Native Son (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Richard Wright
- First Published: 1940
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: 1930’s
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: African Americans, Justice, Self-discovery, United States or Americans, Communism or communists, Politics, Racism, Murder or homicide, Midwest, Antiheroes, 1930’s, Poverty or poor people, Capital punishment, Trials, Law or legislation, Fear, Fate or fatalism
- Locales: Chicago, IL
Places Discussed
*Chicago. Illinois’s largest city and the industrial center of the Midwest. Richard Wright’s family was one of thousands of southern black families that migrated to Chicago between 1916 and 1920 and eventually settled in the South Side ghetto, where Wright grew up. His protagonist, Bigger Thomas, has the same Chicago background. Wright’s novel depicts the city as a virtual prison of brick and concrete walls and narrow streets that shut out the light in his corner of the world. The physical limits of Bigger’s world reflect the limited opportunities for...
[The entire page is 1357 words long]
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