Theme Of Racism In Native Son

Oppression and Racism what are they? The dictionary defines oppression as “A prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or exercise of authority”, and Racism as “A belief that a particular race or group of people is superior or inferior to another”. Both of these exist in many societies and take on many forms and have no respect of your gender, your race or your financial status. In the early 1900’s in many parts of the United States these forces affected the decisions of many and controlled many of the actions of the people in that era. These people were ignorant to the fact that all men were equal in the eyes of God. Richard Wright in his novel, “Native Son” introduces Bigger Thomas and details his life as a black man living in what he calls a white world. He shows how the black people were oppressed and the white people were the oppressors. In this novel Bigger

Bigger a twenty year old man who was poor, uneducated and lived with his family in a very cramped apartment in Chicago. The neighborhood these apartments were in was considered to be the slums. These apartments were nothing like the white people’s apartments and many of them were being taken over by rats. Yet the blacks paid high price for them. Wright writes "Gimme that skillet, Buddy," he asked quietly, not taking his eyes from the rat (10), and “black people, even though they cannot get good jobs, pay twice as much rent as whites” (248). Bigger was ashamed of the way his family lived as he saw how whites lived, and felt there was nothing he could do to change it. Yet he knew that he had to be the provider for his family. Wright further expressed how Bigger felt by the phrase “We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things we ain’t. They do things we can’t. It’s just like living in jail