An Analysis Of Native Son From Aristotle's Theory Of Tragedy

Native Son is the representative work of Richard Wright,an African-American writer.Native Son was published in 1940,which is recognized as the beginning of a new era in African-American literature and occupies an important station in the history of American literature and even the history of the world.The paper applies Aristotle's theory of tragedy as the basic framework to analyze the novel Native Son.This study is a new attempt to interpret the Native Son.It also provides a new perspective for further study of Richard Wright and his works.The thesis consists of three parts: the introduction,the main body and the conclusion part.The introduction part makes a brief introduction of Richard Wright,the main plot of Native Son and Aristotle's theory of tragedy.At the same time,it makes an analysis and summary about the research status of the novel at home and abroad.The body part of the paper is divided into three chapters.The first chapter analyzes the tragic plot of the novel.First,Aristotle proposed that tragic plot is an imitation of an action that is admirable,complete and possesses magnitude.In the novel,the plot of Bigger killing Mary by accident is an imitation of a real murder case in Chicago in the society.Completeness means that plot can be divided into three parts: a beginning,a middle and an end.And the Native Son includes three parts: Fear,Flight and Fate.And the proper magnitude of plot is that a series of events occurring sequentially making a change from good fortune to bad fortune,or from bad fortune to good fortune.Bigger in the novel experienced a series of events including the manslaughter of Mary,which made his fortune from good to bad.And then the tragic plot has three components: Reversal,Recognition and Suffering.Reversal refers to the change from good fortune to bad fortune,Recognition refers to a change from ignorance to knowledge.Suffering is the an action that involves destruction or pain,such as death,wounding and other tangible harm.Bigger killed Mary by mistake because of his fear,which made Bigger turn from good fortune to bad fortune.The Recognition of Bigger's girlfriend,Bessie,to Bigger's crime is the first Recognition,and it's why Bigger killed Bessie.The Recognition and the Reversal in the novel appear at the same time.The ultimate Recognition is Bigger's exposure of the crime.Bigger's Suffering includes his painful flight,miserable prison life and cruel death penalty.The analysis of the tragic plot in Native Son will make the readers see the racial oppression suffered by the black people represented by Bigger and feel pity for the tragic fate of the black people,which achieves the better tragic effect.The second chapter aims at the analyzing tragic character.Aristotle emphasizes that the purpose of tragedy is to arouse pity and fear,so Aristotle makes four requirements for the characters.Firstly,he should be kind,but not very kind.The tragedy of a very wicked person would not excite pity;the tragedy of a decent person would not evoke pity and fear,but disgust.And the character should be to the truth,i.e.the character should be similar to the ordinary people.Fear is caused by the misfortune of a man like ourselves.In the novel,Bigger was kind and also has weak,which is similar to the ordinary people.In the second point,Aristotle mentions appropriateness and consistency.Appropriateness means that character should be coordinated with gender,identity,status,education and other aspects,and character should always be consistent.Bigger in the novel is a typical servile character.Although he tried to change and resist,but he couldn't succeed in the white-dominated society.Then is probability and necessity.What the tragic characters say and do must be in accordance with the law of possibility and necessity.Because of the fear of the white world,a series of events such as the manslaughter of Mary,the swindle of Mr.Dalton,and the killing of Bessie were inevitable.At last,the tragic character's misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity,but by some error and frailty.Wright developed Aristotle's error theory.Bigger's misfortune was caused by the error of himself,his family and the society.In the novel,Bigger is not an absolute good man or evil man.And his behavior is completely in line with his identity,so such a high credibility of the tragic character can arouse the reader's pity and sympathy,which can generate a better tragic effect.Chapter Three analyzes the tragic catharsis.Aristotle concludes that tragedy purify these emotions through pity and fear.Through the analysis,Native Sondevelops tragic catharsis on the basis of Aristotle's Tragedy Theory,enlightening readers in psychological and aesthetic perspectives.In the psychological field,the catharsis of tragedy can release readers' pity and fear caused by Bigger's tragedy which can restore and maintain the psychological Heath,so as to calm down readers' over-repressed emotions in real life.And from the aesthetic perspective,the tragic catharsis will make the readers form the good emotional habit in which people express moderate emotion.When people meet difficulty or see others suffering difficulty,they can control themselves to express moderate emotion.The third part is the summary of the paper.Through the analysis of Native Son based on Aristotle's theory of tragedy,readers can feel the tragic art of the novel.Through the tragic plot and tragic characterization,Wright reproduced the tragic situation of African Americans in art creation.Bigger's tragedy is not an individual tragedy,but the tragedy of the whole American society.Racial discrimination has deeply poisoned the whole America.For racial discrimination,the black people's endurance and violent revolt cannot solve the problem.Wright wants to wake up the whole American society that the tragedy is the inevitable outcome of the racial discrimination.And two basic human rights survival and equality have important significance for individual and society development.