On The Culture Construction And Value Inheritance Of Richard Wright’s Novels

Richard Wright (1908-1960), widely reckoned as one of the greatest African American writers, is well known for his novels, poetry, and political essays. He made a great contribution to the development of African American literature and the Black Movements. Some of his works, especially the four protest novels:Uncle Tom’s Children (1938), Native Son (1940), Black Boy (1945), and The Long Dream (1958) are all evaluated as modern classics in American literature.Literature, as a cultural reflection, is drawn from the political, economic and cultural background in which its writer lives. Thus a conscientious writer is supposed to take the key problems in social and political life into account; and meanwhile, all his works tend to be based on the political, social and historical events of his times. As a black, Wright was keenly aware what it meant to be a black in America during the period:racial segregation, legal injustice, political oppression and economic exploitation, all of which made the blacks miserable. It’s during the era of rampant racism that Wright wrote out his anger by denouncing the American society for its injustice and inhumanity. In this sense, by exploring his motivations and implications, especially by analyzing the interior activities, behavior models and language patterns, it’s helpful to well understand the themes and techniques in Wright’s works; and it’s of great significance to understand the racial problems and social realities in America during the former part of the 20th century.It’s generally believed that Wright’s works written before 1945 were strikingly characteristic of "protest". Accordingly the works before 1945 were defined "protest novels", mainly including Uncle Tom’s Children, Native Son, Black Boy and The Long Dream. It has to be pointed out that The Long Dream was written in 1958 when Wright lived in France; however, it’s classified into the "protest novels" because of its subject matter. In these novels, Wright restated the same theme:there was an unbridgeable gap between the whites and the blacks, which was derived immediately from the racial prejudice, and prevented them from communicating with one another. A more appropriate way to understand the protest novels and the cultural logics is to explore Wright’s creative motivations and implications in the works, to make it clear the plight in which the blacks made a miserable life. The "protest novels" uncovered the struggles of the blacks and their protests. In fact, Wright did not aim to show how-much they suffered, but to awaken their rebellious spirits and to warn the whites of the possible consequence if they continued to be blind to the blacks. The "protest novels" attempted to remould the Negritude, in spite of a variety of unfavorable factors. This cultural logics is the key to Wright’s works and a major contribution he made to African American literature.All literary works have their own specific social background and their own distinctive manifestations. Thematically the "protest novels" are Wright’s unique cultural logics. In technical terms, Wright’s novels are characterized by detailed psychologies and vivid symbols. This is his narrative strategies. By referring to Freud’s psychoanalysis and Foucault’s theory of power, the novels can be well interpreted. The psychologies can be analyzed from two levels, one of which is the seeming hatred, fear and repression, and the other is the subconscious dream and hallucination. Besides, images, metaphors and symbols are in abundance to suggest the existential absurdity of the characters. Wright aimed at contrasting the black with the white, the weak with the strong, and the oppressed with the oppressing. The complicated psychologies highlighted the conflicts between them. And the psychological distortions thus embodied American policies. It’s clear that Wright deconstructed the traditional binary opposition of racial politics. In consequence, there arose his own narrative style.Obviously, as a pilot of the "protest novels", Wright was a transitional figure from Harlem Renaissance to Chicago Renaissance. His works are rich in striking revolutionary spirits, profound ideologies and artistic features. Wright got to the issues of race, class and black culture, and thus extended the subjects and themes of African American literature. The years between 1940 and 1957 were even regarded as "Wright’s Era" by African American scholars because of his tremendous influences.Wright, as the most representative writer in African American literature, launched a literary trend, being followed by a large group of writers. Wright’s ideology was well inherited and developed. Wright refused to flatter the whites and insisted on revealing the blacks’voice, thus changed the possibilities of African American writers. It’s Wright’s daring experiment that contributed to the remarkable accomplishments of such writers as James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison and Toni Morrison, and that developed African American literature into a new stage.From the perspective of literature history, Wright played a critical role in connecting the traditional and the contemporary, launching a new era of self-awareness and introspection not only on the fate of the blacks, but also on the being of the whole humans. With regard to textual strategies, Wright’s novels enrich the African American literature with new themes, varied techniques and intense implications, bridging Harlem Renaissance and the flowering of the black literature in the 1960s.Considering his immense contributions to modern African American literature, it’s of great values to study and interpret Wright’s works. Wright put forward and interpreted the issue of Blackness, involving with racial, class, and cultural problems in modern America, thus enhancing the themes of African American literature. In addition, Richard Wright was reputable as a social activist of racial discriminations and class oppressions. Moreover, his involvement and disagreement with American Leftism is also inspiring and instructive for the study of International Communist Movement and the related literature policies. A reassessment for Wright’s works is made possible because of the new social demand and new critical theories. The complexity and intensity, the variety and richness in Wright’s novels live up to a further exploration and elucidation.