catch it, he killed the rat by hitting it with an iron pan. After killing the rat, he smiled feeling no remorse for killing an animal. Living in a one room apartment and having to kill a rat is another way readers can assume the Thomas family is extremely poor and living in

poverty.
Not being able to receive education has a huge impact on why the Thomas family is utterly poor and living in poverty. Today, when individuals do not receive education they are more likely to live in poverty than someone who did received an education. With less resources and not enough focus on education, children who are born into poverty are also likely to stay in poverty. Children who are born into poverty usually must find a job at young age to help support their family. For them this means they may focus less on school and more on working, to help support their parents and siblings. The child will more than likely drop out of school to work more hours. Dropping out of school will not help in the future, this will lead to poverty and may even repeat the cycle of being poor and living in poverty. Poverty can also be a result of different educational opportunities. Some people may live in a better area and have more access to better schools, technology, and teachers. While someone who lives in a poor neighborhood may not have the opportunities to go to the best schools and receive the best education. Poverty and education are linked together. People who do not have the access or opportunity to receive education are more than likely to live in extreme poverty, than someone who has the access and opportunity to receive education.