On Black Boys and Native Sons

Reading “Black Boys and Native Sons” was honestly a bit of an emotional experience for me. It sums up so much of what is wrong in the way that many people view Black people and people of color in general. Irving Howe’s piece is extremely racist and ignorant and is the embodiment of how many liberal white people view people of color. By writing about Native Son in the way he did, he ironically proved one of Richard Wright’s points.  

     I found a particular offence in the way that Howe reduces Black people to our suffering. He seems to think that Wright has somehow misunderstood the Black Experience. Race was a central theme of the novel, however, someone like Howe is so preoccupied with his ideas of black people that he is unable to see the Black Experience as anything but what he believes. I would be willing to bet that he is the type of person who would preach about equality but when confronted with actual racism he would disregard it. He is the type of person to see racism only in its most explicit forms and is unable to see the nuances in it. In addition, he doesn’t see Black people for who we truly are. He sees us as props and almost as pets, something he can fight for while also reducing us to our oppression.  

     This blogpost has become more of a criticism of Howe more than anything but I do think that our individual views of race and racism are really important to how we view these novels. We aren’t approaching these novels from the same place or series of experiences. Often, the way that we see novels reflects more on ourselves than anything. Lots of great literature acts both as a mirror and as a lens into a world different from ours. In this case, Howe’s ignorance is shown.  

    

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