Native Son: the Themes of Book Two

1039 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Themes of native son by richard wright

Book Two marks the transition between Bigger's flight and fate. There is a feeling of suspense that is sustained throughout Book Two. Bigger becomes more and more entangled in the webs of fate. Ma's warning of the "gallows" recurs as Bigger exhibits the pride that precedes his downfall. Bigger's rush towards his fate is not dampened when Bessie warns him that he will never be able to escape the mob or the 5,000 white police officers that are after him. Bessie also prophesies her own murder at Bigger's hands when she added that even if his confession of "accidental" homicide was valid, he would still be executed as a murderer/rapist. Bigger will be charged with the murder/rape of both Mary Dalton and his girlfriend Bessie Mears, but his rape of Bessie, supposedly, proves that he raped Mary. His brutal response to Bessie's foreshadowing brings an ironic sealing of his fate. When Bigger tells himself that he is entering a new world, this foreshadowing is also ironic. Bigger is transforming into a new person living in a new world, but the new worlds he will encounter are prison and the electric chair (Wright chapter 8). The flight motif is largely related to the theme of psychological escape. In Book one, Wright casts Mrs. Thomas's dependence on religion as a vision that makes her think that her son will get his life together, even as she is always ineffective in her attempts to change his character. Bessie has the closest similarity to Mrs. Thomas, although she finds her psychological escape from the troubles in her life through alcohol, rather than the Bible. While Bessie and Mrs. Thomas rely on their means of temporary psychological escape, Bigger escapes in the opposite direction. In Book Two Bigger's intention... ... middle of paper ... ...as, such as predator and prey, invasion, capture and execution are all made clear in Book Two and Bigger is the prey. In Book Two, Bigger is physically as well as emotionally trapped. The police easily close in on Bigger. They invade the Black Belt and marched from apartment to apartment until Bigger was found, which is an example of their direct invasion of Bigger's territory as well as the territory of the Black community. Wright also makes territory a concern by making the colors white and black real. The Swarm of police becomes the "sea of noise" and a "white and looming" force that is supplemented by the white blizzard's help in the entrapment of Bigger. As Bigger sees the world, the sky and snow are used as more whites to assist the white majority. At this point, Bigger, the native son, considers himself to be at war with his native land (Wright 99-130).

Show More
Related

  • Flight In Catcher In The Rye

    218 Words  | 1 Pages

    In chapter 15 from Thomas C. Fosters’ How to Read Literature Like A Professor, flight is discussed to represent multiple forms of freedom and escape, or possible failure and downfall. Throughout J. D. Salingers’ novel, The Catcher and the Rye, Holden often finds himself wondering where the ducks in the Central Park pond have flown off to due to the water freezing over. On the other hand, the ducks are symbolic of Holden are his interest in the ducks an example of Foster’s ideas that flight represents a desire to be free.

    Read More

  • The Juxtaposition of Ruth Foster and Pilate Dead in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    Early in the novel Morrison, uses the juxtaposition of Ruth Foster and Pilate dead, when she tells of the flight of Mr. Robert Smith from Mercy Hospital. Ruth Foster, not yet described as such, is known as the “dead doctor’s daughter” (5). During this scene her insignificance is made clear, “the rose-petal scramble, got a lot of attention, but the pregnant lady’s moans did not” (5). This scene perfectly embodies Ruth Foster’s character, as diminutive, and unimportant, she also ignores the flight of the Mr. Smith as the pedestrians ignore her and Mr. Smith. On the other hand, Pilate Dead, is the singer in the crowd that notices Mr. Smith’s flight and says, “O Sugarman done fly away” (6), introducing the theme of the novel, flight, and representing her understanding of it, while others remain oblivious. This is important, because this is Milkman’s journey, the discovery of the flight of his people, or the realization of his people’s culture. Pilate, Milkman’s aunt, also foreshadows his “flight”, which is a main theme of the novel, ‘A little bird’ll be here with the morning” (9), whereas his mother, Ruth, says, “It can’t be...It’s too soon,” (9) this shows her role in the novel as keeping Milkman from his flight, while Pilate teaches him he can fly. "Mr. Smith's blue silk wings must have left their mark, because when the little boy discovered, at four, the same thing Mr. Smith had learned earlier - that only birds and airplanes could fly - he lost all interest in himself" (9). Tis loss of flight symbolizes Milkman’s loss of his heritage, which Pilate tries to reinstall in him, ...

    Read More

  • Having Our Say by Sadie and Bessie Delany

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    Further, throughout the book, Sadie and Bessie continuously reminds the reader of the strong influence family life had on their entire lives. Their father and mother were college educated and their father was the first black Episcopal priest and vice principal at St. Augustine Co...

    Read More

  • Native Son Rhetorical Analysis

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    Is Systematic Oppression still relevant? An examination into the roots of the Black Lives Matter Campaign and its Validity in Modern Times? Native Son: Essay Rough Copy

    Read More

  • Flight as a Literal and Metaphorical Symbol in Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel begins with the account of Robert Smith, an insurance agent who had promised to “take off…and fly away on [his] own wings” (Morrison 3). Standing on the roof of Mercy Hospital wearing “blue silk wings,” Smith proclaims to a growing crowd that he will fly (Morrison 5). Unfortunately, he is ultimately unable to take flight and falls to his death among the crowd. This is the first image of attempted flight in the novel and the first glimpse of flight being viewed as both possible and natural. Those who had gathered to view Smith’s flight did not “cry out to [him]” or attempt to prevent his leap, but instead encouraged him, implying that t...

    Read More

  • The Negative Portrayal of Native Americans in Children’s Literature

    2127 Words  | 5 Pages

    The American institution has raised countless generations with misconceptions and lies regarding various foreign cultures. During the 1950’s the educational system in America was given the responsibility of teaching children the horrors and injustices they would suffer if the "evil" communist took over the world. Schools taught students that communist wanted to take away music, apple pie, baseball, and anything else that Americans cherished. Students learned that it was best to believe in the righteous of America. The preceding discussion has much in common with the treatment that Native Americans have received from picture books in America.

    Read More

  • Native Indians: The Captivity and Restoration by Mary Rowlandson

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration, written by Mary Rowlandson describes the events that she was taken captive alongside a number of people by Native Indians. The story is written in first person; therefore, it has details on the happenings during and after the captives. Mary narrates her experiences and highlights her views of her captors and the Native Indian community at large. The narratives indicate Mary Rowlandson's position as a female in her society during her time.

    Read More

  • James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" demonstrates his complex and unique relationship with his father. Baldwin's relationship with his father is very similar to most father-son relationships but the effect of racial discrimination on the lives of both, (the father and the son) makes it distinctive. At the outset, Baldwin accepts the fact that his father was only trying to look out for him, but deep down, he cannot help but feel that his father was imposing his thoughts and experiences on him. Baldwin's depiction of his relationship with his father while he was alive is full of loathing and detest for him and his ideologies, but as he matures, he discovers his father in himself. His father's hatred in relation to the white American society had filled him with hatred towards his father. He realizes that the hatred inside both of them has disrupted their lives.

    Read More

  • Sympathy for a Murderer in Richard Wright's Native Son

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Native Son, Richard Wright introduces Bigger Thomas, a liar and a thief. Wright evokes sympathy for this man despite the fact that he commits two murders. Through the reactions of others to his actions and through his own reactions to what he has done, the author creates compassion in the reader towards Bigger to help convey the desperate state of Black Americans in the 1930’s.

    Read More

  • Essay On Differences Between Native Son And Natural Born Killers

    2160 Words  | 5 Pages

    Bigger is a young black man living in the Southside of Chicago with his mother and two younger siblings. His family lives in a one room apartment, leaving little space for privacy. After being awoken by the sudden clang of an alarm clock, the Thomas’s start their day like every other before it. As the family is getting dressed a large rat runs into the room, causing chaos. Bigger trapped the rat in a box, giving it no way to escape. Looking at Bigger “the rat’s belly pulsed with fear. Bigger advanced a step and the rat emitted a long thin song of defiance, its black beady eyes glittering” (Wright 6). The fear that pulses in the belly of the rat is the same fear that runs through Bigger. Bigger is trapped within the physical walls of his run-down apartment and the city lines that the white society has put around the Chicago Black Belt. Bigger and the black community have no choice or way to escape. The confinement of these areas causes Bigger to feel confusion and anger towards those who have put him

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay: Native Son

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bigger did not have a fair trial. On a Saturday, Bigger learned that he would have a job as a chauffeur for a millionaire family; he takes the job after rejecting the temptation to rob Blum's deli. Early Sunday morning, Bigger returns Mary Dalton to her home, accidentally suffocating her. Later Sunday, Bigger visits Bessie, forges a ransom note, discovers the "discovery" of Mary's earrings in the ash, returns to Bessie and rapes and kills her. Monday, Bigger is on the run and he is caught that very night. His inquest is on a Tuesday, his trial is on a Wednesday, and his execution is to be "on or before midnight," Friday. He was tortured his fingernails have been ripped out.

    Read More

  • Refutation: The Story of Bigger Thomas ( Native Son )

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Darryl Pinckney’s discerning critical essay, “Richard Wright: The Unnatural History of a Native Son,” Pinckney states that all of Wright’s books contain the themes of violence, inhumanity, rage, and fear. Wright writes about these themes because he expresses, in his books, his convictions about his own struggles with racial oppression, the “brutal realities of his early life.” Pinckney claims that Wright’s works are unique for Wright’s works did not attempt to incite whites to acknowledge blacks. Wright does not write to preach that blacks are equal to whites. The characters in Wright’s works, including Bigger Thomas from Native Son, are not all pure in heart; the characters have psychological burdens and act upon their burdens. For instance, Bigger Thomas, long under racial oppression, accidentally suffocates Mary Dalton in her room for fear that he will be discriminated against and charged with the rape of Mary Dalton. Also, according to Pinckney, although the characters of Wright’s books are under these psychological burdens, they always have “futile hopes [and] desires.” At the end of Native Son, Bigger is enlightened by the way his lawyer Max treats him, with the respect of a human being. Bigger then desires nothing but to live, but he has been sentenced to death.

    Read More

  • Bigger Thomas as America’s Native Son

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    (318). Bigger’s sense of constriction by the white world is so strong that he has no doubt that “something awful’s going to happen to me.” (21). Nowhere in this novel can the reader see a greater example of Bigger’s fear and sense of constriction than in the accidental death of Mary Dalton. The all-encompassing fear that the white world has bred Bigger takes over when he is in Mary’s room and in danger of being discovered by Mrs. Dalton.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Somebody Somewhere Poem By Donna Williams

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    She continues in this sequel to talk about the abuse she faced and the dysfunction that surrounded her life as a child and as a teen, and the ‘empty space’ in which she lived in as a result. She talks about the multiple personalities she was exhibiting, the rebellious “Willie” and the kind “Carol”; as well as hearing noises and her sensory problems. In this book, the author puts more emphasis on the “consciousness” and “awareness” and how important that was for her therapeutic process. She could not just be on “auto-pilot” and act normal; the road to recovery was filled with self-awareness and the need to process all the pieces of the puzzle—often with the guidance and assistance of her therapist. She had a need to analyze the abstract concept of emotions as well as feelings and thoughts. Connecting with others who go through what she did was also integral to her

    Read More

  • The Style, Point of View, Form and Structure of Native Son, by Richard Wright

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although the style is similar to that of much of the detective fiction of Wright's day, some readers find it perfectly suited to a novel told from the point of view of an uneducated youth driven by overpowering feelings of fear, shame, and hate. Even the novel's cliches, such as "he had his destiny in his grasp," may fit a central character who gets his information about the larger world from the cliche-ridden mass media. Wright worked within the literary conventions of his time, but he also subverted them to create a unique and powerful voice. In Book Three, the novel's pace slows down, and the narrative becomes more philosophical as Max delves into the social and psychological implications of Bigger's case. Max's speech to the court is the climax of the novel, as he pronounces upon Bigger.

    Read More

More about Native Son: the Themes of Book Two

Open Document