Richard Wright’s Native Son

This paper discusses the character, Bigger Thomas, portrayed in Native Son by Richard Wright, as the existential hero and his alienation from society and from himself.

This research paper is about the character, Bigger Thomas, portrayed in Native Son by Richard Wright, as the existential hero and his alienation from society and from himself.

The task of adjustment for Blacks in American society, particularly Black youths, is arduous, and made more difficult by the combined handicap of racial barriers and inferior social status. Personality deficiencies results and the behavioral patterns Blacks have learned in their own domestic and social environment are often inappropriate in greater American society, minimizing their chances for success – unless he is able to overcome the obstacles placed before him by a society which has a history of treating Blacks as inferior beings.

Native Son, a landmark in fiction, is the absorbing story of a bad Negro caught in the friction generated by his own …