Native son essay

Native son essay Native Son is a book written by Richard Wright which takes place in the asses. The main character in the book is named Bigger Thomas. Bigger Thomas is a young black man living with his family in a small rat infested apartment in a world controlled by white people. Bigger becomes employed as a driver by a rich white family, and after being made extremely uncomfortable and upset, he kills the daughter of the family. He is then forced to run from the police and has to kill his partner, Bessie.
Bigger is caught and prosecuted by the police and experiences extreme racial prejudice urine his trial and is sentenced to death. During both his everyday life, and his trial, bigger is the victim of extreme racism. At the very beginning of the book, a large black rat is running around the Thomas family’s apartment. Bagger’s sister, Vera, is running around screaming while Bigger and his brother corner it and kill it. This foreshadows the Bagger’s later flight from the police.
Bigger is running and running, but he is helpless to defend himself against the greater force that is the white people. He ends up cornered, captured, and eventually killed, Just like the rat. This seems to be a representation of Bagger’s entire life. After killing the rat, Bigger holds it up and scares his sister with it. Bagger’s dangling of the rat to scare his sister is similar to the media and court making an example of bigger. Richard Wright makes it seem like Bagger’s life is like a prison even before he is arrested.

Atone point bigger says “Goddamned, look! We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things and we anti. They do things and we can’t. It’s Just like living’ in Wright) His entire life is dictated by white people, so he has basically no freedom. The crowded, rat-infested apartment he lives in is worse than a prison cell. While presenting his case to the court, Max even says that life in prison would be an upgrade for bigger because his living conditions were so poor.
The results of Bagger’s trial were greatly affected by the fact that the Judge, jurors, and all of the rest of the court was made up of white people. Their racist views made his trial extremely unfair. During the trial, Max says “He is a black criminal, and as such he comes into this court under a handicap, notwithstanding our pretentious that are all equal before the law. “(Richard Wright 382) The trial seemed to take place only to satisfy the law rather than to really give Bigger a chance.
In addition to this, the media made Bigger out to be a terrible monster and branded him guilty even before the trial. This media portrayal made the public hate Bigger even more until there was always an angry mob waiting to kill Bigger if he wasn’t sentenced to death by the court. Throughout the book, Bigger Thomas is ostracizes by the press. Even before he killed Mary Dalton, his life was like a prison. Bigger is always afraid of the white force that controls his life. During both his everyday life, and his trial, bigger is the victim of extreme racism and that ends up being the reason he dies.