Native Son Review

During this week of school I went to see a play called "Native Son." The story revolves around a poor black man named Bigger Thomas living in poverty on the south side of Chicago during the 1930's. Segregation is evident in Chicago at this time and both races have very different viewpoints on each other and themselves. I remember Bigger at one point talking about wanting to fly planes and how he could do that someday, but his friend laughed and said that no black man would ever do that. I feel like the stereotypes of a black man really troubled bigger because he felt like he is just as capable as any other person.

Later in the story, Bigger goes to meet a man named Henry Dalton, a rich white man who is interviewing him for a job. Henry Dalton, his wife and drunken daughter both speak to Bigger in ways he doesn't understand. He is culturally delusional and really doesn't understand what is acceptable and how he should respond to certain things when spoken to. In the play the man who played Bigger did a great job at showing discomfort which made the play really true and easy to understand.

At the closing of the story, Bigger is on the run for a crime that he mistakenly did. People use Stereotypes to try and blame Bigger for the crime. I felt like Bigger was consumed by this stereotype and this caused him to do more and more bad things. After a certain point he was caught for what he did and the people who blamed him got a lot of satisfaction. I think this play was designed well to show how troubling racism can be and how people can easily mold someone into set categories that are hard to escape. The actors were believable and engaging which overall made the play fun to watch.