The Social Culture of Racism in 20th Century America as seen
According to history, slavery in the United States ended shortly after the Civil War, with the 13th Amendment. However, upon closer examination, slavery, or something similar and descended from it, has continued to exist in American society long after 1865. In his fictional novel Native Son, Richard Wright shows that while Black Americans have been free in the eyes of the law since 1865, in the eyes of society, that of whites and their own, American Black’s have continued to suffer the evils of slavery and a racism through the 1930’s and beyond. Native Son tells the compelling human drama of a young man enslaved by the lack of positive exposure that his life affords him, as well as the negative aspect of his internalization of the label that society puts on himself and his people. While it is true that Bigger Thomas, the main character in Native Son, is a free man, Wright reveals through the events and specifically the conclusion of his work that Bigger and almost all Black Americans are still slaves as a result of societal forces exerted upon them both externally as well as internally. Native Son begins as the story of a man with only the bleakest promise of a future, and essentially that remains true throughout the n
In conclusion, Native Son tells the story of a young man’s criminal downfall, but more acutely it tells the story of cultural racism in 20th century America. Bigger Thomas is a prime example of how the end of slavery did not truly end the enslavement of the African race in North America, but instead transferred the captors from individuals to society as a whole. Wright’s work clearly exemplifies the difficulty of being a Black American, in relatively modern times, when all of society seems destined to ignore and impugn that race. However the saddest aspect of the work is the fact that while much legislation has passed to promote the equality of the races, in effect much of it is similar to the 13th Amendment, and such injustices as described in Native Son still exist today in the minds and hearts of many Americans, both white and black. The murders that Bigger commits are far less important to the story than are the implications that arise as a result of Bigger’s involvement with the law and thereby white society. In arguing his defense, Bigger’s lawyer, Mr. Max, claims that the two young women he killed were a result of Bigger’s societal conditioning. At the point just before Bigger actually kills Mary, he has done nothing wrong and the murder is only an instinct reaction to the fear of what will be suggested if Bigger is found alone with intoxicated Mary in her room. In a sense, his crimes were in desperate self-defense. While it is true that Bigger did kill two innocent women, and ultimately he is convicted, Mr. Max attempts so show the court that it is impossible to hold Bigg
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Approximate Word count = 1086
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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