Comparing Baldwin Through Damage And Culture

Noah Arbesfeld Professor Hobson EL6530: Multicultural Literature Oral Research Report February 27, 2024 Contrasting Wright and Baldwin through Damage and Culture Intro needed In his landmark novel, Native Son, Richard Wright constructs the character of Bigger Thomas as his attempt at an honest portrayal of life for Black Americans and the damage inflicted by American society. The image Wright presents of Bigger is intentionally harsh, stripping him of humanity to create a brutal caricature, which Wright blames on the ingrained social system of America and the continued oppression by white society. In his accompanying essay, “How ‘Bigger’ Was Born,” Wright provides background and insight into his thought process behind creating Bigger, describing a culmination of experiences stemming back to his childhood. Here, Wright explores the impact of damage on Bigger on a psychological level, isolating him from his own community, as Wright

Through damage, Wright not only shifts blame away from Bigger for his actions due to the conditions of society, but argues that the intent of damage is the removal of humanity and community, the basis for culture. White readers are forced to confront the impact of damage as a test of empathy, as an indictment of Bigger is an indictment of their own complicity in creating Bigger, or at the very least do not directly share the experience and impact of damage. Wright views Bigger as a realistic portrayal of oppression because he based the character on real people, each with a different story of violence, damage, oppression, or rebellion, but all connected through similarities in environment that Wright views as the root cause for producing these specifically archetypal American men. Hence, the focus of Native Son are the conditions that produced Bigger, a criticism of the society that inflicts damage on the