Dialect Journals
Claudia Arizaga
Mrs. Trout
English 2(H)
14 May 2013
Christian Existentialism in Native Son Several people wonder, what is the purpose of life? Others may accept as true that they make their own choices in life. In reality, one’s life is not determined by the individual, but by a higher authority. Jean-Paul Sartre lectures about the meaning of life through “Existentialism is Humanism.” He jots down two sides of existentialism: Christian and Atheist side. Christian existentialism is defined with the ideology “essence before existence.” On the other hand, Atheist existentialism is defined as “existence before essence.” In other words, Sartre portrays two pathways of life, one is predetermined, the other is freewill. In Native Son, by Richard Wright, the author creates a novel using Christian existentialism. In the story, the protagonist and antagonist Bigger Thomas, undergoes through austere internal conflicts. His mother pressures him to get the job working with the Dalton family, a very opulent family. Bigger manages to get the job as a chauffer for the Daltons. On his first day on the job, he has to drive Mary Dalton, Mr. Dalton’s young daughter, to her school. She decides to skip school and instead goes out with her boyfriend, Jan. Mary gets dead drunk and cannot even hold herself up. Bigger has no choice but to carry her up to her room. He lays her on her bed, when Mrs. Dalton enters the room. To Bigger’s advantage, she is blind and cannot see him. Unfortunately, Mary tries to respond to her mother’s questions, stimulating Bigger to cover her face with her pillow. In his fear of getting caught, he ends up suffocating Mary, bringing her life to an end. The purpose of one’s life connects to the views of Christian existentialism through the ideology “essence before existence.” Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son, is written supporting Jean-Paul Sartre’s categories of Christian existentialism: essence before existence, the paper-knife theory, quietism, and the
Mrs. Trout
English 2(H)
14 May 2013
Christian Existentialism in Native Son Several people wonder, what is the purpose of life? Others may accept as true that they make their own choices in life. In reality, one’s life is not determined by the individual, but by a higher authority. Jean-Paul Sartre lectures about the meaning of life through “Existentialism is Humanism.” He jots down two sides of existentialism: Christian and Atheist side. Christian existentialism is defined with the ideology “essence before existence.” On the other hand, Atheist existentialism is defined as “existence before essence.” In other words, Sartre portrays two pathways of life, one is predetermined, the other is freewill. In Native Son, by Richard Wright, the author creates a novel using Christian existentialism. In the story, the protagonist and antagonist Bigger Thomas, undergoes through austere internal conflicts. His mother pressures him to get the job working with the Dalton family, a very opulent family. Bigger manages to get the job as a chauffer for the Daltons. On his first day on the job, he has to drive Mary Dalton, Mr. Dalton’s young daughter, to her school. She decides to skip school and instead goes out with her boyfriend, Jan. Mary gets dead drunk and cannot even hold herself up. Bigger has no choice but to carry her up to her room. He lays her on her bed, when Mrs. Dalton enters the room. To Bigger’s advantage, she is blind and cannot see him. Unfortunately, Mary tries to respond to her mother’s questions, stimulating Bigger to cover her face with her pillow. In his fear of getting caught, he ends up suffocating Mary, bringing her life to an end. The purpose of one’s life connects to the views of Christian existentialism through the ideology “essence before existence.” Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son, is written supporting Jean-Paul Sartre’s categories of Christian existentialism: essence before existence, the paper-knife theory, quietism, and the