Conflicts - Native Son by Richard Wright

External conflicts

The most crucial theme that permeates Native Son is racism, or more specifically, the racial inequality between the black people and the white people. Hence, the struggle between the black society and  the white society is the most significant conflict depicted in the book. Bigger is the soul incarnation of the black community, because his outlook on people doesn't differ from those for other Afro-Americans - he regards himself and his fellow people oppressed by and inferior to white people and because of that, he feels fear and anger. In contrary, the white society is equally judgmental towards its counterpart; this is very clearly portrayed in the hunting of "the Negro rapist and murderer Bigger Thomas", where most white people take a hostile stance against black people, or colloquially, "Negroes". In summation, the main conflict in which the whole plot is based upon is the mutual racism between black and white people.

   Additionally, the tension between Bigger and Bessie is a noteworthy conflict. Bigger and Bessie have had an ongoing love affair before the events of Native Son. As a result of Bigger's savage actions, he uses Bessie's place as a sort of mental sanctuary, and even prompt her to become affiliated in further criminal plans, namely money extortion from the Dalton family. However, Bessie is not quite enlightened by Bigger's intentions, criticizes his immoralities, but eventually doesn't find the courage to stand up against him. Nonetheless, she remains reluctant towards Bigger and due to her defiance, Bigger is forced to kill her in order to tie up loose ends.
   Lastly, there is a verbal conflict in the third and final chapter of Native Son, which chiefly take place in the courtroom between the prosecutor and district attorney Buckley and Bigger's defense counsel; the communist Max. This conflict is accordingly a juridical one, where Max, a representative from the Communist Party, delivers a comprehensive speech in which he criticizes the judgmental mentality of the people to the judicial assembly, and condones Bigger's killings by describing them as the mere results of the reprehensible conditions of the black people in the society. As a response to this, Buckley inflicts guilt on Bigger personally and dismisses Max's arguments that the authorities and the society are to blame.

Internal conflicts

Due to the superior social state of the white society during the present time and place, Bigger is troubled with fear towards the whites - who seemingly try to control his life - along with shame for who he is and for his family's situation. His ambitions of becoming a person of importance is restricted by these feelings, and he is constantly struggling to surpress and deny them to himself. Nevertheless, when these emotions overwhelm him by his surroundings or by provocations, he responds with violence, not seldom directed to his fellows. Because of Bigger being afraid and ashamed, the reason to why he didn't feel guilt of his murder is implied; by killing a white woman, he defied his former constrictions of fear, and thus found peace within himself because for the first time in his life, he was the one in charge of his own actions, not the whites.