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| A scene from Pierre Chenal's 1950 film Native Son. Courtesy: http://filmcomment.com/ |
Native Son, a novel by Richard Wright, is often named as one
of the greatest pieces of literature in showing experiences of the African-American
people. There are many issues that the novel raises regarding racial
segregation and torture. The novel exposes how black men and women had to live
during the first half of the twentieth century, years after slavery ended. It
portrays the treatment of black people by various quarters of social and political
life. Among them is the press and, in particular newspapers. The newspapers'
role is brought into the novel when pressmen significantly cover the death and murder
of Miss Mary Dalton and the incidents following that, in the two chapters
‘Flight’ and ‘Fate’ of the novel. Like other institutions established and
operated by white people newspapers too in the novel, are apparently racist;
and they sensationalize more than inform the public about what is happening.
