Native Son

     In Native Son, a novel by Richard Wright, takes focus on the life of a poor African-American male living in the slums of Chicago. The man is named Bigger, throughout the novel, the reader understands how he feels and how he thinks. Starting in the beginning. Bigger was a poor boy living in the slums of Chicago in the 1920's, and all that changed when he was offered a job by the rich Dalton family. Bigger had just taken up the job offer until he screwed it up. Big time. He killed the Dalton's' daughter, Mary, and even dared to ask them for a ransom. But when the body of Mary was discovered, Bigger was forced to run away with his girlfriend Betsy. Bigger and Betsy ran and ran, and when night came, took shelter. Bigger then took this opportunity to not only rape, but murder the poor defenseless girl as well. But, after a long chase, Bigger was caught, and his trial begins.

Bigger's lawyer, an aging man named Max, provided quite a defense for Bigger. He claimed Bigger to be guilty, but only because what he did was caused by the white society. Max says that Bigger only killed because he saw no way out of what he had done. As it turns out, when people are cornered, they fight like hell. No matter what, people want to get out unscathed, and they will do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.