# Weird question about the novel Native Son

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-question-about-the-novel-native-son/741331>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 25, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-question-about-the-novel-native-son/741331 "2015-12-25T15:44:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-question-about-the-novel-native-son/741331/1 "2015-12-25T15:44:52Z")

</div>

I’m looking for good reading, fiction and not, about race in America. The novel “Native Son” came up. It was written in the '40s, and I’m looking for insight into current events. Here’s the question: Will this novel aid me in that quest?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-question-about-the-novel-native-son/741331/2 "2015-12-25T16:27:40Z")

</div>

Native Son is a blistering portrayal of race in America. It is raw and powerful even to this day. Existentialists like Camus and Sartre lauded it, and its author Richard Wright as tapping into a deep existential truth.

Yes, it is a great example to read alongside Te-Nahisi Coates’s recent, respected writing, James Baldwin, Ellison’s The Invisible Man (I prefer Native Son) and so many others.