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struggle for life in "Native Son"

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Date Issued:
1991
Summary:
The controversy in Native Son is over the book's "message"; however, few agree exactly what this message is. It is not, as misinterpreted by many critics, a struggle between the races. Refusing to accept passively society's definition of himself as a non-person, Bigger fights for the right to be and for a reason for being. Discarded as human garbage, Bigger rebels. His consequent actions become the justification for his existence. He kills Mary Dalton because he is "scared and mad," reacting instinctively in the manner he is forced to live his life. Wright delves into Bigger's motives in order to explain the archetypal "bad nigger," not to gain sympathy from whites nor to be cruel to blacks, rather to build a foundation for communication between the races in order to expose the ongoing American tragedy.
Title: The struggle for life in "Native Son".
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Name(s): Ho Lung, Jacqueline Theresa.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Coyle, William, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1991
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 98 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The controversy in Native Son is over the book's "message"; however, few agree exactly what this message is. It is not, as misinterpreted by many critics, a struggle between the races. Refusing to accept passively society's definition of himself as a non-person, Bigger fights for the right to be and for a reason for being. Discarded as human garbage, Bigger rebels. His consequent actions become the justification for his existence. He kills Mary Dalton because he is "scared and mad," reacting instinctively in the manner he is forced to live his life. Wright delves into Bigger's motives in order to explain the archetypal "bad nigger," not to gain sympathy from whites nor to be cruel to blacks, rather to build a foundation for communication between the races in order to expose the ongoing American tragedy.
Identifier: 14693 (digitool), FADT14693 (IID), fau:11484 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1991.
Subject(s): Wright, Richard,--1908-1960--Native son
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14693
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.