SOURCE: Harding, Desmond. “The Power of Place: Richard Wright's Native Son.” CLA Journal 40, no. 3 (March 1997): 367-79.

In the following essay, Harding investigates Wright's utilization of architectural determinism in his novel Native Son.

The theory of architectural determinism, which has been linked to theories of environmental and physical determinism, is the assertion that the three-dimensional layout of the physical environment has a direct effect upon human behavior, that changes in “built form” can result in changes in human behavior.¹ The degree to which this deterministic theory has been held over from the nineteenth century by twentieth-century architects is clear from the design philosophies of individuals such as Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright. Contemporary studies supporting a theory of architectural determinism have, among other things, focused on the relationship between architectural environment(s) and human behavior. Architect Romaldo Guirgola, for example, writes: “The structure of the building articulates the...