Native Son

One ofThe Atlantic's Great American Novels&quote;If one had to identify the single most influential shaping force in modern Black literary history, one would probably have to point to Wright and the publication ofNative Son.&quote; - Henry Louis Gates Jr.&quote;&quote;The most powerful American novel to appear sinceThe Grapes of Wrath.&quote;&quote;-The New YorkerWhen it was first published in 1940,Native Sonestablished Richard Wright as a literary star. In the decades since, Wright's masterpiece-hailed by Newsweek as &quote;&quote;a novel of tremendous power and beauty&quote;&quote;-has become a revered classic that remains as timely and relevant today as when it first appeared.Set in Chicago in the 1930s,Native Sonis the story of Bigger Thomas, a young Black man caught in a downward spiral after killing a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Written with the distinctive rhythm of a modern crime story, this formidable work is both a condemnation of social injustice and an unsparing portrait of the Black experience in America, revealing the tragic effect of poverty, racism, and hopelessness on the human spirit. &quote;&quote;I wroteNative Sonto show what manner of men and women our 'society of the majority' breeds, and my aim was to depict a character in terms of the living tissue and texture of daily consciousness,&quote;&quote; Wright explained.