Max tries to show the jury that the case is not just about one black man and one black woman, but rather, it is about millions of blacks that have been kept down, all the while desperately trying to rise to the class status that white people have.
Marx and Engels speculated that literature reflects and sustains the material life of a society. To look at this idea and apply it Wright's use of the novel, we can see that the material conditions of Bigger's life -- what he ate, how he made money, what he did for work, determined his ideas. Furthermore, Mr. Dalton's material conditions determined his ideas too. Both characters cannot see the connection between Dalton's money and Bigger's poverty. The authority of the ruling class is maintained when the working class is kept ignorant. The conscience of the ruling class is soothed when its members address the economic problems of a mass of people with individualistic charity. Wright seems to be using Native Son as a way to show his readers the association between wealth and poverty. This is does clearly with images of the stereotyped blacks, depicted as rather savage, and the urbane whites, and the reality of that unjust gap in wealth.
Wright, using Marxist sentiments, seems to be saying through his novel that social conditions, especially conditions where there is deprivation of certain people or people, motivates people to act "against their nature" (Marx 11) or in anti-social ways.
Annotated Bibliography
Cruse, Harold. & Crouch, Stanley. The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual: A Historical
Analysis of the Failure of Black Leadership (New York Review Books Classics).
NYRB Classics, 2005.
Cruse's book was published in 1967 and is blend of cultural history and the analysis of the relationship between African-Americans and society....
Fences Playwright August Wilson won two Pulitzers in his illustrious career. In The Pittsburgh Cycle, Wilson wrote a series of plays each depicting a different decade in the lives of African-Americans living in the United States. Of these, Fences, takes place in the 1950s and features the problems not only of the African-American experience, but also the situation of societal oppression indicative of that period. At the heart of the play
Hope Leslie: Or, Early Times in the Massachusetts by Catharine Maria Sedgwick. Specifically, it will contain a critical analysis of the text. "Hope Leslie" is a romantic novel that sheds light on Puritanical views of the time, and involves two young heroines who both love the same man. This novel indicates the differences between Hope, a young New England Puritan, and Magawisca, a young Native American Pequod. They both
Gift giving creates a bond between the giver and the receiver. Mauss felt that to reject a gift, was to reject the social bond attached to it. Likewise, to fail to reciprocate is viewed as a dishonorable act in some cultures. Gift giving is a means to create social cohesion among the group. What Distinctive contributions did Weber make to social theory? Weber used his work to attempt to understand the
The novel opens seven years after Gabo's mother, Ximena, was murdered by coyotes -- or paid traffickers -- during an attempt to cross the border. Her mutilated body was found, her organs gone -- sold most likely. Because of the fear surrounding this border town and the lure of the other side, all of the characters become consumed with finding Rafa. These people are neglected and abused. Like other fiction
Those officials who did look at the question of Japanese intentions decided that Japan would never attack, because to do so would be irrational. Yet what might seem irrational to one country may seem perfectly logical to another country that has different goals, values, and traditions. (Kessler 98) The failures apparent in the onset of World War II and during the course of the war led indirectly to the creation
From this came our insistence on the drama of the doorstep" (cited by Hardy 14-15). Grierson also notes that the early documentary filmmakers were concerned about the way the world was going and wanted to use all the tools at hand to push the public towards greater civic participation. With the success of Drifters, Grierson was able to further his ideas, but rather than directing other films, he devoted his time
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now