Native Son (Cliffs Notes)

Rating:
Summary: Powerful Appeal
Review: Author Richard Wright (1908-60) was a master of description, and he captures the feel of Chicago and our often cold-shouldered society in this bitter 1940 classic. It's the story of Bigger Thomas, a self-loathing young black man that accidentally kills a white coed, and then kills again in an effort to evade detection. Bigger is hardly sympathetic, but his tragic hand is forced in part by racism. It's as if the author is saying, "Your injustices helped create Bigger Thomas!" Wright's gripping (if contrived) treatment of Bigger's trial indicts such peripheral characters as Mr. Dalton, a supposedly decent man that funds Negro charities - but only after fleecing blacks in the rental market. Readers come away understanding the cruelties of racial injustice, and comprehending why Wright might have named his character Bigger. Some say this classic was loosely based on a 1938 killing on the city's South Side.

NATIVE SON is rather wordy in its last chapters, and many dislike the author's pro-communism - naïve sentiments Wright later dropped after learning more about Stalinist Russia. Despite these minor flaws, this classic is gripping, persuasive, and probably Wright's best work.

Rating:
Summary: In the top 5 BEST Books I Have Ever Read
Review: It`s my personal opinion that Richard Wright`s Native Son is one of the best books ever written by an African-American writer. In his book he desribes the pains of ghetto life for the negroes in Chicago`s black belt, cira 1920. Never has an author ever caught the thoughts and feelings of a single person as Wright did with the main character Bigger. Bigger`s life is portrayed as bleak and dark but, things start to look up when he accepts a job as a driver for the millionaire Dalton`s. He is getting paid well with extra spending money and the opportunity to get an education. His first job is to take the Dalton`s daughter to a university function but, there is a change of plans, a change that turns out to be fatal. I don`t want to give the whole book away so I highly suggest read and find out what happens to Bigger. So if you enjoy reading classic American books you will enjoy Richard Wright`s Native Son.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book, Not Classic Literature
Review: Richard Wright created a daring, insigtful book when he wrote Native Son in 1940. As a black Communist sympathizer, Wright was a member of two of the most oppressed and hated groups in America, but he wrote a moving novel explaining his liberal ideas and explaining the plight of African-Americans. Using the crimes and trial of a tragic black murderer, Wright persuasively lays out his ideas about race and politics, and how society would be better off if they gave blacks a chance at the same education, jobs and housing that whites had available to them. This was a revolutionary idea at the time, but one that is slowly, but surely, gaining acceptance to this day.

Aside from the subject matter, which makes this book an excellent historical (seeing as the setting is now 70 years ago and hardly recognizable anymore) look at race and class relations, politics, and urban America, this is a very well written story. The main characters are diverse and interesting, the action is rapid, and the dialogue, both external and internal, is gritty and realistic. It flows well and is a quick read. It is at some points hard to read, because the action is so intense and graphic, but certainly worth the brief gruesome scenes.

The only reason I wouldn't give this book a five star rating and consider it a classic as many people do, is that it becomes bogged down in rhetoric in the end. The murder trial of Bigger Thomas is too long, political, and heavy handed. Of course this was the time when Wright wanted to sum everything up and present his views, but the book slowed to a crawl, he became far to abstract, and really ended the book on a down note. Fortunately this doesn't ruin the book, just makes it not as great as it could have been.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, from the casual reader, to a 20th century historian, to someone who wants to learn more about race, politics, or class relations. It would be an excellent book report book for high school students--not too difficult but a very important and meaningful book--but also good for adult reading groups or academics. Every reader would stand to gain from reading Native Son.