Date of Award
2009-01-01
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
English and American Literature
Advisor(s)
Robert L. Gunn
Abstract
In Native Son, Richard Wright presents a view of the impoverished, inner-city from an insider's perspective, which reflects the anger and hate brewing towards the rest of the nation as a result of living under harsh, isolating conditions. Wright's main character, Bigger Thomas serves as an archetypal ghetto figure both in his attitudes and the treatment he receives from Anglo Americans. Additionally, the reception of Native Son by a majority white reading audience also reflected the voyeuristic thrill of the bourgeoisie when consuming cultural products by African Americans. The selection of Wright's novel into the Book of the Month Club displayed how a work meant to create social change becomes commodified for mass consumption, thereby stripping the work of its original intent. The same phenomenon occurs a half-century later with the rise of Hip-Hop music, specifically, gangsta rap. Rap artists, while assuming the Bigger Thomas archetype, use their status as objects for cultural consumption to rise out of the ghetto, but ultimately serve as objects for voyeurism because market forces call for violent, misogynistic works that fail creating social change.
Language
en
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
Copyright Date
2009
File Size
86 pages
File Format
application/pdf
Rights Holder
Marcos Julian Del Hierro
Recommended Citation
Del Hierro, Marcos Julian, "It's Bigger and Hip-Hop: Richard Wright, Hip-Hop, and Masculinity" (2009). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 239.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/open_etd/239
Included in
American Literature Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons