Richard Wright - Native Son

I absolutely loved this story. I just hated knowing it was only a piece of the real thing. I had never heard of this story before, but now I would like to read it all. The writer, Richard Wright, graduated as valedictorian and this was during a time when education to blacks was limited. He was from the south but moved north to escape as much of the segregation as he could. He became involved with the Communist Party, but did not follow the party line in his writings. He mainly wrote of his life experiences as a black man that dealt with issues such as racism, segregation, poverty, and the justice system.
In his story of Native Son, Bigger Thomas is a black man who has gone on a job interview to become a chauffeur for a white family. In his interview, he is very nervous because with him being black and in the home of a white man was uncommon and undone. He wouldn’t even look Mr. Dalton in the eye as he interviewed him. It is apparent that Bigger may have been the main one out of all the characters who actually revealed prejudice thoughts rather than the white people which I found ironic. Mr. Dalton’s daughter, Mary, finds Bigger interesting and upon their first meeting, she is pushy and makes Bigger feel very uncomfortable. Bigger’s first day on the job, he is told to take Mary to the university that evening. Instead of going to the university, she has Bigger to pick up her boyfriend, Jan and ask Bigger to take them to the black section of town. They are part of the Communist Party and they just want to see and experience how blacks live. Bigger is uncomfortable with this, but takes them anyway. As they go into a restaurant, the black people stare and make comments to and about Bigger. Jan orders food and beer for their table. Bigger being embarrassed has a difficult time eating but as Mary ask if they have anything harder than beer, Bigger informs her she can get anything she wants. She orders a fifth of rum. As they drink, they all end up feeling the effects of the alcohol. They drive around (while drinking) and this is when I begin to wonder if something was going to happen to give the story a theme giving reference to not drink and drive, but it had a different twist. As the alcohol had it effects, Jan and Mary try to get Bigger to get involved with them and the Communist Party. They all ask and answer questions, but Bigger never agrees to get involved. As the evening winds down, Jan and Mary are drunk and after they drop off Jan, Bigger has to get Mary home and after they arrive, Bigger ends up having to help Mary get to her room. As he gets her to her bed, his own alcohol consumption clouds his thinking and he begins to fondle and kiss on Mary who is passed out. This is when he sees the blind Mrs. Dalton standing in the door way. In his fear, he takes a pillow and covers Mary’s face trying to keep her quiet because he knows if he is caught in Mary’s room, he would be in deep trouble with him being a black man in a white woman’s bedroom. After Mrs. Dalton leaves without detecting Bigger is there, Bigger removes the pillow and realizes he just smothered Mary to death accidentally.
The end of our reading was tragic, but it also left me hanging. I know this was just a portion of the whole story, but the way the story ended, left me with so many unanswered question. I am anxious to read this entire story now.