Different Psychological Manifestations of Violence in Richard Wright’s Native Son (1940)

Abstract

Throughout history, African American writers restricted their novels only to racial violence denying the existence of any other type. It was through Richard Wright’s masterpiece, Native Son that the different forms of violence in African American society are thoroughly covered. Therefore, the current study attempts to investigate the multiple facets of violence exercised on and by the African American community through analyzing the major psychological motives behind them. Relatively, this research examines the different levels of violence manifested in the novel by Africans themselves, not against the whites only, but against their own people as well. In this sense, Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son, is not restricted to racial violence. Rather, there are other manifestations of violence in the novel that needs to be tackled. Also, the study attempts to understand the character’s motivations behind violence via psychology. Sigmund Freud’s theory will be used to better understand the character’s violent acts.