Between fear, flght and fate

Figurations of african-american masculinities in the novel Native Son

Abstract

The present research seeks to understand the figurations of black masculinities in the United States through a novel of african-american literature entitled Native Son (1940), by the writer Richard Wright. The fictional story is set in Chicago at the end of the 1930s, showing the consequences of racial segregation in the life of Bigger Thomas, a young black man who, accidentally, is compelled to commit the murder of a young white woman named Mary Dalton. The immediate success of Native Son and subsequent editions of the novel made Richard Wright  one of the most important authors of african-american literature in the 20th century. However, while the work was a commercial success, it was also read and interpreted in different ways in the decades following its release. One of the main issues regarding the examination of the novel is the debate around the figuration of the african-american man through the protagonist, Bigger Thomas. Given the production context around the work and the resulting readings and interpretations made in subsequent decades, this article seeks to understand how the fiction written by Richard Wright composes figurations about the african-american man in dialogue with the critical reception of the work.