Analysis of Theme Through Inner and Social Conflicts in Richard Wright's 'Native Son'.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam tesis ini, penulis akan menganalisa konflik-konflik pribadi dan sosial dalam novel Native Son dan kaitannya dengan tema, “memilih untuk berada dalam posisi aman dapat menyebabkan seseorang menghadapi masalah.”

Cara Bigger, sang protagonis, dalam menyelesaikan konflik pribadi maupun sosial yang dialaminya menunjukkan bahwa ia selalu mencoba untuk berada dalam posisi yang aman. Hal ini dapat dibuktikan dari konflik pribadinya untuk merampok toko orang kulit putih atau tidak, menuruti permintaan Mary atau tidak, apakah ia harus bergerak atau diam saja ketika Nyonya Dalton memasuki kamar Mary, apakah ia harus melarikan diri setelah membunuh Mary atau tidak, dan apakah ia harus meninggalkan Bessie atau tidak. Semua konflik ini ia atasi dengan keputusan yang paling aman untuk dirinya.

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Maranatha Christian University

APPENDICES

SYNOPSIS OF NATIVE SON

The novel is about a poor boy, Bigger Thomas, who lives in a one-room house with his family. His mother always pushes him to work, but Bigger prefers to join a gang and often robs people and stores to get some quick money. Having a conflict with his gang, Bigger agrees to work for the Daltons as a chauffer.

Bigger’s main duty is to drive the Dalton’s daughter, Mary Dalton, to her

class. However, Mary orders him to take her to meet her boyfriend, Jan. Bigger is not allowed to tell this to anyone. On the way home, Mary is very drunk, so that Bigger has to carry her to her bedroom. Being very drunk, Mary does not stop mumbling. Bigger is afraid that someone will hear her. Bigger is afraid that if anyone finds out, he will lose his job. Suddenly, Mary’s blind mother comes into the room to check her. Fear of being discovered there, Bigger holds a pillow onto Mary’s mouth to silence her. Unfortunately, Mary dies because of Bigger’s action.

Not wanting Mary’s body to be found, Bigger burns her body in a furnace

at the Dalton house. He also sends a randsom note which states about Mary’s kidnapping and signs it with Jan’s signature in order to make the police guess that

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BIOGRAPHY OF RICHARD WRIGHT

Richard Wright was born in 1908 on a plantation near Natchez, Mississippi. His father was a black sharecropper and his mother was a teacher. Wright entered school in 1918, but was forced to leave the school because of his

family’s condition. In 1931, Wright published a short story, “Superstition”, in

Abbot’s Monthly Magazine; however, this magazine was bankrupt before he

received some money from the short story.

Since the age of twelve, Wright had started writing. He was attracted to some influential American writers, such as Henry Louis Mencken, Theodore Dreiser, and Harry Sinclair Lewis. In 1937, he went to New York City, where he became a Harlem editor of the Communist paper, “Daily Worker”. He helped to launch the magazine New Challenge, and published “The Ethics of Living Jim

Crow”. A second novel, Tarbaby’s Dawn, was never published, but Fire and

Cloud won first prize in a Story Magazine contest in 1938.

In 1938, Wright’s first book, Uncle Tom’s Children, was published. This

story led him to write Native Son in 1940. With this book, Wright gained national attention, especially after it won the $500 prize awarded by Story magazine. In 1939, he married Dhimah Rose Meadman, a white dancer, but finally they were separated. Then he married Ellen Poplar, who was a member of the communist party. They had two daughters. Richard Wright died on 28 November 1960 at the age of 52.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

One element of literary works which is interesting to analyse is conflict. It is important because there will be no story if a literary work does not have conflicts. As Harry Shaw states in his article, “Conflict is the opposition of persons or forces upon which the action depends.” (Shaw). There are three types

of conflicts: inner, social, and physical conflict. According to Shaw, “Inner conflict is a struggle between desires within a person. Social conflict is a struggle between man and man, and physical conflict is a struggle between man and the physical world” (Shaw). In this thesis, I only discuss the first two types of conflicts which help me to reveal the theme of Richard Wright's Native Son Richard Wright is the first African-American writer to achieve literary fame in the 20th century because of his Native Son, as Robert Butler said,” It is a masterwork because its formal artistry and its revolutionary new content are solidly integrated to produce a complex and resonant vision of modern American reality.” Through Native Son, Wright shows conflicts which are experienced by

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2 Maranatha Christian University The inner and social conflicts which the protagonist of the novel experiences lead me to find the theme of the story. Theme itself is “the central and

unifying concept of the story” (Perrine 102). Thus, in this thesis I try to reveal the

theme of Native Son.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The statements of the problems are: 1. What is the theme of the novel?

2. How do the inner and social conflicts reveal the theme of the novel?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Based on statements problem above, the purposes of the study are: 1. To show the theme of the novel.

2. To show the inner and social conflicts reveal the theme of the novel.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

The method of this research is library research. I start by reading the novel, then I find some references and information from the internet. Finally, I draw a conclusion from the analysis that I have done.

ORGANIZATON OF THESIS

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to conclude the analysis of all the conflicts in the previous chapter. The conflicts I analyze are inner and social conflicts and I also analyze the relations of conflicts with the theme which is “choosing to play safe may lead one to having problems.”

The first inner conflict happens when Bigger is confused whether to rob

Blum’s store, that belongs to a white man, or not. Bigger is scared to rob the white

man but he cannot refuse it because all his gang have agreed to do so. As a resolution, Bigger decides not to rob the shop by accusing Gus, his friend, that he is the one who is scared of robbing whites. This leads Bigger to a social conflict with Gus.

The next inner conflict is when Bigger is confused whether to follow

Mary’s order or not. Bigger knows he should not follow Mary’s order because

Mr. Dalton orders him to drive Mary to her class, but Bigger also cannot refuse

Mary’s order because he thinks that Mary is his friend. As a resolution, Bigger

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playing safe to follow Mary’s order leads him to another worse problem that

Mary gets drunk and Bigger is almost caught in her bedroom.

The third inner conflict happens when Bigger is confused whether to stay or not in Mary’s bedroom and when gets drunk. If he moves away, he is afraid to be caught. However, if he stays quietly in the room, there is also a possibility to be caught. Bigger overcomes his conflict by staying quietly in the room and

holding his hands with a pillow over Mary’s mouth which causes her to die. He

thinks it is the safest thing he can do to protect himself. Nevertheless, his playing safe action once again leads him to worst problem, which is Mary’s death.

Bigger experiences another inner conflict when he is confused whether to run away or not after killing Mary. Bigger has a risk to be caught, whether he runs away or not. Therefore, Bigger decides not to run away and takes two safest actions for him, he accuses Jan and burns Mary’s body. His playing safe leads him to a social conflict between him and Jan and also leads the police to find the evidence that Mary is dead.

The last inner conflict happens when Bigger is confused whether to leave Bessie, his girlfriend, or not. Bigger has a risk that Bessie will betray him but to bring her along will just become a burden for him. As a result, Bigger decides to

leave her, but to avoid her betraying him, he kills her. Bigger’s playing safe leads

him to a problem that the police get clues from Bessie’s death.

The first social conflict is between Bigger and Gus. The conflict is about

committing robbery to a white man’s store. Bigger accuses that Gus is scared to

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17 Maranatha Christian University defend themselves. To hide Bigger’s fear, he accuses Gus and throws a false accusation towards him. This is a playing-safe action. Instead of solving his

conflict, Bigger’s playing-safe leads him to a problem with his gang forever.

The second social conflict is between Bigger and Jan. The conflict is about

Mary’s death. Bigger accuses that Jan is the last person who is with Mary, so he

must be the one who kills Mary. However, Jan rejects that he is not involved in

Mary’s death at all. The conflict is not resolved because both insist on what they

say. Bigger plays safe by accusing Jan and also using violence by threatening Jan with a gun. Bigger knows he has made false accusation towards Jan so he feels guilty.Instead of solving his conflict, Bigger’s playing safe leads him to problems within himself that is he feels guilty by accusing Jan.

From all the conflicts above, it is proved that Bigger’s choosing to always be safe makes him get more complicated results and problems. He always avoids the risks he has and takes the safest risk. This is a playing-safe action. Instead of

solving his conflict, Bigger’s playing-safe leads him to problems.

Having analyzed all the conflicts above, I find that the theme, ”choosing to

play safe may lead one to having problems” is true in the reality of life. Playing

safe does not always make one to be safe but it may lead one to having a problem. In my opinion, Wright’s Native Son is a good example from the characteristic of Bigger, who always tries to play safe. Bigger gives us a lesson that playing safe is not always good.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text

Wright, Richard. Native Son. New York : Harper & Row, 1966.

Reference

Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure. USA : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inv, 1974.

Internet Sources :

Averbach, Margara. “Novels for Students”. Answers.Com. 2006.8 Mar. 2010. <http://www.answers.com/topic/native-son-novel//>

Gaster, Snally. “Richard Wright Biography”.Math.Bufallo.Edu.26 Apr. 2010. <http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/wright/wright_bio.html>

Shaw, Harry. “Literary Terms and Definitions”. Literary Vocabulary.1998. 12 Feb. 2010.