Richard Wright’s protest novel, Native Son, might seem pretty simple from a plot standpoint. The story follows Bigger Thomas, a young, black male living under terrible (yet normal) conditions in the Southside of Chicago during a pre-Civil Rights movement era, who accidentally kills a white woman and has to deal with the consequences. However, as you delve deeper into the novel, Wright’s commentary on various issues regarding social justice in America become apparent. Themes of environment affecting actions and critiquing white liberalism are just a few of many that Wright incorporates in Native Son. One of the most intriguing ideas Wright explores is his use and interpretation of blindness throughout the story. Blindness, used both literally and figuratively, is shown through different characters and their actions.
The first time Wright introduces blindness is with the character, Mrs. Dalton, who is literally blind. Before Bigger actually is confirmed that Mrs. Dalton is blind, he makes the assumption based on her eyes and “ghostly” appearance. After his interaction with the Dalton’s, he returns home and comes up with a realization about his own family. They are influenced by some “force, inarticulate and unconscious, making for living without thinking (...), making for a hope that blinded”. He realizes that they are unable to see that no matter what their situation is, they are not in control of what happens to them. This blindness to the limitations white society imposes on black people frustrates Bigger. They have all of these expectations of him, but they don’t understand the extreme limitations he has as a black male.
Invisible Man has multiple references to blinding whiteness and light (pointed out 1000x already), but I'm still kinda curious about one particular line near the end of chapter 10, when the narrator is blasted by the boiler: a "wet blast of black emptiness that was somehow a bath of whiteness". There's an unexplained duality here that I related to both Mrs. Dalton and Bigger's family being "blind"; maybe even Mary herself being blind to the real struggles of black people beyond her eagerness to be unprejudiced. I guess a fair number of the metaphors we've read in class can be cleanly attributed to either white or black people; but there's something egalitarian about blindness? We also see this ambiguity in the college statue with the slave being both blindfolded and unblindfolded; we see this ambiguity with our narrator being "invisible" in his room with 1369 lights exposing every corner in sharp light; we see this ambiguous vision all over Invisible Man, actually. Native Son tends to be more concrete about these things.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if there's anything more to say about this; but I thought about it will reading your post.
Also, do you think anything of the scene with the (white?) doctor's "third eye" blinding the narrator, despite being meant to allow the doctor to see our narrator better? I keep thinking about it although it may mean nothing
*while reading your post
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