太原科技大学外国语学院12级阅读文章RichardWright

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1、Richard Wright 1908-1960Richard Wright an African-American author of powerful, sometimes controversial novels, short stories and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerned racial themes. His work helped redefine discussions of race relations in America in the mid-20th century.Fiction Uncle Toms C

2、hildren (New York: Harper, 1938) Native Son (New York: Harper, 1940) The Outsider (New York: Harper, 1953) Savage Holiday (New York: Avon, 1954) The Long Dream (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1958) Eight Men (Cleveland and New York: World, 1961) Lawd Today (New York: Walker, 1963) Rite of Passage

3、 (New York: Harper Collins, 1994) A Fathers Law (London: Harper Perennial, 2008) Native Son Plot Overview Bigger Thomas, a poor, uneducated, twenty-year-old black man in 1930s Chicago, wakes up one morning in his familys cramped apartment on the South Side of the city. He sees a huge rat scamper acr

4、oss the room, which he corners and kills with a skillet. Having grown up under the climate of harsh racial prejudice in 1930s America, Bigger is burdened with a powerful conviction that he has no control over his life and that he cannot aspire to anything other than menial, low-wage labor. His mothe

5、r pesters him to take a job with a rich white man named Mr. Dalton, but Bigger instead chooses to meet up with his friends to plan the robbery of a white mans store.Plot Overview Anger, fear, and frustration define Biggers daily existence, as he is forced to hide behind a faade of toughness or risk

6、succumbing to despair. While Bigger and his gang have robbed many black-owned businesses, they have never attempted to rob a white man. Bigger sees whites not as individuals, but as a natural, oppressive forcea great looming “whiteness” pressing down upon him. Biggers fear of confronting this force

7、overwhelms him, but rather than admit his fear, he violently attacks a member of his gang to sabotage the robbery. Left with no other options, Bigger takes a job as a chauffeur for the Daltons. Mary, Mr. Daltons daughter, frightens and angers Bigger by ignoring the social taboos that govern the rela

8、tions between white women and black men. On his first day of work, Bigger drives Mary to meet her communist boyfriend, Jan. Eager to prove their progressive ideals and racial tolerance, Mary and Jan force Bigger to take them to a restaurant in the South Side. Despite Biggers embarrassment, they orde

9、r drinks, and as the evening passes, all three of them get drunk. Bigger then drives around the city while Mary and Jan make out in the back seat. Afterward, Mary is too drunk to make it to her bedroom on her own, so Bigger helps her up the stairs. Drunk and aroused by his unprecedented proximity to

10、 a young white woman, Bigger begins to kiss Mary. Just as Bigger places Mary on her bed, Marys blind mother, Mrs. Dalton, enters the bedroom. Though Mrs. Dalton cannot see him, her ghostlike presence terrifies him. Bigger worries that Mary, in her drunken condition, will reveal his presence. He cove

11、rs her face with a pillow and accidentally smothers her to death. Unaware that Mary has been killed, Mrs. Dalton prays over her daughter and returns to bed. Bigger tries to conceal his crime by burning Marys body in the Daltons furnace. He decides to try to use the Daltons prejudice against communis

12、ts to frame Jan for Marys disappearance. Bigger believes that the Daltons will assume Jan is dangerous and that he may have kidnapped their daughter for political purposes. Additionally, Bigger takes advantage of the Daltons racial prejudices to avoid suspicion, continuing to play the role of a timi

13、d, ignorant black servant who would be unable to commit such an act. Marys murder gives Bigger a sense of power and identity he has never known. Biggers girlfriend, Bessie, makes an offhand comment that inspires him to try to collect ransom money from the Daltons. They know only that Mary has vanish

14、ed, not that she is dead. Bigger writes a ransom letter, playing upon the Daltons hatred of communists by signing his name “Red.” He then bullies Bessie to take part in the ransom scheme. However, Marys bones are found in the furnace, and Bigger flees with Bessie to an empty building. Bigger rapes B

15、essie and, frightened that she will give him away, bludgeons her to death with a brick after she falls asleep. Coincidentally, Mr. Dalton is also Biggers landlord, as he owns a controlling share of the company that manages the apartment building where Biggers family lives. Mr. Dalton and other wealt

16、hy real estate barons are effectively robbing the poor, black tenants on Chicagos South Sidethey refuse to allow blacks to rent apartments in predominantly white neighborhoods, thus leading to overpopulation and artificially high rents in the predominantly black South Side. Mr. Dalton sees himself a

17、s a benevolent philanthropist, however, as he donates money to black schools and offers jobs to “poor, timid black boys” like Bigger. However, Mr. Dalton practices this token philanthropy mainly to alleviate his guilty conscience for exploiting poor blacks. Bigger eludes the massive manhunt for as l

18、ong as he can, but he is eventually captured after a dramatic shoot-out. The press and the public determine his guilt and his punishment before his trial even begins. The furious populace assumes that he raped Mary before killing her and burned her body to hide the evidence of the rape. Moreover, th

19、e white authorities and the white mob use Biggers crime as an excuse to terrorize the entire South Side . Jan visits Bigger in jail. He says that he understands how he terrified, angered, and shamed Bigger through his violation of the social taboos that govern tense race relations. Jan enlists his f

20、riend, Boris A. Max, to defend Bigger free of charge. Jan and Max speak with Bigger as a human being, and Bigger begins to see whites as individuals and himself as their equal. Max tries to save Bigger from the death penalty, arguing that while his client is responsible for his crime, it is vital to

21、 recognize that he is a product of his environment. Part of the blame for Biggers crimes belongs to the fearful, hopeless existence that he has experienced in a racist society since birth. Max warns that there will be more men like Bigger if America does not put an end to the vicious cycle of hatred

22、 and vengeance. Despite Maxs arguments, Bigger is sentenced to death. Bigger is not a traditional hero by any means. However, Wright forces us to enter into Biggers mind and to understand the devastating effects of the social conditions in which he was raised. Bigger was not born a violent criminal.

23、 He is a “native son”: a product of American culture and the violence and racism that suffuse it.Character List Bigger Thomas Mary Dalton Mr. and Mrs. Dalton Jan Erlone Boris A. Max Bessie Mears Bigger Thomas The protagonist of Native Son. A poor, uneducated black man, Bigger comes from the lowest r

24、ung on the American social and economic ladder. As his lack of education has left him no option other than menial labor, he has felt trapped his whole life, resenting, hating, and fearing the whites who define the narrow confines of his existence. Bigger views white people as a collective, overwhelm

25、ing force that tells him where to live, where to work, and what to do. Mary Dalton The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dalton, Biggers wealthy employers. Mary identifies herself as a progressive, dates an admitted communist, and interacts with Bigger with little regard for the strict boundary society impos

26、es between black men and white women. Marys transgression of this boundary leads to her death and the resulting development of Biggers character. Mr. and Mrs. Dalton A white millionaire couple living in Chicago. Mrs. Dalton is blind; Mr. Dalton has earned a fortune in real estate. Although he profit

27、s from charging high rents to poor black tenantsincluding Biggers familyon Chicagos South Side, he nonetheless claims to be a generous philanthropist and supporter of black Americans. Jan Erlone A member of the Communist Party and Mary Daltons boyfrienda relationship that upsets Marys parents. Jan,

28、like Mary, wants to treat Bigger as an equal, but such untraditional behavior only frightens and angers Bigger. Jan later recognizes his mistake in trying to treat Bigger this way and becomes sympathetic toward his plight. Jan becomes especially aware of the social divisions that prevent Bigger from

29、 relating normally with white society. Boris A. Max A Jewish lawyer who works for the Labor Defenders, an organization affiliated with the Communist Party. Max argues, based on a sociological analysis of American society, that institutionalized racism and prejudicenot inherent ethnic qualitiescreate conditions for violence in urban ghettos. Bessie Mears Biggers girlfriend. Their relationship remains quite distant and is largely based upon mutual convenience rather than romantic love. Themes Racism The Hypocrisy of Justice