Book Reviews: Native Son by Richard Wright

Cover of Native Son (Perennial Classics)

I remember I read this book in high school, but its a really good book. Written in the 1930's, this book is about a young African-American man named Bigger Thomas. Bigger Thomas was always in trouble as a young child, and struggled with the daily racism of the 1930's. One day he gets a job working at the Dalton's, a rich white family, here he soon begins to realize his true identity. One day he thinks he accidently kills the Dalton's daughter in fear of hiding from the mother of the family after helping the daughter in bed after she was too drunk to do so herself, then after that he runs from the police, rapes and kills his girlfriend and is eventually caught and tried.

When I read this book, it was very interesting, I felt that it was good to read a book by an African-American author because it gives me a good insight on my culture. Since I am African-American, it is very important to read books by my people not saying any other race can't, but it is important I understand and acknowledge my people. I was very intrigued by Bigger Thomas's story and thought Richard Wright did a great job in conveying this story. I would highly recommend this book to anyone to read, its a good piece of information about racism and the segregation from the 1930's. Please feel free to comment me with questions or comments about this book.