One of the most prominent themes in Native Son is how Bigger's city is sharply divided between blacks and whites. “Half the time,” he says, “I feel like I’m on the outside of the world peeping in through a knothole in the fence.” He and his family live together in one cramped room, in the only corner of town the white landlords allow them to live in. Bigger and his friends make their living as thieves - but they only rob other black people, because the white police won’t care. Bigger’s life is confined to a cramped and dismal script, with the white world always looming overhead. From the moment he steps out of his house, Bigger is confronted by a white face, “fleshy but stern,” reminding him that “YOU CAN’T WIN!”
Growing up in this environment, Bigger’s understanding of himself and the world around him would seem to be shaped by racism and the ever-present class divide that puts whites above blacks. He works for the Daltons and ostensibly plays the part of the obedient young black man perfectly. But still, he is an outlier, even among his own family. While his mother and siblings are proud of his new job offer, Bigger sees it as a “cheap surrender.” He eschews religion as well, seeing it as just another false hope for those who’ve given up on this life. For Bigger, nothing seems to be able to satisfy his “gnawing hunger and restless aspiration,” or distract him from the “great natural force” of white people that “as long as they lived here in this prescribed corner of the city, they paid mute tribute to."
Bigger Thomas, as a character, stands out from the rest. And because Native Son is a protest against the racist system of 1930s Chicago, Bigger isn't just a fictional character, but a message to the reader. The title of the novel gives a hint at what that message might be. In the words of Max: “The consciousness of Bigger Thomas, and millions like him, white and black, form the quicksands upon which the foundations of our nation rests.”
Bigger Thomas, as a character, stands out from the rest. And because Native Son is a protest against the racist system of 1930s Chicago, Bigger isn't just a fictional character, but a message to the reader. The title of the novel gives a hint at what that message might be. In the words of Max: “The consciousness of Bigger Thomas, and millions like him, white and black, form the quicksands upon which the foundations of our nation rests.”
I thought your post did a really nice job of articulating your point. I agree; Bigger seems to be a product of his environment. He is a very radical summation of his environment; his friends call him crazy when he lashes out. It reminds me of when Bledsoe tells the Narrator in Invisible Man that it is important that black people don't become bitter. Bigger has become bitter, but I feel he has rightfully become so because of just how harsh his environment. He would be crazier if he wasn't bitter.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good point. I think that Bigger's circumstances really shape his actions and the world around him also limits his ability to do certain things. Bigger seems to understand this. Like you said, he is bombarded with the message "You can't win" literally every single time he walks out of his building after the start of the book. That sort of seems like a reason for him to lash out at friends and others. He wants to feel some kind of power, and he knows that he won't given his present circumstances.
ReplyDeleteYour conclusion touches upon something that not many people discuss, the purpose of Bigger. While I do think that you have some nice clarity by getting to "the point" of characters in the context of the protest novel, I'm not so sure that Bigger does represent a foiling of the system of racism. I guess it depends on what you think success in such a system is measured by, because if it means putting down black people, it has certainly done its job. But I do think there is an argument that the loss of Mary on account of Bigger, (whom it is said white culture created) then they have shot themselves in the foot. Perhaps, however, that feeds into their own predilections of race and the stage of looking at the results objectively is never reached.
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