The argument has been made that the whole chain of events that took place in Native Son are not really Bigger’s fault, since society shaped him to think and act the way he did. To a certain point, I agree. There are a lot of things Bigger did that I really hated, but I understood why he did them. Even so, there are some things I forgive him for more than others.
In the first scene of the book Bigger is at home, where I found him to be very emotionally distant from his family. It seemed that he didn’t like them and felt forced to provide for them, eventually only taking his job at the Dalton’s because he would starve otherwise. This is sad, but understandable, since I’m sure he feels like he has no privacy because they all share a single room, and he may even feel ashamed that he can’t provide for his family. I think his feeling of powerlessness affects the way he acts most of the time, and he tries to overcompensate by making himself look like he has control. He acts this way with his friends, as we see when Bigger tries to show how strong and powerful he is, and even threatened Gus to hide his weakness.
In class, we also spent a lot of time discussing how helpless Bigger feels throughout the book. He expresses this feeling at the beginning of the book, when he says “They don’t let us do nothing” (19) in reference to white people. This also helps me understand many of the actions that he takes, although there were many things he did that made me very mad about the whole situation.
For instance, I get that Bigger felt he had to make his presence in Mary’s room unknown to Ms. Dalton, since he was probably right in assuming that people would have accused him of rape. But if we’re rooting for Bigger to avoid getting in trouble (which I think we all sort of were after listening to all of his thoughts throughout the book), he should have handled the situation differently. I think the first mistake he made was doing anything after he realized she was dead. If he had just left Mary where she was, the family may have assumed that she had died of alcohol poisoning. Cutting Mary’s head off and putting her in the furnace is what got him caught in the first place.
Another thing that really bothered me was that Bigger let his hunger for power take over when he was with Bessie. I don’t really approve of the way he treated Bessie in general, but I understood that, in his position, he wanted her help. What I really hated happened after Bigger was discovered as guilty and tried to hide. Bessie kept crying that she wanted to kill herself, but Bigger kept telling her that she was being crazy. Then Bigger raped and killed her himself. That by itself is awful, but the fact that Bigger had to have control over that situation made me angry. It was like she couldn’t be killed unless he did it himself, and he had all the power over the situation.
Obviously there are a lot of other things that I struggled with while reading the book, but these are just two of the ones I thought about the most. Feel free to rant about other situations in the comments!
I somewhat agree with your argument. We can see how Bigger is in a huge power struggle, but feels powerless all the time. Because he feels powerless, he acts out a lot, but that is not an excuse for his actions. You say you understand why he did these things, but I cannot fathom how he could kill two women and rape one. Sure, he feels powerless, but that is not an excuse for his despicable actions.
ReplyDeleteWhen I say I understand what he did, I don't mean that I approve of it. Obviously I hate the fact that he killed two women and raped one, but I think that a big part of the reason he did those things is because society shaped him that way. Just to be clear, this doesn't mean that I'm ok with the actions he took.
DeleteThis expresses some of my general gripes with book as well, but perhaps our disagreement with Bigger's actions is the point: oppression can make otherwise decent people do irrational, horrible things. And from the naturalist perspective, Bigger is created through no power of his own, so the arguments over his character are frustratingly hard to moderate. Also, he KNEW that he would be charged with rape if he was found in the room with Mary, and he was pretty much correct. But even then, he ended up raping someone anyway, so the idea that he was treated unfairly for being labeled a rapist is extremely difficult to distinguish. All in all, Bigger is not a good person, but by the depressing naturalist view, he couldn't do anything to change that.
ReplyDeleteI think that Wright's intention in describing Bigger's rationale and thought process in several key instances during the novel is not exactly for the purpose of convincing the reader that it is not Bigger's fault, but rather providing an explanation as to why Bigger acts as he does. On the surface, Bigger does in fact commit murder, twice, and this fact can't be overlooked when considering the justification of Bigger's punishment. The courtroom scene with Max, however, does a lot to combat this very superficial outlook on the crime, and delves deep into Bigger's intentions and the conundrum of why he acted so rashly in Mary's bedroom. I believe that Bigger's actions are ultimately inexcusable, but through the light which Wright shines on Bigger's environment and the notions of racism imprinted upon him, we can understand what exactly causes Bigger to take action in several instances of the novel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis that the reader does not necessarily agree with Bigger's actions in Native Son. However, I feel as though Wright wants us to understand how his environment caused him to react in such a way. Regardless of whether the naturalist approach is completely realistic I think the important part is that we understand the systematic oppression that Bigger experiences constantly throughout his life.
ReplyDeleteFor me it's hard to judge Bigger Thomas and his actions. I will say that I definitely do not approve of murder and rape. But at the same time who am I judge Bigger Thomas? I am not Black and I have never experienced what Bigger Thomas had to experience as a Black man. I think it's easy to judge Bigger for his despicable actions because we're outsiders looking in. Whereas Wright, though he may not explicitly completely approve of Bigger's action, he does not condemn Bigger like the rest of us, because Wright is able to relate to Bigger because Wright experienced racial oppression as a Black person. And I think that's the main purpose of Max defending Bigger. But in the end, the jury and the judge failed to understand where Bigger is coming from, and as readers we fail to understand that as well, and as a result we judge and condemn Bigger.
ReplyDeleteThat's not exactly what I got out of Native Son, I don't think; I got the impression that Richard Wright was not writing Bigger sympathetically, but fairly. More than anything, I understood Native Son as exploring the horribleness of poverty as a result of racist segregation, Jim Crow legislature, and prejudice, and aftermath of slavery, as well as the severe psychological strain on black people living in a racist world, using Bigger as an example of the product of these destructive systems. Like, this terrible person came out of this horrible system, and Wright is blasting both.
DeleteI do believe Richard Wright condemns Bigger; otherwise, why would Max, who we might accept as a voice of reason (?), resurface Bessie during the trial, and never excuse what truly was an inexcusable act? Why do we meet Bessie, and also Vera, Buddy, Bigger's mother, Gus, Jack, Doc, and G.H., who through the course of the novel do not rape one and murder two women? I think Bessie in particular, being both black and Bigger's greatest victim, may be the greatest parallel to Wright himself who was tormented by "Biggers" as he describes in "How 'Bigger' Was Born".
I emphasize this concept of Wright writing Bigger "fairly" because Wright discusses emotion as fact's "designer" in the beginning of "How 'Bigger' Was Born". We saw a man named Buckley, with a clear hatred for black people, demonize Bigger; but then we see Max still condemn and judge Bigger guilty, without demonizing him, and acknowledging the immense pressures on Bigger's life. I see this as what Wright may have intended with his novel. I think Wright understood Bigger as a human being, a horrible one, but not an inhuman entity that acted evilly from no apparent source. Another way of putting it is I saw Wright as writing Bigger "scientifically", without clear bias for the righteousness or wrongness of his actions, but simply explaining the cause-and-effect of his mindset and life choices.
^ Reading what I wrote and I'm not sure I actually explained what I wanted to
DeleteAlso there's a strong sentiment in "How 'Bigger' Was Born" of the Bigger Thomases rebelling against white oppression, which I think is definitely a sympathetic tone that I honestly didn't really capture in the book, apart from that scene Bigger and Gus share in the beginning.
I agree with many of your sentiments. Although I can understand _why_ Bigger would do the things he did, I don't think that excuses him from his past. By saying that Bigger had no choice in his fate is to take away his agency and in many ways make him seem less than human (as if he had no control over himself or the situation giving in to primal instincts). There are people in history who have fought against their circumstances are they are the reason why our society changes. If everyone were bound to their destiny then how could there be any hope of social advancement? Part of my critique of Native son is that Wright for the most part speaks on behalf of Bigger Thomas, a character that he created. Although Wright says that he's observed the Bigger Thomases of his life, we are only seeing Bigger through the eyes of Wright. But how can we trust that he is giving an accurate account of Bigger's thoughts if he is not and has never been Bigger himself? I think the entire situation is even more complex than the book makes it out to be. There seem to be many iterations of Bigger's fate and how it could've gone had he chosen to act differently.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the parts that made you feel frustrated. Wright writes the novel so that there are parts where the reader feels uneasy. We are supposed to feel uncomfortable when he rapes and murders, but Wright does not attempt to justify Bigger's actions. He gives the reader's a glimpse into the life of a black man and how easily his life can spiral out of control. Later in the novel, the reader is not supposed to side with Bigger, but see the unfair process of the trial. Bigger could have deserved his sentence but the way it came about was not the same process as what would have happened to a white man.
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