MARGINALIZED EXISTENCE AND PERCEIVED INJUSTICE IN RICHARD WRIGHT’S NATIVE SON

Abstract

Social Aggression or Violence in an Excluded Population represents a major social problem for many reasons: The surge of people engaging in attempted homicide jeopardizes personal safety (or individual liberties) as well as endangers the stability of the nation by promoting social unrest and chaos. Despite substantial work in criminology related to the causes and effects of Violence; however, there has not been a lot of attention on how these issues are represented within our written words. To fill that void, using Alan Mckees Textual Analysis as a guide by applying Relative Deprivation Theory to investigate the correlation between the perception of injustice and acts of violence as portrayed through the character of Richard Wright (1940) in his novel, Native Son. Relative Deprivation create significant conditions that produce destructive behaviour amongst characters in Wright's novel. The psychological state of Bigger Thomas embodies the extreme of the frustrations, resentments, and subsequently, the anger that has resulted from the social conditions. Social status inconsistency, as a central element of Relative Deprivation, generates intense emotional turmoil that ultimately drives Bigger Thomas toward violent behavior.