Cross Damon was a fictional character from Richard Wright

Richard Wright (author)

Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of sometimes controversial novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially those involving the plight of African-Americans during the late 19th to mid 20th centuries...

's 1953 novel The Outsider

The Outsider (Richard Wright)

The Outsider is a novel by American author Richard Wright, first published in 1953. The Outsider is Richard Wright's second installment in a story of epic proportions, a complex master narrative to show American racism in raw and ugly terms...

. Cross Damon was viewed as a "outsider" who did not attempt to become a product of the established culture of American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 society. Cross was considered a complete opposite to Bigger Thomas, another character created by Richard Wright in his novel Native Son

Native Son

Native Son is a novel by American author Richard Wright. The novel tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, an African American living in utter poverty. Bigger lived in Chicago's South Side ghetto in the 1930s...

. He also ridicules Communist techniques and lives according to the principles of free choice. Cross Damon committed murder in a completely different spirit than Bigger Thomas. He acts as an individual who is free to do whatever his habits and desires lead him to do. His is not a victim of social and environmental pressures outside his control. In many ways, Cross Damon resembles Meursault, the hero of Albert Camus

Albert Camus

Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...

 novel The Stranger

The Stranger (novel)

The Stranger or The Outsider is a novel by Albert Camus published in 1942. Its theme and outlook are often cited as examples of existentialism, though Camus did not consider himself an existentialist; in fact, its content explores various philosophical schools of thought, including absurdism, as...

. Both men lived outside of any involvement with common humanity and paid no attention to social mores.

See also

• The Outsider
  The Outsider (Richard Wright)
  The Outsider is a novel by American author Richard Wright, first published in 1953. The Outsider is Richard Wright's second installment in a story of epic proportions, a complex master narrative to show American racism in raw and ugly terms...
  
  - Richard Wright's 1953 novel
• Native Son
  Native Son
  Native Son is a novel by American author Richard Wright. The novel tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, an African American living in utter poverty. Bigger lived in Chicago's South Side ghetto in the 1930s...
  
  - Richard Wright's 1940 novel
• The Stranger
  The Stranger (novel)
  The Stranger or The Outsider is a novel by Albert Camus published in 1942. Its theme and outlook are often cited as examples of existentialism, though Camus did not consider himself an existentialist; in fact, its content explores various philosophical schools of thought, including absurdism, as...
  
  - Albert Camus' 1942 novel