In the novel Native Son by Richard Wright, Wright uses each character's perceptions, prejudices and biases to represent their "blindness" of truths. Wright argues that it is blindness that harms society, and will eventually lead to its downfall. Wright represents this destruction on a small scale, setting the novel in 1930s Chicago, where racist views and bigotry run rampant.

Mrs. Dalton is the epitome of blindness. She is the only character who truly is blind and cannot see. Mrs. Dalton is witness a crime that she never "saw," and therefore does not realize she is a witness. Her blindness impairs her to know the truth about a murder, when she was right in the room when it happened. Other characters in the novel, with perfect vision, are also blind to many things that happen in the story.

Mary Dalton and Jan Erlone are blind to how it feels...