Compare Bigger Thomas and the Invisible Men
Compare Bigger Thomas, the protagonist of Native Son, to the unnamed protagonist and narrator of Invisible Man It was observed by Socrates that 'an unexamined life is not worth living.' If that is true, then Bigger Thomas' tragedy of Richard Wright's novel of the African-American 20th century experience is that of a tragedy of an unexamined life. Thomas begins the novel as a chauffeur, working in an occupation where he can see the lives of rich white people, but cannot dream of living such a lifestyle. He lives in fear of whites, and accidentally smothers Mary, the daughter of his employer, and conceals his crime, when he is trying to prevent the drunken girl from awakening anyone, and cause him to be accused of rape. Only at the end of the novel, when talking to a white communist defense lawyer, does Bigger gain a sense of how poorly he has been treated as an African-American throughout his existence. Bigger is a largely passive character, and the moral center of his family is clearly his mother, not Bigger. Even the young girl he accidentally killed, Mar
However, like Bigger, despite his education, Ellison's protagonist is still reduced to a body, a black beast in the eyes of whites, rather than the being of dignity he deserves to be treated as, as a man. Before Blacks can be elevated, this event shows, they must be reduced in the eyes of whites. This occurs during the "Battle Royale" scene at the beginning of the book where rich white men force Black college-age men to fight for money in a perverse and hideous boxing tournament. The Invisible Man is inflicted with a dual consciousness, of the faults and foibles of both the cultures he is exposed to in America. He too has been treated in a patronizing fashion by whites-but not by people who want to 'act black,' but by whites that are supposedly are trying to improve his race through education. In contrast, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man lives an all too examined life. Bigger would probably have strove to capitalize monetarily more upon such opportunities, while had the Invisible Man had been born a chauffer, especially given his more retiring persona at the beginning of the story, he would have done everything to keep Mary away from the bars that got her drunk, and taken her to a place to go out that he insisted was 'the real' Harlem, but was nothing of the kind. Although even Bigger would likely have eventually resisted the social limitations placed even upon an educated African-American. At one point, in the presence of a white man, a trustee of the all-black university he attends, he accidentally stumbles into a nightclub, but the disgust, fear, and shame he feels during the event is not simply because of the actions of the trustee, but also because of the behavior of his fellow African-Americans. His narrator is painfully aware of how racism limits his circumstances. His knowledge runs deeper than Bigger's, he knows that mere education and good treatment from patronizing whites is not enough. Not even access to education is enough so long as culture continues to regard African-Americans as subhuman. Bigger Thomas gains some enlightenment about his oppression but only after it is too late-his education only really begins after he is condemned to die. Both men, at the end of the book, become more aware of the vision of the slave-mother, of the feudal past that sill haunts them in chaos and darkness, although the personality of the Invisible Man cause him to feel it more intensely.
Common topics in this essay:
Richard Wright's,
Bigger Thomas,
Ellison's Invisible,
African-American Bigger,
Battle Royale,
America Bigger,
Native Son,
African-Americans Invisible,
Bigger Thomas',
eyes whites,
bigger thomas,
unexamined life,
rich white,
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Acceptance Essays
