James Baldwin

In the very first scenes following Bigger’s arrest, it is clear that his criminal trial is already politicized. Two of his first visitors are Jan, Mary’s boyfriend who introduced Bigger to Communism in “Fear,” and Max, another member of the Communist Party who wishes to represent Bigger as his defense attorney. While both Jan and Max hope to help Bigger seemingly out of empathy for his situation, they have political motivations as well. Max even tells the State’s attorney Buckley, “If you had not dragged the name of the Communist Party into this murder, I’d not be here,” (292). Max wants the people of Chicago to realize that the Communist Party is not at fault for what Bigger did, but rather broken American systems are the enemy, which he believes Communism could fix. Max is defending not only Bigger but Max’s political party too. Buckley, on the other hand, is resolved to convict both. When questioning Bigger and Jan, he repeatedly attempts to implicate Jan and the broader Communist Party in Mary’s death. In doing so, he works to protect the racist, capitalist status quo, represented by the Daltons and him. While Mr. Dalton may think his charity work has absolved him of his racism, Max’s cross examination of Mr. Dalton reveals the wealthy man’s unwillingness to help Black communities on a more impactful level. Despite being aware of their destitute living conditions, he refuses to charge them less rent because that would be “underselling [his] competitors” (328). Mr. Dalton’s reasoning illustrates how capitalism enables, and is, in some cases, used to justify racism. 

Meanwhile, the Communists, Jan and Max, show Bigger compassion. When Jan reaches out to Bigger despite what he did to Mary, “for the first time in [Bigger’s] life, a white man became a human being to him” (289). Through Jan and Max, Communism is associated with equality and humanity. During the immense pressure of his cross-examination, Jan sticks to his ideals when asked about Black people. Buckley incredulously asks, “You like Negroes?” as Jan says he “make[s] no distinctions,” telling Buckley directly that Bigger “is human” (320-321). Max repeatedly objects to the relevance of Buckley’s racist, political questions, but to no avail. The trial is not just between the government and Bigger, but between capitalism and Communism. By drawing such a distinction, Wright describes capitalism as an institution that allows racism to persist, while Communism is portrayed as an answer to modern civilization’s deepest problems. 

The crazed, bipolar, and volatile exterior Bigger fashions for himself is methodically designed to hide his insecurities. Bigger is completely controlled by the multitude of fears that dominate his life. For example, Richard Wright describes the hatred that Bigger has toward his family, “He hated his family because he knew that they were suffering and that he was powerless to help them”(10). Subsequently, he provides the reason why: “He knew that the moment he allowed himself to feel to its fullness how they lived, the shame and misery of their lives, he would be swept out of himself with fear and despair”(10). Bigger’s disdain for them stems from his fear of poverty and failure. Arguably, this is a common narrative for those attempting to defeat poverty’s confines: they use this fear of failure to push and drive them forward. However, Bigger is incapable of doing this. Bigger chooses to bury his fear deep into his soul, reconfiguring himself to act hard and lash out to protect his fear instead of facing it. He feels powerless to defeat the confines of poverty, resulting in him refusing to take job opportunities. Bigger’s is resigned: “Goddammit, I’m always broke” (13).

Bigger struggles with the decision of either taking the job or continuing to live the way he does. “Yes, he could take the job at Dalton’s and be miserable, or he could refuse it and starve” (12). It could be argued that there’s not really a choice as both paths lead to pain. This decision that Bigger is faced with is familiar to those living in poverty. Empathy is required before the judgment of Bigger as poverty, fear, and avoidance of it shapes many actions. In some cases, these choices may not seem logical. Some may be designed for short-term gain and escapism. In my Intro to Social Problems class last semester, we focused on wealth, poverty, and inequality. In a reading directly applicable here, the author stated, “You gravitate toward those that can make you feel special for however long that single experience may be and not worry about any future effects“. Although not healthy for him, the gang that Bigger runs with provides that much-needed companionship that he seeks. His ability to laugh genuinely because of the shared experiences of those around him, is essential to his well-being. He’s keenly aware that this would be sacrificed by taking the job. The author of the article also mentioned, “Poverty is bleak and cuts off your long term brain”. For many in poverty, the ability to dream and look forward is not feasible. While logic might suggest Bigger should take the job, the needed community of those with his same shared experiences of suffering is more powerful. He doesn’t have the will to break away from the tough, but predictable life he knows. The comfort of staying in the place he knows around the people he knows is a path of less resistance. The alternative, working for a white man in a white area of town brings its own set of anxiety and fears. The only opportunity to dream of a path towards a longer-term, better life is done through the movies he watches. The movies are his escape; however, what he sees on the screen is not accessible to him. The life he wants to live is seemingly only accomplished and lived by white people. Once again, he is deterred from this desire to think big, leaving him to suffice his desires by living day-to-day.  

Bigger is severely impacted by his fear of poverty and the mindset he has developed due to this. Bigger’s experience is not unique and it speaks to a broader challenge. The energy he has put into hiding and denying what he goes through leads to his volatile actions. His fears control him, and his actions constantly look to take some control back, leading him down bad paths.

In the opening scenes of the novel, Peggy, the Daltons’ housekeeper, shows Bigger to his room, a space formerly occupied by Green, the previous African-American chauffeur. The room was “covered with pictures of girls’ faces and prize fighters” (Wright 58). Peggy does not comment on the content of these pictures, only noting that Green liked pictures, but, when he returns, Bigger stands in the middle of the room looking at them. The narrator says, “There were pictures of Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, and Henry Armstrong; there were others of Ginger Rogers, Jean Harlow, and Janet Gaynor” (Wright 59). Though a small detail, these walls symbolize the world in which Bigger feels trapped like the mouse in the opening scene. Of the four boxers whose pictures adorn Green’s wall, three are African-Americans and the other, Dempsey, has both Irish and Cherokee heritage. The three women are white American actresses. Just as Green and Bigger serve as opposites in the text, the boxers and Bigger act as opposites in terms of masculinity. While Bigger often attempts to prove his masculinity using weapons (e.g. knife, gun), the boxers simply prove it through their fists. Though both proofs require violence, the boxers’ fighting is fair and on equal footing whereas the Bigger’s violence is cowardly as he ambushes Gus, Mary, and Bessie.

Over the course of the novel, Wright argues that society forces Bigger to show his masculinity in this way. This argument could lead one to believe that boxers then escape this dilemma. Yet the example of the boxers and of Green show that a comfort in masculinity does not lead to freedom for African-Americans. Green’s comfort in his own masculinity allowed him to work for the Daltons for ten years, during which time “Mrs. Dalton made him go to night school” (Wright 55). The wording is important: Green does not choose to go to night school, but rather Mrs. Dalton “made him go.” This fact shows that Green does not control his own future but rather depends on the help of his white employers. Similarly, the boxer’s dalliance with white society depends on his ability to both continue winning and maintain a socially acceptable demeanor. Jack Johnson, the first boxer mentioned, is a perfect example. The first African-American heavyweight champion, Johnson consorted with and later married white women. His disregard for the color line resulted in the government enforcing the Mann Act against him, forcing him to flee the country. Even though he controlled his aggression, he could not escape the control of powerful white men over his life.

As Bigger’s life falls apart, we could view Green and the boxers as the hope, a path out of the entrapment that Bigger recognizes. Yet Green is powerless as well; he does not have freedom to access the white women he has on his wall. Just as the edges of the paper that display those boxers and actresses do not intersect, so too Green’s masculinity, or self-control, does not intersect with freedom. This is the dilemma of society, the problem against which Bigger lashes out. His solution is radical but his feelings are legitimate.

A person’s actions being defined by the color of his or her skin is unfortunately common. As a person of color, I have seen it happen around me for as long as I can remember. It is not just the US, and other countries with predominantly white people, that are racist. India, where people are different shades of brown, has its own share of lightly colored racists. The fairer skinned people are presumed superior to the darker skinned ones. While growing up, I saw these prejudices within my own house, in my conservative grandmother who lives with us. The constant preaching about equality and fairness that my parents gave me contradicted what I saw and heard otherwise. Since then, I made an effort to call any duplicity out and did my best to stand up for what I thought was right. Initially, I felt that Wright was calling out the duplicity and the prejudices African Americans have to face all their lives in Native Son. Which is why I felt saddened by Bigger’s loss of his humanity in book two.

In Book 1 of Native Son, Wright explains the reasons behind Bigger’s anger and his actions well. Bigger is angry at the world because of the way he is treated and the circumstances he has to live in because of his color. Blacks could only rent places in the south side of Chicago. Naturally, the better schools with more educated teachers and greater facilities would have been reserved for more prolific areas, while people like Bigger had to struggle and could not follow their dreams. If Bigger “wasn’t black and had some money,” the white people “would let [him] go to aviation school and fly a plane” (Wright 67) which he desperately wanted to do. He lives in a crappy apartment with his mother and his siblings. On top of all that, his mother is constantly nagging him. She even tells him that she “wonder[‘s] why [she] birthed [him]” (Wright 50) in the first place. All these things contribute to Bigger’s anger, and the only way he knows how to channel it is robbing people along with his friends. Bigger does not know better. He sees the job he finds with Mr. Dalton as his way out of extreme poverty, and desperately wants to keep it. This explains his mistaken murder of Mary in a state of panic.

So far, Wright justifies Bigger’s actions. His humanity is visible in his mistakes and his fear after committing a crime. However, his actions in Book two show his loss of it. The loss of Bigger’s humanity is visible when he loses his conscience and stops feeling for his victim, whom he killed by mistake. It is the moment when Wright writes that Bigger “did not feel sorry for Mary; she was not real to him, not a human being; he had not known her long or well enough for that. He felt that his murder of her was more than amply justified” (Wright 243) that Bigger’s character becomes the Black stereotype and in some way, justifies all the people that blame him for a crime based on his color. Sentences like “to me, a nigger’s a nigger” (Wright 335) hit much harder, because in this case, the Black man did commit the crime and is not even sorry for it.

I found this book extremely problematic because of such a portrayal of the protagonist. Instead of highlighting the prejudice based on one’s color, Wright sadly highlights the validity of such prejudice. This book would reaffirm anyone’s racist thoughts instead of making the reader question them. Sadly, including my grandmother.