“Bigger as I saw and felt him”: Emotion and Knowing in Native Son

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper explores Richard Wright’s portrayal of emotion and knowledge in Native Son, focusing on the character of Bigger Thomas and the complex ways Wright evokes visceral, embodied responses from readers. Wright deliberately crafts Bigger as a character who resists sentimental identification, using a language of sensory resonance that bridges bodily feelings and cognition. Through this, Wright reveals that certain truths about race, identity, and humanity can only be fully understood through felt, embodied experiences. By rejecting the use of simplistic sympathy, Wright’s Native Son instead confronts readers with the harsh emotional realities of racial oppression. This paper argues that Wright employs a form of emotional and bodily knowledge, demonstrating how emotional suppression, physical tension, and epistemological uncertainty intertwine in Bigger’s life. Ultimately, the analysis reveals how Wright’s aesthetic ambition is not only to engage readers emotionally but also to critique the sociopolitical structures that shape the emotional lives of marginalized individuals.