Bright and Morning Star by Richard Wright
"Bright and Morning Star" by Richard Wright is a poignant short story that explores themes of racial struggle, sacrifice, and betrayal within the context of the early 20th-century American South. The narrative centers on Sue, an elderly black woman who grapples with the challenges of life after the death of her husband and the activism of her two sons, Sug and Johnny-Boy. While Sug is imprisoned for his Communist Party involvement, Johnny-Boy pursues his commitment to communism, believing it to be a path toward economic equality for black people. The story unfolds against a backdrop of systemic oppression, where Sue faces brutal confrontations with a hostile sheriff determined to suppress the Communist movement.
As the plot progresses, tensions rise with the arrival of Booker, a white man whose duplicity threatens the safety of Sue and her family. Sue's fierce maternal instincts drive her to protect her son, leading her to a climactic confrontation that underscores the harsh realities of loyalty and sacrifice in a racially divided society. Ultimately, the narrative culminates in a tragic showdown that highlights the depth of Sue's love for her son and the heavy cost of betrayal. This powerful story invites readers to reflect on the complex dynamics of race, class, and ideology during a tumultuous historical period.
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Bright and Morning Star by Richard Wright
First published: 1938
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The 1930's
Locale: Near Memphis, Tennessee
Principal Characters:
Johnny-Boy , a communist activistSue , his motherSug , his brotherReva , a woman in love with Johnny-BoyBooker , a man who joins the Communist Party to betray it
The Story
In the first of the story's six sections, Sue, an elderly and dignified black woman, recalls her burdensome life and efforts to survive the death of her husband and the births of her sons, Sug and Johnny-Boy. Both sons believe in the promise of the Communist Party to end strife between the races and economic classes. Sug, however, is imprisoned for his party activities, and Johnny-Boy, like many Richard Wright characters, is fleeing from white people who seek to identify Communist Party members in order to destroy both them and the party. Sue and Reva, a white woman in love with Johnny-Boy, share a well-founded concern for Johnny-Boy's safety.
In the next section, Johnny-Boy explains to his mother that he is committed to communism for economic, not racial reasons, noting that black people cannot fight rich bosses alone and that only by working with white party members can they attain economic equality. Sue believes that Johnny-Boy is blinded by his idealism, but her maternal love does not allow her to prevent his attending a party meeting, even though Reva has warned her that the sheriff and other white men plan to raid the meeting.
In the third section the sheriff arrives to determine the whereabouts of Johnny-Boy and the meeting. He brutally beats Sue, but she will not tell him anything. Angered by her defiance, the sheriff knocks her unconscious. Sue's pride, her ability to maintain her secret, and her pronouncement that she has the strength to remain silent are her nearly fatal undoing.
In the fourth section, Sue, her son, and the black race are betrayed when a white man named Booker arrives, ostensibly to warn those planning to attend the Communist Party meeting of the sheriff's intention. In his manipulation of Sue in her weakened state, Richard Wright's Booker does indeed reveal his Judas-like qualities. When he leaves, Sue fears she has revealed her secret to the wrong person.
Sue's fears are confirmed in the next section, in which Reva reappears and warns Sue not to trust Booker. The warning comes too late, so Sue decides to take action. She arms herself with a gun and her conviction that she will go to the spot where she believes the sheriff is waiting for her son and the other Communist Party members.
In the final section of the story, the battle lines are drawn clearly: black versus white, the powerless versus the powerful, and Sue and her son versus the sheriff and his conspirators. After Sue sees the sheriff break her son's kneecaps and his ear drums because he will not reveal the names of his comrades, she sees Booker, the man for whom she is really waiting. She shoots Booker, thereby killing the man whose betrayal has destroyed her son, his dreams, and her own. Sue, in turn, is killed by the white posse, her blood adding to the drama of the final battlefield scene.
Bibliography
Baldwin, James. The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985. New York: St. Martin's Press/Marek, 1985.
Bloom, Harold, ed. Richard Wright. New York: Chelsea House, 1987.
Butler, Robert."Native Son": The Emergence of a New Black Hero. Boston: Twayne, 1991.
Fabre, Michel. The Unfinished Quest of Richard Wright. Translated by Isabel Barzun. New York: William Morrow, 1973.
Felgar, Robert. Richard Wright. Boston: Twayne, 1980.
Hakutani, Yoshinobu. Richard Wright and Racial Discourse. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1996.
Kinnamon, Keneth, ed. Critical Essays on Richard Wright's "Native Son." New York: Twayne, 1997.
Kinnamon, Keneth, ed. A Richard Wright Bibliography: Fifty Years of Criticism and Commentary: 1933-1982. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1988.
Rand, William E. "The Structure of the Outsider in the Short Fiction of Richard Wright and F. Scott Fitzgerald." CLA Journal 40 (December, 1996): 230-245.
Walker, Margaret. Richard Wright: Daemonic Genius. New York: Warner, 1988.