Marxist’s Class Struggle Reflected From The Murder In Native Son

Recognized as one of the most respected spokesman for the oppressed blackAmericans, Richard Wright enjoyed a reputation for the father of black Americanliterature. Wright was famous for his representative work Native Son, which had beenconsidered as a milestone of black literature. Native Son portrayed the racism andclass struggle in American society and produced a profound impact on theconsciousness of both black and white American community.It was a social protest novel that reflected the black man’s absolute horror at thecondition of the relationships between the black and white societies in America.Through a young black man named Bigger Thomas, Wright told the story of thepoverty-stricken, hatred-ridden world of1930’s Chicago a typical African-Americanmale struggling through life and trying to climb his way up the poverty ladder. Biggerwas a product of this society and embodied a new type of African Americanpersonality. Rebellious by nature, he was never able to feel at peace with the world.He felt nothing but fear toward the white society. At last, Bigger was driven to takehostile actions as a result of his rage, which eventually led him to be convicted andsentenced to the electric chair.This thesis was to explore the center of Bigger Thomas’s tragedy from theMarxist’s class struggle. Marxism was the political and economic ideas of Karl Marxand Friedrich Engels in which the concept of class struggle played a primary role in analyzing Western society. Class struggle was well reflected in Native Son. DuringBigger’s time in jail, the clash of Bourgeoisie and Proletariat became crystal clear.Bigger’s communist lawyer Max argued in court and defended the case that there wasno way out from this destiny. Mr. Dalton, on behalf of the upper class, which wasinitially the richer group and having more resources and materials, continued toaccumulate wealth in the capitalist society, while the working class continued to crawlin darkness, got poorer and shoddier, due to the lack of opportunity in the economicfront monopolized by the Bourgeoisie. Besides that, class discrimination and thecapitalists’ blindness to the real needs of the working people had created theconditions for Bigger’s crime and therefore they should bear responsibility for it.