“Jungle Beast:” An Examination of the Effects of Stereotypes on African Americans within Wright’s Native Son             Anonymous College

Richard Wright’s Native Son (1940) is submerged in heightened emotion as it deals with Bigger Thomas’s life in segregated Southside Chicago in the 1930s. Depravity intertwines so deeply with Bigger’s narrative in the novel that there seems to be a kind of inevitability tied with his crime and imprisonment. The novel is layered, sophisticatedly so but, at the core of the novel, it deals with extremely basic emotions and ideas. Bigger is a purposeful contradiction in many sections of the novel as Wright attempts to combat many of the stereotypical expectations placed upon African Americans. Bigger is the rapist, savage, and victim because he must be everyone and no one. Thus, Wright in Native Son explores the stereotype of a primal savage in the novel using the section titles “Fear,” “Flight” and “Fate” that highlight the severe consequences of societal restrictions and marginalization on African Americans on their psyche.

Moreover, in order to first understand the mentality of African Americans, we must first understand the meaning of fear which, is so fully entrenched in the novel. The opening scene of the novel shows Bigger’s family in a one-bedroom apartment when they see a rat. Wright states, “’ There he is again. Bigger!’...