Native Son was one of those heartbreaking novels that, when I turned the final page and closed the book, caused me to heave a giant sigh and close my eyes so I could center myself. Wow, I thought. Wow.
The author, Richard Wright, essentially wrote an exposé of racial tensions and divides in 1930s Chicago and tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a young man who, while a bit unsympathetic as a character, tragically lives out his fate of devastating crime and murder. It raises difficult questions about whether people, in particular those who are oppressed by those who have power, can live an existence outside of the ugly stereotypes imposed upon them. Bigger is an extreme example of somebody who falls victim to a life tainted with, and at the same time created by, terrible racial injustice. At the same time, his story of limited opportunities and of institutional and individual misunderstanding is not so extreme, and he demonstrates the dangers of a racist society.
It's no surprise that Native Son has landed on so many banned book lists and is often challenged when it appears on reading lists-- to be fair, it has some brutal scenes that were a tad horrifying. However, they serve a purpose in the novel, and I think its handling of the complicated truths of racism and hatred make this book one that must be read, not one that must be feared or censored.
Overall, I think that this is a powerful book, and it's clear how it landed on the 100 Best Novels list. If you're in the mood for an emotional, gripping read, consider Native Son!
Overall, I think that this is a powerful book, and it's clear how it landed on the 100 Best Novels list. If you're in the mood for an emotional, gripping read, consider Native Son!
Twitter * Bloglovin * Google+ * Instagram * Tumblr
2. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov
13. "1984," George Orwell
18. "Slaughterhouse Five," Kurt Vonnegut
20. "Native Son," Richard Wright
31. "Animal Farm," George Orwell
41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding
64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger
88. "The Call of the Wild," Jack London
100 Best Novels
1. "Ulysses," James Joyce
5. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley
6. "The Sound and the Fury," William Faulkner
8. "Darkness at Noon," Arthur Koestler
9. "Sons and Lovers," D. H. Lawrence
10. "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck
11. "Under the Volcano," Malcolm Lowry
12. "The Way of All Flesh," Samuel Butler
14. "I, Claudius," Robert Graves
16. "An American Tragedy," Theodore Dreiser
17. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," Carson McCullers
19. "Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison
21. "Henderson the Rain King," Saul Bellow
22. "Appointment in Samarra," John O' Hara
23. "U.S.A." (trilogy), John Dos Passos
24. "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson
25. "A Passage to India," E. M. Forster
27. "The Ambassadors," Henry James
29. "The Studs Lonigan Trilogy," James T. Farrell
30. "The Good Soldier," Ford Madox Ford
32. "The Golden Bowl," Henry James
33. "Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser
34. "A Handful of Dust," Evelyn Waugh
35. "As I Lay Dying," William Faulkner
36. "All the King's Men," Robert Penn Warren
37. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder
38. "Howards End," E. M. Forster
39. "Go Tell It on the Mountain," James Baldwin
40. "The Heart of the Matter," Graham Greene
42. "Deliverance," James Dickey
43. "A Dance to the Music of Time" (series), Anthony Powell
44. "Point Counter Point," Aldous Huxley
46. "The Secret Agent," Joseph Conrad
47. "Nostromo," Joseph Conrad
48. "The Rainbow," D. H. Lawrence
49. "Women in Love," D. H. Lawrence
50. "Tropic of Cancer," Henry Miller
52. "Portnoy's Complaint," Philip Roth
53. "Pale Fire," Vladimir Nabokov
54. "Light in August," William Faulkner
55. "On the Road," Jack Kerouac
56. "The Maltese Falcon," Dashiell Hammett
57. "Parade's End," Ford Madox Ford
58. "The Age of Innocence," Edith Wharton
59. "Zuleika Dobson," Max Beerbohm
60. "The Moviegoer," Walker Percy
61. "Death Comes to the Archbishop," Willa Cather
62. "From Here to Eternity," James Jones
63. "The Wapshot Chronicles," John Cheever
65. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess
66. "Of Human Bondage," W. Somerset Maugham
67. "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad
68. "Main Street," Sinclair Lewis
69. "The House of Mirth," Edith Wharton
70. "The Alexandria Quartet," Lawrence Durrell
71. "A High Wind in Jamaica," Richard Hughes
72. "A House for Ms. Biswas," V. S. Naipaul
73. "The Day of the Locust," Nathaniel West
75. "Scoop," Evelyn Waugh
77. "Finnegans Wake," James Joyce
78. "Kim," Rudyard Kipling
79. "A Room With a View," E. M. Forster
80. "Brideshead Revisited," Evelyn Waugh
81. "The Adventures of Augie March," Saul Bellow
82. "Angle of Repose," Wallace Stegner
83. "A Bend in the River," V. S. Naipaul
84. "The Death of the Heart," Elizabeth Bowen
85. "Lord Jim," Joseph Conrad
86. "Ragtime," E. L. Doctorow
87. "The Old Wives' Tale," Arnold Bennett
89. "Loving," Henry Green
90. "Midnight's Children," Salman Rushdie
91. "Tobacco Road," Erskine Caldwell
92. "Ironweed," William Kennedy
93. "The Magus," John Fowles
94. "Wide Sargasso Sea," Jean Rhys
95. "Under the Net," Iris Murdoch
96. "Sophie's Choice," William Styron
97. "The Sheltering Sky," Paul Bowles
98. "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James M. Cain
99. "The Ginger Man," J. P. Donleavy
100. "The Magnificent Ambersons," Booth Tarkington
