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Native Son (Perennial Classics) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition
“If one had to identify the single most influential shaping force in modern Black literary history, one would probably have to point to Wright and the publication of Native Son.” – Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic.
Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.
This edition of Native Son includes an essay by Wright titled, How "Bigger" was Born,along with notes on the text.
- ISBN-13978-0060533489
- Edition1st
- PublisherHarperCollins e-books
- Publication dateJune 3, 2009
- LanguageEnglish
- File size2454 KB
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From the Publisher
Native Son | The Man Who Lived Underground | The Outsider | A Father's Law | |
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Customer Reviews |
4.5 out of 5 stars
2,915
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4.6 out of 5 stars
879
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4.6 out of 5 stars
135
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4.3 out of 5 stars
25
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Price | $10.62$10.62 | $12.89$12.89 | $11.99$11.99 | $10.99$10.99 |
Richard Wright's Novels |
Black Boy | Uncle Tom's Children | Eight Men | Black Power | Pagan Spain | |
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Customer Reviews |
4.6 out of 5 stars
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4.7 out of 5 stars
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4.8 out of 5 stars
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Price | $9.89$9.89 | $6.66$6.66 | $12.99$12.99 | $14.48$14.48 | $16.99$16.99 |
More from Richard Wright |
Editorial Reviews
Review
From the Back Cover
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Native Son
By Richard WrightHarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Copyright © 2008 Richard WrightAll right reserved.
ISBN: 9780061148507
Chapter One
Book One: Fear
Brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinng!
An alarm clock clanged in the dark and silent room. A bed spring creaked. A woman's voice sang out impatiently:
"Bigger, shut that thing off!"
A surly grunt sounded above the tinny ring of metal. Naked feet swished dryly across the planks in the wooden floor and the clang ceased abruptly.
"Turn on the light, Bigger."
"Awright," came a sleepy mumble.
Light flooded the room and revealed a black boy standing in a narrow space between two iron beds, rubbing his eyes with the backs of his hands. From a bed to his right the woman spoke again:
"Buddy, get up from there! I got a big washing on my hands today and I want you-all out of here."
Another black boy rolled from bed and stood up. The woman also rose and stood in her nightgown.
"Turn your heads so I can dress," she said.
The two boys averted their eyes and gazed into a far comer of the room. The woman rushed out, of her nightgown and put on a pair of step-ins. She turned to the bed from which she had risen and called:
"Vera! Get up from there!"
"What time is it, Ma?" asked a muffled, adolescent voice from beneath a quilt.
"Get up from there, I say!"
"O.K., Ma."
A brown-skinned girl in a cotton gown got up and stretched her arms above her head and yawned. Sleepily, she sat on a chair and fumbled with her stockings. The two boys kept their faces averted while their mother and sister put on enough clothes to keep them from feeling ashamed; and the mother and sister did the same while the boys dressed. Abruptly, they all paused, holding their clothes in their hands, their attention caught by a light tapping in the thinly plastered walls of the room. They forgot their conspiracy against shame and their eyes strayed apprehensively over the floor.
"There he is again, Bigger!" the woman screamed, and the tiny, one-room apartment galvanized into violent action. A chair toppled as the woman, half-dressed and in her stocking feet, scrambled breathlessly upon the bed. Her two sons, barefoot, stood tense and motionless, their eyes searching anxiously under the bed and chairs. The girl ran into a corner, half-stooped and gathered the hem of her slip into both of her hands and held it tightly over her knees.
"Oh! Oh! " she waited.
"There he goes!"
The woman pointed a shaking finger. Her eyes were round with fascinated horror.
"Where?"
"I don't see 'im!"
"Bigger, he's behind the trunk!" the girl whimpered.
"Vera!" the woman screamed. "Get up here on the bed! Don't let that thing bite you!"
Frantically, Vera climbed upon the bed and the woman caught hold of her. With their arms entwined about each other, the black mother and the brown daughter gazed open-mouthed at the trunk in the corner.
Bigger looked round the room wildly, then darted to a curtain and swept it aside and grabbed two heavy iron skillets from a wall above a gas stove. He whirled and called softly to his brother, his eyes glued to the trunk.
"Buddy!"
"Yeah?"
"Here; take this skillet."
"O.K."
"Now, get over by the door!"
"O.K."
Buddy crouched by the door and held the iron skillet by its handle, his arm flexed and poised. Save for the quick, deep breathing of the four people, the room was quiet. 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. He paused and, without moving an eye or muscle, called:
"Buddy!"
"Hunh?"
"Put that box in front of the hole so he can't get out!"
"O.K."
Buddy ran to a wooden box and shoved it quickly in front of a gaping hole in the molding and then backed again to the door, holding the skillet ready. Bigger eased to the trunk and peered behind it cautiously. He saw nothing. Carefully, he stuck out his bare foot and pushed the trunk a few inches.
"There he is!" the mother screamed again.
A huge black rat squealed and leaped at Bigger's trouser-leg and snagged it in his teeth, hangingon.
"Goddamn!" Bigger whispered fiercely, whirling and kicking out his leg with all the strength of his body. The force of his movement shook the rat loose and it sailed through the air and struck a wall. Instantly, it rolled over and leaped again. Bigger dodged and the rat landed against a table leg. With clenched teeth, Bigger held the skillet; he was afraid to hurl it, fearing that he might miss. The rat squeaked and turned and ran in a narrow circle, looking for a place to hide; it leaped again past Bigger and scurried on dry rasping feet to one side of the box and then to the other, searching for the hole. Then it turned and reared upon its hind legs.
"Hit 'im, Bigger!" Buddy shouted.
"Kill 'im! " the woman screamed.
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, its tiny forefeet pawing the air restlessly. Bigger swung the skillet; it skidded over the floor, missing the rat, and clattered to a stop against a wall.
"Goddamn!"
The rat leaped. Bigger sprang to one side. The rat stopped under a chair and let out a furious screak. Bigger moved slowly backward toward the door.
"Gimme that skillet, Buddy," he asked quietly, not taking his eyes from the rat.
Buddy extended his hand. Bigger caught the skillet and lifted it high in the air. The rat scuttled across the floor and stopped again at the box and searched quickly for the hole; then it reared once more and bared long yellow fangs, piping shrilly, belly quivering.
Bigger aimed and let the skillet fly with a heavy grunt. There was a shattering of wood as the box caved in. The woman screamed and hid her face in her hands. Bigger tiptoed forward and peered.
"I got 'im," he muttered, his clenched teeth bared in a smile. "By God, I got 'im. "
He kicked the splintered box out of the way and the flat black body of the rat lay exposed, its two long yellow tusks showing distinctly. Bigger took a shoe and pounded the rat's head, crushing it, cursing hysterically:
"You sonofabitch!"
Continues...
Excerpted from Native Sonby Richard Wright Copyright © 2008 by Richard Wright. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Product details
- ASIN : B002BY779U
- Publisher : HarperCollins e-books; 1st edition (June 3, 2009)
- Publication date : June 3, 2009
- Language : English
- File size : 2454 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 544 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #105,229 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #165 in Classic American Fiction
- #252 in Read & Listen for $14.99 or Less
- #300 in Classic Literary Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Richard Nathaniel Wright (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960) was an American author of sometimes controversial novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially those involving the plight of African Americans during the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. Literary critics believe his work helped change race relations in the United States in the mid-20th century.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Carl Van Vechten [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
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The book contains a fair amount of violence and strong language. Those matters didn't impact my assessment of the book. I can understand why many people would give Native Son a five-star rating and/or consider is a classic. I think it's an important book to read (perhaps even a classic). However, the readability and quality of the writing don't merit a five-star rating.
The reviews here on this site are plenty to give you an idea of its depth and excellence. My review is about the contrast between my teen reading and my adult reading.
I remember believing that the main character, Bigger Thomas, was brilliant. An ordinary young Black man had gone into the White World, committed an unspeakable crime and gotten away with it by acting like an ordinary young Black man (or so I saw it). That is to say: I thought Bigger's humble, deferential, monosyllabic speech towards White people was all an act. I thought he purposely turned on such an act to allow him to get away with things that they figured were not within his capabilities or his skill set. I thought Bigger was absolutely brilliant. A marionette pulling the strings of White America based upon their prejudices and preconceived notions.
Fast-forward 20+ years and I see Bigger through different eyes (partially because I've read the entire book and partially because my comprehension has evolved and developed). At times he was brilliant and at times he was stone cold stupid. At times he would use the shuffling negro act to his advantage and at other times he would let his ego push him too far. It was all part of the enigma that was Bigger Thomas.
Wright created a helluva character. As an African-American male I was reading about Bigger and loathing him with every fiber of my being because he was the poorest representation of Black men. I couldn't help but think, "This Bigger Thomas is confirming the wicked stuff that White people believe about us! He's a walking affirmation of their stereotypes!" But the fact is... Bigger Thomases exist. They are largely products of their environments. We may not like them, we may have the foulest names to describe them, but they still exist. So, whereas I hated Bigger for the decisions he made and the life he lived, I can't say that Richard Wright didn't give me a jolt. He threw Bigger Thomas in our faces and said, "deal with him." I'm sure every reader deals with Bigger in his/her own way. Some may hate him as I did, some may pity him, some may applaud him and much of that may divide down racial lines or socio-economic lines; in any case we as readers had to deal with Bigger Thomas.