The American Dream is a set of social ideas of what the United States offers, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity. The American dream is opportunity and is based on perspective; what happens to the dreamer when the opportunity is not granted? Richard Wright's 1940 novel "Native Son" is about a troubled young man in his twenties set in the ghetto of Chicago's Southside; he is unemployed and trying to find out who he really is. Fear, hatred, and racism are central conflicts, and they influenced Bigger Thomas, the protagonist, ravaging his uniqueness so relentlessly that his personal expression resulted in violence. Wright used Bigger Thomas to illustrate the effects of racism on the psychological state of African American victims. Through symbols, Wright expresses the racism and hypocrisy of the justice system as a negative influence on the dream of Bigger, the "Native's Son." The novel begins with the alarm ringing for a wake-up call for a family living in a rat-infested area. segregated ghetto community on Chicago's Southside. The bell is not only meant to wake up the Thomas family in the novel, but also to issue a warning to America if it does not change its way of accepting life from a racist perspective. Bigger is fiercely upset and angry that his family has to live in a one-room apartment where the brothers have to hide their faces from the shame that would cause the sister, Vera, and the mother, Mrs. Thomas. He was restricted due to only completing eighth grade and racism in real estate practice forcing the Thomas family to live in poverty. The narrator states: “He silenced their voices from his mind. He hated his family because he knew they were suffering and he was powerless to help them. He knew... middle of paper ... new symbols were used to show how, in the 1930s, African Americans were not given the opportunity to achieve the American dream. In fact, the author was born a slave and moved north to escape the Jim Crow laws of the South. The South was segregated and the North integrated, with African Americans having limited rights. Wright implemented this through oppression as part of the story. The American dream is actually an opportunity, but it is unclear what the ancestors dreamed of the country. After slavery, things changed and the question will always be asked: is it different now? Not having the right to attend school is the same as not having access to quality education. Whether a right or not, the American dream should be viewed as an equal opportunity. Ironically, Bigger was the victim because he never had the chance to dream..