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Stream of Consciousness
Style
Explanation and Analysis:
Though it was an immediate bestseller, the style of Native Son has been widely criticized since its publication. The novel is, for the most part, rather dry and without ornament. Wright's style is closest to reportage: his goal is to describe, as directly as possible, the exact actions, thoughts, and perceptions of Bigger Thomas. Furthermore, Native Son is a crime novel with lots of blood and gore, and often the most effective way to write such scenes is to allow the terrible events to speak for themselves. Thus, the novel is quite straightforward and austere, following in the tradition of modernist writers.
There are moments of lyricism and beauty, but usually only when Wright describes Bigger's thoughts. When Wright uses stream of consciousness, his sentences extend and become long and trailing, flowing smoothly from idea to idea, meant to emulate Bigger's trains of thought. This effect becomes more extreme in Book 3, when Bigger becomes delirious in prison after great physical injury and starvation. Wright's sentences become at times nearly incomprehensible as they loosen to represent Bigger's hallucinations, such as when he imagines the creation myth of the Book of Genesis in one run-on sentence. This passage, though, contains some of his most stylistically beautiful writing: "[...] and the earth grew grass and trees and flowers that gave off seed that fell to the earth to grow again and the earth was lit by the light of a million stars [...]." In contrast, in Book 1, the sentences shorten, sometimes into fragments, to represent Bigger's uncontrollable passion and the sense of urgency that leads to his crimes.
Related Themes:
