Native Son by Richard Wright

Hello my lovely readers! I can't believe it's been 20 years since I last read this book! Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.

MY THOUGHTS 
This was another book I chose to re-read as part of the Personal Five Challenge. The prompt for this one was: a book you read in school.

I remember reading this in  2006 as a senior in high school and how blown away I was with its intensity. I couldn't get over how many bad decisions Bigger kept making, but looking back, I realize I didn't connect it to the systemic racism he faced.

Re-reading it now....whew.  Wright is such an intense writer and it shows through all of his novels. It's impossible to NOT have a visceral reaction to what you're reading when you read his work.

Bigger kept making such awful decisions but ultimately, what I saw in Bigger, was a young Black man in Jim Crow America who felt angry and hopeless. What a terrible combination.

Also, justice for Bessie, who deserved none of what happened. Neither did Mary, but Bessie was basically an afterthought.