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Similes
Key Examples in Native Son
Situational Irony
Explanation and Analysis—The Purse:
Book 2 of Native Son is an inverted mystery novel, a backwards whodunit: the reader knows Bigger killed Mary Dalton, and the narrative proceeds through his eyes, watching the rest of the characters try and figure out the killer. This inverted version of the classic mystery novel still contains many of the features inherent to the genre. One of these is a red herring: a plot element or physical object that the reader concludes is important to the mystery but in fact is only a misdirection. A red herring is a type of book-length situational irony: the author builds an expectation in the reader only to subvert it.
Related Themes:
Book 1
Explanation and Analysis—First of All:
Jan and Mary, for all indications, earnestly want to get to know Bigger, genuinely respect him, and mean him no direct harm. And yet, in an instance of situational irony, the way Jan speaks to Bigger directly undermines his otherwise friendly and egalitarian feelings toward Bigger. The Communist Party, especially in the 1930s and 1940s, were some of the most energetic anti-racists in America. (Richard Wright, for one, was a member of the Communist Party beginning in 1933; he broke with the party in 1941 after the party aligned with Stalinists after the outbreak of World War II.) Jan and Mary, to the best of their abilities, want to help Bigger.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—It Doesn't Matter:
Mr. Dalton, a wealthy Chicago real-estate mogul, earnestly and proudly believes that he is a friend of the Black community. He is a regular donator to the NAACP. He tells this to Bigger, but Bigger doesn't know what he's talking about:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"I want you to know why I'm hiring you."
"Yessuh."
"You see, Bigger, I'm a supporter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Did you ever hear of that organization?"
"Nawsuh."
"Well, it doesn't matter," said Mr. Dalton. "Have you had your dinner?"
Related Themes:
Book 2
Explanation and Analysis—It Was Familiar:
Bigger, with the police closing in on him late in Book 2, hides on the roof of a nondescript, abandoned building on 53rd Street. Squatting on the roof in the snow, legs going numb, Bigger's eyes are drawn "directly below him, one floor away, through a window without shades." He sees a familiar scene taking place:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There were quick, jerky movements on the bed where the man and woman lay, and the three children were watching. It was familiar; he had seen things like that when he was a little boy sleeping five in a room. Many mornings he had awakened and watched his father and mother. [Bigger] turned away, thinking: Five of 'em sleeping in one room and here's a great big empty building with just me in it.
Related Themes:
Book 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Only Thing:
In Book 3, Max, a communist public defender, and Buckley, the state's attorney, argue with each other inside Bigger's prison cell. Buckley, with hideous vitriol, doesn't understand why Max would want to defend such a person: "What in hell you Reds get out of bothering with a black thing like that, God only knows." But when Buckley is trying to speak with conviction to Max, he slips into an ironic contradiction that undercuts his whole argument:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Listen, Max. You're wasting your time. You'll never get this boy off in a million years. Nobody can commit a crime against a family like the Daltons and sneak out of it. Those poor old parents are going to be in that court room to see that this boy burns! This boy killed the only thing they had.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—It Doesn't Matter:
Mr. Dalton, a wealthy Chicago real-estate mogul, earnestly and proudly believes that he is a friend of the Black community. He is a regular donator to the NAACP. He tells this to Bigger, but Bigger doesn't know what he's talking about:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"I want you to know why I'm hiring you."
"Yessuh."
"You see, Bigger, I'm a supporter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Did you ever hear of that organization?"
"Nawsuh."
"Well, it doesn't matter," said Mr. Dalton. "Have you had your dinner?"
Related Themes:
