SOURCE: Miller, James A. “Bigger Thomas's Quest for Voice and Audience in Richard Wright's Native Son.” Callaloo 9, no. 3 (summer 1986): 501-06.

In the following essay, Miller argues that the concluding scene of Native Son illustrates Bigger's recovery of his voice, which “not only undermines the argument that Max functions as a spokesman for Wright's political views but also challenges the view that Bigger himself is inarticulate.”

Critical commentary about Native Son has invariably focused on the meaning of the final section of the novel, particularly Max's impassioned speech to the judge in his vain attempt to save Bigger Thomas's life and the final encounter between Max and Bigger at the end of the novel. Max's appearance in the novel has been regarded by many critics—among them Irving Howe, Robert Bone, Dan McCall, Edward Margolies, and Russell Brignano—as an ideological intrusion which disrupts the artistic unity of Native...