Abstract
Richard Wright’s depiction of Black women in Native Son has stirred discussion since its
publication in 1940, and Wright defends Native Son in his essay, “How ‘Bigger’ Was Born.”
This essay explores the subjectivity of Wright’s Black women characters, Mrs. Thomas and
Bessie, and how their position in the novel emphasizes superexploitation and triple
oppression (race, gender, class) within the modern capitalist system. Wright limits their
revolutionary potential by portraying the women as burdens to Bigger, and in the most
extreme case, results in perpetual violence against Bigger’s girlfriend, Bessie. Though Wright
explores triple oppression inadvertently in Native Son, his essay, “How ‘Bigger’ Was Born,”
excludes gender and omits sexism and misogyny as autonomous forces aiding the expansion
of national and global capitalism. Women are excluded from Wright’s essay, and this gap is
examined in this essay through an en-gendering framework and a racial capitalism
framework that interrogates political and social economies impacting Bessie and Mrs.
Thomas. These frameworks highlight hierarchical apparatuses that determine and maintain
modern capitalist consistencies.