Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion

If anyone would like to lead the Black History Month discussion for Native Son, please let me know. You can respond here or dm me directly. Thanks.

I think a POC reader should probably lead the Black History Month discussion, so I won't volunteer, but I did read this fairly recently and am looking forward to discussing it with you folks.

My review is here.

Our Black History Month discussion of NATIVE SON will begin on February 1st. Here is the reading schedule:

Book One - Feb 1 thru 6
Book Two - Feb 7 thru 13

Entire book open February 14th

Note: There are countless editions of this book with various authors providing forewords and introductions. Feel free to comment on it if you choose to do so as long as it doesn’t provide spoilers as many are wont to do.

Happy Black History Month & Happy Reading!

I read both NATIVE SON & BLACK BOY umpteen years ago. However, I don’t remember either of them. I do recall BB touched me more. Maybe because Black Boy is Wrights’ story. What about you? Have you read them both and if so are you team NS or BB?

Born: Richard Nathaniel Wright
September 4, 1908
Plantation, Roxie, Mississippi, U.S.

Died: November 28, 1960 (aged 52)
Paris, France

Richard Nathaniel Wright (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960) was an American author of novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially related to the plight of African Americans during the late 19th to mid 20th centuries suffering discrimination and violence. His best known works include the novella collection Uncle Tom's Children (1938), the novel Native Son (1940), and the memoir Black Boy (1945). Literary critics believe his work helped change race relations in the United States in the mid-20th century. (wiki)

Happy Black History Month everyone! Our discussion for Native Son starts today.

What’s your Native Son story? Did you previously read the book and if so when? Did you read any of his other books? Are you planning or currently rereading it for this discussion?

Fun fact: Native Son was a regular atop the bestseller lists and became the first book by an African American writer to be selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club.

Book One is titled Fear. Why did Wright give that the title?

ColumbusReads wrote: "Happy Black History Month everyone! Our discussion for Native Son starts today.

What’s your Native Son story? Did you previously read the book and if so when? Did you read any of his other books? ..."

I will start rereading it shortly. Sadly I really can't remember much of the story, it has been over a half century since I read it. But I remember more about the surrounding political implications. There was bad blood between he and Ralph Ellison. Ellison's "Invisible Man" being favored by the established gatekeepers and Wright being shunned for his radical "communist" beliefs. I, of course, firmly in the Richard Wright corner....Their struggles were a little before my time but it's one that continues to this day in literature and life. The establishment approved or the rabble rouser?

William wrote: "ColumbusReads wrote: "Happy Black History Month everyone! Our discussion for Native Son starts today.

What’s your Native Son story? Did you previously read the book and if so when? Did you read an..."

Yes, I couldn’t recall if the bad blood was between Wright & Ellison or Wright & Baldwin or Baldwin & Ellison. Whoo, too much beefin’ going on. I want to read more about that. I have that big biography on Ellison from several years ago. I’ll have to check in there.

“The artist must bow to the monster of his own imagination.”
― Richard Wright

-Is Bigger a sympathetic character to you in any way? How do you feel about his character?
-Is Mary’s death an accident or murder? Why do you feel that way?

Seems like Wright had beef with just about everybody at one time. I read a biography of Chester Himes, and he also had beefs at some times and friendships at other times with Wright, Ellison, and Baldwin, if I'm recalling correctly.

Sarah wrote: "Seems like Wright had beef with just about everybody at one time. I read a biography of Chester Himes, and he also had beefs at some times and friendships at other times with Wright, Ellison, and B..."

Yikes!

Sarah wrote: "Seems like Wright had beef with just about everybody at one time. I read a biography of Chester Himes, and he also had beefs at some times and friendships at other times with Wright, Ellison, and B..."

By the way, how was the Himes bio?

I just saw a posting from Baldwin & Company bookstore in New Orleans that Richard Wright and James Baldwin got into a heated discussion over Baldwin’s criticism of Native Son from the essay, Everybody’s Protest Novel. I understand they were very close to “rearranging furniture.”

Fact: Wright's works have been frequently challenged or banned, ostensibly for graphic or violent content.

ColumbusReads wrote: "Book One is titled Fear. Why did Wright give that the title?"

Bigger's friend Gus recognizes that all of his bluster and bullying tactics stem from his deeply ingrained fears of his circumstances. He is scared of doing the robbery, getting a job and the wider white world. The title is quite appropriate.

“All literature is protest.”
― Richard Wright

The Himes bio was excellent. I gave it 5 stars. It was this one:
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/sho...

Sarah wrote: "The Himes bio was excellent. I gave it 5 stars. It was this one:
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/sho..."

Oh thanks. Just reminded me that I need to pick up that one.

William wrote: "ColumbusReads wrote: "Book One is titled Fear. Why did Wright give that the title?"

Bigger's friend Gus recognizes that all of his bluster and bullying tactics stem from his deeply ingrained fears..."

Gus and the other two are a motley crew indeed. I think they were all a little afraid to pull this off, no? The penalty for robbing a white man would be worse than for a Black man. There certainly was that fear.

I was thinking of Bigger’s fear throughout this first section. The fear of working for the white man and the fear he faced in the actual crime. How to get rid of and explain the crime. Then there was white folks fear of Blacks as well.

“They hate because they fear, and they fear because they feel that the deepest feelings of their lives are being assaulted and outraged. And they do not know why; they are powerless pawns in a blind play of social forces.”
― Richard Wright

I had forgotten how truly sad and tragic this tale is. I think the writing being so direct and unassuming (not high literature as his critics have pointed out) only magnifies the effect.

Discussing Books 1-2

Did you know that Pulitzer Prize and National Humanities Medal winner, Isabel Wilkerson, got the title of her book, The Warmth Of Other Sons from Richard Wright? Here’s his quote:

“I was leaving the South
to fling myself into the unknown . . .
I was taking a part of the South
to transplant in alien soil,
to see if it could grow differently,
if it could drink of new and cool rains,
bend in strange winds,
respond to the warmth of other suns
and, perhaps, to bloom”
― Richard Wright

William wrote: "I had forgotten how truly sad and tragic this tale is. I think the writing being so direct and unassuming (not high literature as his critics have pointed out) only magnifies the effect."

Yes, I was thinking the same thing, William. This hits a little differently as an adult. I don’t know what I was thinking reading this book as a 14 or 15 year old, many moons ago.

Thinking about reading this book when I did as a teenager (14, 15). Where are you all on banning books? This book in particular since it’s been high up on the frequently banned list. Are there questionable scenes or subjects here you would have issue with? Be honest.

Near the beginning of Book Two, Bigger see’s the gang at the drug store/bar and buys them all cigarettes and gives each a dollar. He then leaves and the line; “ it was the first time he had ever been in their presence, without filling fearful.”

ColumbusReads wrote: "Near the beginning of Book Two, Bigger see’s the gang at the drug store/bar and buys them all cigarettes and gives each a dollar. He then leaves and the line; “ it was the first time he had ever be..."

This scene takes place after Bigger has had the fight with Gus. I think of Gus as an important character in that he sees Bigger for what he is. He recognizes that the only reason he wants to fight him is because it he who is really afraid to do the robbery and he that is scared to confront a White man. That Bigger is projecting all his fears and cowardice unto him and that he knows if he starts the fight, the gang will not go forward with the robbery plans.
I thought the scene where Bigger distributes the money and cigarettes to be a little inauthentic. In my experience after you pull a knife and almost kill someone, you don't forgive and forget for a dollar and a pack of cigarettes!

William wrote: "ColumbusReads wrote: "I thought the scene where Bigger distributes the money and cigarettes to be a little inauthentic. In my experience after you pull a knife."

I was thinking, what’s his reasoning or motivation for doing this.

“But the color of a Negro's skin makes him easily recognizable, makes him suspect, converts him into a defenseless target”
― Richard Wright

Hi. I finished Native Son, audio book, and watched the movie. The movie is great but NOT a stand-in for the book. Totally different ending and lacks the strange strength of what Bigger experiences as liberation, as well as the portrayal of his family. I was astounded at the very modern quality of Wright's authority as a writer and am somewhat also chagrined at how long I've lived with out reading this classic. So thankful the group voted to read this book, showing me once again the importance of a discussion group such as this one.

Susan wrote: "Hi. I finished Native Son, audio book, and watched the movie. The movie is great but NOT a stand-in for the book. Totally different ending and lacks the strange strength of what Bigger experiences ..."

I had a similar reaction, Susan. I barely remember the film, but I don't think the novel will ever leave me, mainly because of the vivid way Wright captures Bigger's inner life, which is full of all the same contradictions as the society that produced him.

It surprises me that anyone would challenge the literary quality of Wright's work; I think his writing is beautiful and every bit as compelling now as when the novel was first published, just over 80 years ago. As much as I love Baldwin, I totally understand why Native Son is considered an American classic.

“I feel that for white America to understand the significance of the problem of the Negro will take a bigger and tougher America than any we have yet known. I feel that America's past is too shallow, her national character too superficially optimistic, her very morality too suffused with color hate for her to accomplish so vast and complex a task. Culturally the Negro represents a paradox: Though he is an organic part of the nation, he is excluded by the ride and direction of American culture. Frankly, it is felt to be right to exclude him, and it if felt to be wrong to admit him freely. Therefore if, within the confines of its present culture, the nation ever seeks to purge itself of its color hate, it will find itself at war with itself, convulsed by a spasm of emotional and moral confusion. If the nation ever finds itself examining its real relation to the Negro, it will find itself doing infinitely more than that; for the anti-Negro attitude of whites represents but a tiny part - though a symbolically significant one - of the moral attitude of the nation. Our too-young and too-new America, lusty because it is lonely, aggressive because it is afraid, insists upon seeing the world in terms of good and bad, the holy and the evil, the high and the low, the white and the black; our America is frightened of fact, of history, of processes, of necessity. It hugs the easy way of damning those whom it cannot understand, of excluding those who look different, and it salves its conscience with a self-draped cloak of righteousness. Am I damning my native land? No; for I, too, share these faults of character! And I really do not think that America, adolescent and cocksure, a stranger to suffering and travail, an enemy of passion and sacrifice, is ready to probe into its most fundamental beliefs.”
― Richard Wright

Book Two is titled Flight. Why did Wright name it that?

ColumbusReads wrote: "Book One is titled Fear. Why did Wright give that the title?"

This is my first time reading Native Son. I just finished Book One and it felt to me like fear permeated every thought, emotion, and decision that Bigger had. Whether that was determining to rob the store, being scared of what would happen if they went through with it, but also being scared of admitting he didn't want to do it, and any interaction with the Daltons or Jan. I know I can feel/hear it in the text, a nervous energy about what might happen next, that ever present concern. Bigger also talked about being so conscious of his skin, his history, and what people might be thinking and saying about him at any given time. I can understand that feeling. And with that constant thought, how the fear can get amplified by even small interactions, let alone feeling caught in the wrong place or ending up with someone dead by your hands.

"That was the way he lived; he passed his days trying to defeat or gratify powerful impulses in a world he feared." This statement early in the first part of the book before he takes the job at the Dalton's foretells what's to come.
His complete unfamiliarity with communism let him to react in the a fearful and antagonistic way to Jan and Mary's overtures. Communism was a much larger presence in American life in the 30's, 40's and 50's than it is now. Do you think today's society is richer or poorer for this lost political/economic party?

wow i just finished my first read of native son. i had heard of the book before but really didnt know anything about it. didnt have any concept of what the story would be like or what year it was written. im floored.

and i wanted to weigh in on a much earlier question re: book bans. im never a proponent of censorship myself, but i can *absolutely* understand why this book has been banned! (maybe not in recent years as much, but absolutely for the time it was written.) -- wright so boldly names the race and class structures upon which this american value system is built, and gives us a myriad of complex white, black, communist, and jewish characters to see interacting with each other during a time where such activity was not permitted. his storytelling is so powerful and his character development so compelling, wright not only catches one's attentions but also makes the reader question everything about the fabric of their knowing they know the deeper they go. these are the types of books that find themselves on the chopping block in a society that relies on citizens not challenging the status quo.

Coming in June:

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/97803...

oo i would check that out for sure

ColumbusReads wrote: "Coming in June:

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/97803..."

In my edition of the book is a 30 page addendum by Richard Wright titled, "How Bigger was born". Really interesting and informative. This book seems an update and expansion of that piece.

Rutt, I’m glad you brought up the issue of book bans again. As I previously said, I’m not sure what my thoughts about this book were back in ‘73/‘74 when I read this book? Would my mom have approved of this? She certainly wasn’t happen to see me reading my big sis’s copy of Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint. My feelings now about book bans are like yours, Rutt.

It’s funny, I wore my recently bought “READ BANNED BOOKS” T-shirt out and about this weekend and got so many excited comments and looks. Mostly from the youngens though - or maybe they were just the ones who had the nerve to say something. From some others I just got curious looks.

What’s others opinion about book bans and Native Son?

“With ever watchful eyes and bearing scars, visible and invisible, I headed North, full of a hazy notion that life could be lived with dignity, that the personalities of others should not be violated, that men should be able to confront other men without fear or shame, and that if men were lucky in their living on earth they might win some redeeming meaning for the having struggled and suffered here beneath the stars.”
― Richard Wright

Entire book open for discussion today.

I found the third part of the book, with it's long soliloquies, monologues, and philosophical musings to be very different from the other two. But Wright does a good job of looking at Bigger from all sides.

i agree. i liked how wright laid out directly, through these monologues, some of what had been alluded to throughout the book.

I intend to finish up later today or tomorrow for sure. I’m so anxious to find out Bigger’s fate. I don’t recall any of this book from reading it in the 70’s.

This is my first time attempting to read this book. I only just finished Part I. I do NOT normally DNF books, but I don’t think I’ll be able to continue. I don’t know if I just don’t like or it’s just too heavy/much for me. I think it’s probably a combination but the idea of not liking/DNFing a literary classic is a little damaging to my intellectual ego. Maybe I’ll try again later.

Tamika wrote: "This is my first time attempting to read this book. I only just finished Part I. I do NOT normally DNF books, but I don’t think I’ll be able to continue. I don’t know if I just don’t like or it’s j..."

I understand, Tamika. Up until the beginning of 2023 i probably only DNF’d a handful of books in my lifetime. I never felt good about not finishing a book. But, not anymore. I told myself the beginning of last year I will not force myself to read a book if I’m not feeling it within like 50-70 pages. I DNF’d more books in the last 6 months than I’ve read. And glad I did.