Native Son Essay

The urbanization of the United States of America has progressed throughout the entire history. Since 19th century the country has been transformed from a predominantly rural nation into an urbanized one.
However the attitude of Americans towards the city and urban life has been changing over the years. Main social issues of 20th century have been changing from combating poverty and racism in 1930s - 1940s through predominance of wealth and status and the emptiness of suburbia in 1950s - 1970s, culminating with phoniness, artificiality and manipulation of citizens in 1990s.
Since literature and cinema have always been the major outlets for the social and political concerns of the society, in this paper we will analyze four texts and track
In this novel the author writes three books in one to describe his view of the city as oppressed, blind, and ignorant to humanity.
Wright uses Bigger’s violent and exasperated attitude towards almost everyone in the novel (mainly white people) to show how the white people in the community basically forced black people to be placed in a fearful state of mind, dragging them down to where there is no escape from poverty. This is can be seen when Bigger imitates white folks and realizes white people superiority. He states "They don’t let us do nothing… We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things and we ain’t. They do things and we can’t. It’s just like living in jail. Half the time I feel like I’m on the outside of the world peeping in through a knothole in the fence..." It was still obvious that during this time period in the city racism and segregation played a huge part in the society causing white people to continuously have unlimited power while the blacks were limited to their own decisions, keeping them trapped in the
“Daylight. When was the last time you remember seeing it? And I'm not talking about some distant, half-forgotten childhood memory. I mean like yesterday? Last week? When? Can you come up with a single memory? You can't, can you? You know something? I don't think the sun even exists in this place, because I've been up for hours and hours and hours and the night never ends here.” This quote shows how everyone is left in a dark place, living in suspicion and there’s no escape from it. Because of this, John tries to escape to the beach, where its more “bright” and “happy”, whereas the city where its gloomy and foreboding. Alex portrays the atmosphere of the city as a dark environment to show us how the city can be a dull place, full of depression and