Native Son | Overview

Native Son was the first novel by an American writer to deeply explore the black struggle for identity and the anger blacks have felt because of their exclusion from society. Many black American voices would echo Wright—James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Malcolm X, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou, to name a few—in telling the story of an alienated protagonist whose search for self-identity and the freedom it brings must be achieved at all costs. Violence, drugs, and even religion serve as escape mechanisms for blacks who cannot face the fact that society considers them nonbeings....

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