"Native Son"?
In this blog post I wanted to talk about the title Native Son. When first hearing about the book I thought this was a strangely vague name, and looking it up on any library catalog resulted in an abundance of books with titles in some way relating to sons or nativism. Even while starting the book I didn't really make the connection - I mean Bigger was a son, I guess, but that couldn't possibly be the reasoning behind the title.
After finishing the book, the most obvious reason I could find is that Wright is trying to express Bigger's actions being predetermined and this whole situation arosing because of his environment and how he grew up. If this is true then the title is directed at American society; Bigger is a native son of the country - a black man born and raised in America, and a product of all the different forces and systems explored throughout the book. We discussed a lot of these in class - the police system, judicial system, inequitable housing & real estate discrimination, job opportunities, education, the media, etc. and how Wright is using Bigger's story to explore how these interact and how they affect every corner of people's lives. The predetermination idea is explored a lot in the book - for example it's constantly expressing Bigger's feelings of being trapped and forced into certain situations or actions.
The book also more explicitly presents this idea with Max's monologues - since this was pretty much exactly what Max was saying for all those pages. It's interesting that Wright chose this particular title for the book above any others. This decision makes it seem as if presenting Bigger's fate as predetermined and shaped by American society, if that's indeed the meaning of the title, was his biggest goal for the book - or what he wanted the book to be about. This would mean that Wright was actually using Max to convey his opinions and intentions. I'm not sure if this diminishes the chances that he was trying to critique Max and his methods - could he have been criticizing Max while at the same time agreeing with what he was saying him and using him as a vehicle to convey the story's actual message?
The 'Son' part of the title also indicates something about what Wright's goal was with this book. It points out that Wright was conscious of the fact he wrote a story almost completely focused on the experience of a black MAN in America. Although this raises the question whether he deliberately decided to not include the perspectives of any and all of the black women in the book, or whether he didn't even consider the perspectives of these people in the first place. And I'm not sure if we can answer this question without asking Wright. What do you think?
I like the themes you discussed in your blog post: naturalism and what 'Native Son' means. I also like that at the end of of your post, you emphasize that Wright is writing the novel based on the experience of a black man. I read the 'How Bigger Was Born' section of the book and don't remember Wright saying that he gathered opinions of black women to make 'Native Son'. I think that he didn't include the perspectives of black women in this book because he was trying to portray the thought-process of a black male, not a black female. That's why the book is told from mainly from Bigger's lens or at least someone else telling Bigger's story. If a black woman's perspective were to be included, it should be about there thoughts on Bigger's life rather than there own life. I think that by putting the issues of black woman in a novel like 'Native Son', it would take away Wrights main purpose of the book which is to articulate the life of a black man.
ReplyDeleteI was also initially confused by the name of the book. I think your post does a great job discussing the meaning behind the name, and I agree that it seems to very much be connected to the theme of naturalism within the novel. Regarding Max, it does seem to me that readers are supposed to take his message about naturalism seriously, but some other things that he says seem as though they should be taken with a grain of salt. Max's role as a character is a bit ambiguous, but I do feel like he is supposed to drive the novel's point about naturalism home.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your analysis of the meaning of "Native Son." Even in class we discussed the title may have arised from Bigger having been born and raised in America, yet still treated unjustly. Your interpretation of Richard Wright expressing his own views on communism through Max was interesting as throughout Native Son, it seemed like Wright was critiquing Max rather than agreeing with him. Nevertheless, its a valid point and I think it should definitely be explored further. Overall, great job!
ReplyDeleteI also initially interpreted the book's name the same way. I do think that the main point of the book was to protest the injustice regarding the constricting environment black men are forced to grow up in, and Max is probably used primarily to clarify that message. I think he might have been using Max to critique him as well, but the lack of voice he gives to Bigger could also express how uncertain and restricted Bigger was regarding his own situation.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on teasing out different aspects of the title's meaning! I, like others here, was confused on the meaning of the title and initially thought that "son" referred to Bigger's relationship with his mother, since the book opens with Bigger interacting with his family. Then the book took...many turns. Ultimately I agree that "Son" refers to Bigger being birthed by a system (the USA) that inevitably leads him to his sad fate.
ReplyDeleteI think we talked a little bit in class about the "Native" part of the title and how it relates to naturalism, but I never really thought about the "Son" part until now! I was intrigued by the point you brought up about how "Son" shows that the book focuses exclusively on the experience of a black man, and it made we wonder how the story would've been different if the title was something like "Native Daughter" or "Native Child".
ReplyDeleteWe spent a lot of time in class discussing the possibility that Wright was criticizing Max's portrayal of Bigger, coming from the perspective of a white man, but there's definitely an interesting interaction between that analysis and the one you present in your second paragraph. It creates a bit of a paradox in my mind. Wright is both promoting an idea that we shouldn't trust what Max says while also trying to spread the ideas behind Max's words? It just seems a bit confusing to me personally, and it sounds like you're a bit confused by it too by the last sentence of your third paragraph.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting note on the title: The word "Native" led me to research "nativism", which is defined "The belief that some knowledge and ideas are innate, rather than acquired by learning" by the OED (definition 2a). In contrast to "naturalism" defined by Washington State University as "a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings". I just find it a bit humorous that Wright's title invokes the idea of a philosophical idea completely contrary to the idea that it seems he's attempting to explore in his novel.
ReplyDeletenaturalism definition: https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/natural.htm