Native Son Essay: Analysis of Setting, Major, and Minor Themes

Analysis of Setting, Major, and Minor Themesof Native boy The major themes of Native parole are surround, racism, black rage, religion, Communism, determinism and freedom. A minor theme is the relationship in the midst of men and women. One of the major themes of Native Son is the effect of environment on behavior and personality. Thus, setting is peculiarly important in the novel. The tosh takes place in Chicago in the late 1930s, when the United States had unbosom not recovered from the Great Depression. Jobs are scarce, and Bigger and his pool-hall friends are among the some(prenominal) unemployed. Richard Wright was influenced by the literary school of naturalism, whose adherents tried to observe and record their world, and especially its more unpleasant parts, with scientific accuracy. Wright knew Depression-era Chicago well and drew hard on his first-hand knowledge. In many respects, the Chicago of Native Son is an entire representation even in its details. For exampl e, Ernies Kitchen Shack at Forty-seventh lane and Indiana Avenue was modeled on a real eatery called The Chicken Shack, located at 4647 Indiana Avenue and owned by a man named Ernie. Two aspects of Biggers environment influence him especially strongly- his exertion to Chicagos black South Side ghetto and his glimpses of the dazzling white world, of which he feels he can never be part. Biggers family shares a rat-infested room, but, when he sees an airplane trajectory overhead or views the glamorous life portrayed in a... ...eds. Conversations with Richard Wright. capital of Mississippi University Press of Mississippi, 1993. Kinnamon, Keneth. The Emergence of Richard Wright A Study Literature and Society. Urbana U of Illinois P, 1973. Kinnamon, Keneth, ed. young Essays on Native Son. New York Cambridge UP, 1990. Macksey, Richard and Frank E. Moorer, eds. Richard Wright A Collection of life-sustaining Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ learner-Hall, 1984. Margolies, Edward. The A rt of Richard Wright. Carbondale Southern Illinois UP, 1969. Miller, Eugene E. Voice of a Native Son The Poetics of Richard Wright. Jackson University Press of Mississippi, 1990. Rampersad, Arnold, ed. Richard Wright A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice Hall, 1995.