Silence and Blindness in Richard Wright’s Native Son

Abstract

Richard  Wright’s  Native  Son  has  often  been  read  as  a  socially-oriented  text,  seemingly  neglecting  its  existence  as  a literary  construct.  Such  readings  gear  towards  identifying  the  text  with  such  societal  ills  as  racism  and  environmental impact  on  the  individual,  as  if  these  are  the  only  business  of  the  text.In  this  paper,  however,  attention  shifts  from  such external  referents  to  the  text  itself,  deconstructing  the  meaning  of  blindness  already  ascribed  to  the  text  as  well  as  the meaning  of  silence  as  it  is  denotatively  known.  The  uncovering  of  the  textual  meaning  of  each  of  these  concepts  will also  serve  either  to  compliment  a  character  or  to  disparage  same,  and  then  the  interweave  of  both  concepts  will  result  in reading  the  text  as  a  tragedy.  This  study  will  be anchored  on  the  provisions  of  Derrida’s  deconstructive  criticism. 

Keywords:  Silence,  Blindness,  Textuality, Existence,  Decentring,  Tragedy 

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APA

Uzoma, G. (2018). Silence and Blindness in Richard Wright’s Native Son. Afribary. Retrieved from https://track.afribary.com/works/silence-and-blindness-in-richard-wright-s-native-son

MLA 8th

Uzoma, Ginikachi "Silence and Blindness in Richard Wright’s Native Son" Afribary. Afribary, 08 Jun. 2018, https://track.afribary.com/works/silence-and-blindness-in-richard-wright-s-native-son. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.

MLA7

Uzoma, Ginikachi . "Silence and Blindness in Richard Wright’s Native Son". Afribary, Afribary, 08 Jun. 2018. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. < https://track.afribary.com/works/silence-and-blindness-in-richard-wright-s-native-son >.

Chicago

Uzoma, Ginikachi . "Silence and Blindness in Richard Wright’s Native Son" Afribary (2018). Accessed November 23, 2024. https://track.afribary.com/works/silence-and-blindness-in-richard-wright-s-native-son