Native Son | Topics for Further Study

Read Ann Petry’s The Street. Compare the climactic death in that novel to the crimes of Bigger Thomas. Does Lutie Johnson’s escape from the street justify her crime and the abandonment of her child? Is she an innocent victim of circumstances or did she take advantage of circumstances?

Consider the following list of questions compiled by Robert Butler as the essential list critics have long struggled with: “Is the novel an artistic success, or is it crude propaganda that is deeply flawed by the melodramatic action and stereotyped characterization required by the...

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