0726 | Native Son | Richard Wright

This, the first novel about the black community by the black community in the US, was a page-turner as relevant now as when it was written during WW2. It’s incredible actually, given recent events, that despite a book like this being written, published and widely-known, little seems to have changed for the community whose cries it voices.

The tale of Bigger Thomas and his inexorable plunge into despair is not one you will forget easily. Despite some flaws in the telling which Wright readily admits in his introduction, the events unfold with a clarity that allows you to see the full weight of society stacked against the black community of Chicago.

By keeping the narrative firmly in Bigger’s head, Wright conveys exactly why the oppressed might perceive even acts of kindness as threats. And Wright knew this too well himself. As an orphan, he suffered trauma and as a foster carer, my training and experience tells that trauma can make the most inocuous behaviour of others seems threatening. Because of this, the victim can behave in ways which the untraumatised find perplexing and even self-defeating. Empathy soon trickles away to be replaced by fear… and containment.

But Wright is not simply giving expression to the impact of trauma on an individual, he’s confronting us with the horror of trauma on an entire people group. When considered in those terms, it’s not hard to see why the race issue in the US continues to be a festering sore from which it cannot seem to heal itself.

It’s an excellent book that should be more widely read. I wonder if it’s experiencing a revival in the wake of BLM. But those who read it might simply use it to scream louder and the debate is already a shouting match. Understanding the race issue in the US in terms of trauma, if it is a way forward, is going to take a lot of time, skill and understanding. I wonder if there’ll be any qualitative change by the time the 100th anniversary of Native‘s publication. I doubt it.