MEDO, HOMOSSOCIABILIDADE E FRUSTRAÇÃO EM FILHO NATIVO

FEAR, HOMOSOCIALITY AND FRUSTRATION IN NATIVE SON

Abstract

This article aims to present a critical reading of the first part of the novel Native Son, entitled Fear, from the perspective of studies on black men and masculinities. Through the perception of a black world and a white world depicted in the work, the article explores three fundamental aspects for the composition of the first part of Richard Wright's novel: the fear of the main character Bigger Thomas, which is reproduced in seemingly illogical violent acts, but fundamental to his composition as a man and an individual; the homosociality of black men in a segregated Chicago during the 1930s, as a space for reiterating their masculinities, in opposition and contradiction to a hypermasculine, violent and dysfunctional logic; in addition to the frustration of the protagonist, who shows himself disillusioned by the expectations of a white world that is not very receptive in an anti-black reality.