Native Son Rhetorical Analysis

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Native Son is written by an African-American author named Richard Wright and was published in 1940. Native Son tells a story of a 20-year-old African-American male named Bigger Thomas, who is living in extreme poverty on Chicago’s Southside in the 1930s. Bigger lives in a one bedroom apartment with his mother and two younger siblings. In the beginning of the novel the audience can sense Bigger has anger within himself and hatred towards his family. Bigger only had the opportunity to receive an eighth-grade education because his family is tremendously poor and could not afford to send him to school. Without having access to education, Bigger finds himself spending time with the wrong friends and repeatedly getting into trouble. Today, …show more content…

The entire Thomas family lives in a one room apartment. Which means when Vera or their mother wants to get dressed the guys must turn and face the wall or close their eyes and vice versa. By giving these details the author delivers a message to readers. Readers can imagine that the Thomas family is extremely poor and living in poverty. Next, Bigger kills a rat with an iron skillet. “Bigger crept on tiptoe toward the trunk with the skillet clutched stiffly in his hand, his eyes dancing and watching every inch of the wooden floor in front of him” (Wright 5). “Bigger aimed and let the skillet fly with a heavy grunt.” “I got ‘im”, he muttered, his clenched teeth bared in a smile” (Wright 6). Readers can assume Bigger has a lot of frustration and anger from this passage because of the way he kills the rat. He did not set up traps or try to catch it, he killed the rat by hitting it with an iron pan. After killing the rat, he smiled feeling no remorse for killing an animal. Living in a one room apartment and having to kill a rat is another way readers can assume the Thomas family is extremely poor and living in

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