Native Son vs. Invisible Man

[Constantine]

My class had to read Native Son our senior year of high school. No one liked it, or was feeling it, myself included. I talked to my father about it, he picked my brain about why I didn't like it. I talked to my two little sisters, and neither of them liked it either. I realized there was a generational shift between my fathers generation, and our generation. Its not just the book, its the author. I've read two or three of his other books, and was equally displeased with them. I've read Invisible Man, 3 or 4 times, and find it more enjoyable than Native Son. My younger brother has read it, and my younger sister as well.
So my question is, if you're read both books, which do you prefer.

 

[cleanface coney]

im 22 and Native Son is a powerful powerful book
never read invisible man what is it about?

things fal apart is my fav tho

 

[feelosofer]

I think people tend to like Invisible Man because the themes in the book are more relevant to today's youth. A feeling of blending in to the point where you lose your self identity and the compromising position in which leftist ideology has left blacks are powerful themes today. Native Son sort of has the former theme but the idea of working so closely with white people in a subservient manner especially in terms of house duties does not click as easily though I find myself identifying more with teh Native son's main character's feelings of rage and frustration hitting closer to home. I would say Native Son is the better book but you'll understand it more as you get older. I suggest a re-read.

 

[Robbie3000]

I remember being moved by Richard Wright's Black Boy and Native Son. It's being years and I have forgotten most of Black Boy, but I still remember parts of Native Son vividly.

I have never read Invisible Man.

 

[The Real]

It's impossible for me to choose. Generally, they both cover similar territory, but when you get down to the specifics, there is a lot of unique insight and exploration in each book- too much for me to be able to pick one over the other. Both classics, for sure.

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

I've never read Invisible Man but Native Son is one of the best books I've ever read in my entire life. It was one of the few books I had to read for school that I really really really enjoyed. That book is so fukking tense, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

 

[Prodigital]

Good topic. I havent read native son, so i'll prolly pick that up. Any other books you guys recommend on similar topic / literary style?

Invisible man is my favorite book of all time. Read it twice. Blew me away and open my mind to a lot of stuff, not to mention it was my freshman year of college and i was working valet at this rich snobby cac restaurant. Really got me thinking.

 

[Constantine]

Maybe I should reread Native Son. I just have a dislike for Wright the person, so its hard for me to seperate my feelings for him, and his novels. I've read Wrights autobiography Black Boy, and I was completely stupefied by the petulance, and utter disrespect he treated his elders when he was a young boy. I couldn't imagine talking back to my elders when I was his age. Either Black Boy is specious, or he was just a petulant child. Reading Black Boy just confirmed my dislike. When I was younger and read Native Son, one thing that vexed me was the ending. Its almost as if Bigger is a savage, who has to commit this terrible crime, only to be executed, and then find salvation, and meaning to his life through Christianity. Not too long ago I was thinking about Native Son, and it struck me that there were a lot of parallels between it and Dostovesky's Crime and Punishment. They saw there's only 5 or 6 original stories, and everything else is a variation, so I guess I can't hold that against him too much. There's a book called The Autobiography of An Ex Colored Man that was written before Native Son and Invisible Man. Both share parallels with it.

 

[The Real]

When I was younger and read Native Son, one thing that vexed me was the ending. Its almost as if Bigger is a savage, who has to commit this terrible crime, only to be executed, and then find salvation, and meaning to his life through Christianity.

He completely rejects Christianity, even at the end of the book. Bigger concludes that he doesn't need redemption, and that in fact, the only thing that redeems his entire life was those murders, which is a very different stance from anything Christian.

Wright himself was a staunch atheist and made sure to criticize Christianity and its place in the Black community at every opportunity in his writings.

 

[Guitar Bains]

Invisible Man is an amazing novel.

The part about making the government paint was some strong stuff

 

[Mr. Pink]

I think Invisible Man is 'better' per say, but I read it when I was older, smarter and better read.

But it still didn't have the same impact Native Son did when I first read it. I remember as a young cac watching American History X, and Edward Norton's character mentioned the book. I picked it up a few weeks later and was literally the entire time I read it.

 

[88m3]

Reading books is for intellectuals(fakkits)

 

[BossIAm]

Never read "Invisible Man" but read Native Son in high school(over a decade ago) and still practically remember it all, that's how much of an impact it left on me. I thought hard before doing stupid sh!t because of that book.

 

[714562]

In terms of pure writing skill, Invisible Man by miles and miles.

Native Son is more about the narrative than the prose.

In fact, I'l just go ahead and say it: Invisible Man is probably the only work produced by the Harlem Renaissance that deserves any kind of international literary recognition.

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

I think Invisible Man is 'better' per say, but I read it when I was older, smarter and better read.

But it still didn't have the same impact Native Son did when I first read it. I remember as a young cac watching American History X, and Edward Norton's character mentioned the book. I picked it up a few weeks later and was literally the entire time I read it.

I wonder if shyt is even more because we're CAC's and we have no idea what the black experience is like, plus the book is just crazy. I had no idea what it was about, I was on the edge of my seat from the part where he brought the drunk white girl home to the very end of the book.