Interpreting Richard Wright’s Titles of “Fear”, “Flight”, & “Fate” in Native Son
Native Son by Richard Wright tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black man living in Chicago in the 1930s. Readers are introduced to a life-changing portion of Bigger’s life through a series of situations that change Bigger’s perspective on life forever. Native Son’s rapid-paced story follows Bigger from when he lands a job as a chauffeur with a white real-estate magnate, Mr. Dalton, to standing in a courtroom being sentenced to death over Mary Dalton’s death. The book is formatted into three separate “books” that all follow a different theme: Fear, Flight, and Fate. The three titles connect to Bigger’s overlying attitude throughout his journey.
The first book is titled “Fear.” The opening scene of book one immediately draws the connection between Bigger’s emotions and the book title. Bigger must kill a rat, while his mom and sister stand on their bed in fear. Immediately after this event, readers are further introduced to Bigger’s fear when Bigger beats up his friend Gus, in order to avoid robbing a white man’s store. Here he disguises his fear of robbing the store and hides it with anger towards Gus for being late. This hidden fear that Bigger carries with him snowball throughout the rest of book one. Bigger’s fear grows stronger as he visits Mr. Dalton’s home, his new white boss. He is introduced to his daughter, the eccentric Mary Dalton, whom Bigger becomes quickly terrified of. Later that evening, Bigger is tasked with chauffeuring Mary Dalton, and later Mary’s friend Jan as well. Their overly friendly attitudes towards Bigger and their insistence on wanting to be “equals” with Bigger drive him over the edge. Unable to handle their unpredictable mannerisms, Bigger’s fear and frustrations towards Mary and Jan grow throughout the night. At the end of the night, Bigger’s fear ends in him smothering Mary Dalton to death. After the murder takes place, the fear that had trapped Bigger throughout the first book is released and for a brief period of time, Bigger feels freedom.
Book two takes on the title of “Flight” and readers begin to feel an increase in the urgent tone of the book. After murdering Mary Dalton, Bigger formulates a plan to convince everyone that he is not guilty or related to her death in any way. Eventually discovered for his crime, Bigger spends much of book two in a state of “Flight”. Bigger runs from Dalton’s house to Bessie’s house, creating a plan to evade the police. He then escapes with Bessie to an abandoned building, where he is later discovered on the roof of an apartment building. The depiction of Bigger’s flight creates a sense of desperation and panic. Bigger’s fear from the last book continues into his flight stage and propels his distress in escaping the law enforcement. “Flight” signifies not only Bigger physically running away from the police, but the release of killing Mary. In book two he is finally free of the torment and fear she places on him. Although a part of that fear remains in being caught, Bigger feels a sense of freedom.
In the third and final book of Native Son, the title of “Fate” refers to Bigger’s life now being in the hands of the justice system and in court. His fate and life are on the line throughout the chapter as Bigger comes face to face with the American justice system. Bigger’s sense of flight and fear is lost in this final book, and an overwhelming sense of defeat sets in. Bigger knows that no matter what his lawyer Max says to try and convince the judge, he will be sentenced to death for his crimes. Richard Wright extends the theme of Fate past the character of Bigger. Wright discusses where the rest of the characters Fate’s lie after Bigger is sentenced. What will Bigger’s mother and siblings do? Bigger’s friends? Mr. and Mrs. Dalton and Jan and Max? All of these characters were an intricate part of Bigger’s journey. Their fate was interwoven with Bigger’s. Bigger choosing to end Mary’s life became her fate and later resulted in Bigger’s life ending on the electric chair. Fate is not something a person can directly control, but oftentimes your Fate may change based on another person’s decision. Richard Wright concludes Native Son with Bigger’s fate, his death sentence.
- Amalia B.
Wow, this was a really good post! This was an interesting topic to write about and I like how you connected the titles of the book to Biggers life. I especially liked the point you made about the title of the book fate and how it relates to the conclusion of the book ( i.e. Biggers fate). great work!
ReplyDeleteHi, I think this blog post is a super interesting concept and definitely not something I had thought about that much! You definitely nailed the breakdown of the meaning behind each title - fear summarizes the main feeling that's going through Bigger's head until he kills Mary, and you can sort of feel the intoxication and the urgency in the second book. Fate also captures the feeling of helplessness in Book 3. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHey Amalia! I think you did a great job summarizing the events of Native Son, and relating each of the titles of the three "Books" to these events. I found your insight on Bigger' losing his sense of flight and fear upon entering into Book 3 especially interesting, as I had always attributed Bigger's life to an amalgamation of fear, flight, and fate. However, it definitely makes sense that Bigger would have resigned to signing away his life in prison, thus dismissing his sense of fear and flight. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post and I think you summed up the titles and their meanings very well. When I first read the book, I didn't think much of the titles, but after looking back, you can see how well they fit the events of the story and I think you laid that out perfectly. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an awesome blog post! I also was very interested in how Wright split up this novel. At first, only having the three different sections seemed a little overwhelming and I wondered why he had written the novel in this way. However, after (and even while) reading, I realized just how much these titles and sectioning off the novel into the three different “books” made a difference and made the narrative flow smoothly together. The big “chunks” made much more sense. Through the different titles, as you say, we can really feel that transition from one emotion to the other, and Richard Wright is making this super deliberate and clear throughout. As the themes progress logically, so does Biggers story. I also really enjoyed the idea that you mentioned that these books are not separate, but rather continue to build off of each other. “Flight,” for instance, is different from “fear,” but not separate from it. One was a direct consequence of the other, and the fear still seems to continue. Also, I really love the idea that you introduce at the end, where often we cannot control our fate, but other people’s actions do, which seems to be a core aspect of Bigger’s story.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very compelling blog post!
Thanks!
This is a fantastic blog post! Not only is the content of this post insightful, but the technical format of it is organized and straightforward. It is also apparent that you have an innate ability to articulate the titles of the three books and their significance within the context of Native Son. I also really like how you mention that the underlying fear within Bigger snowballs throughout the rest of the book. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis post is very intriguing and I think you did an amazing job of relating the three titles within the book to the various events that occur throughout. You did this in an orderly manner, and I was able to follow along with a clear head and really see the differences between the three titles and how they were connected. Great job!
ReplyDelete