Character Analysis of Bigger Thomas from the Native Son
Bigger Thomas, as the protagonist and the main character in the Native Son, represents the effect of racism on the psychological state of its black victims. In his twenties, Bigger is a black man cramped in a South Side apartment with his family, Bigger has molded his life this way because of an obsessive fear and anger he feels toward whites. Bigger is limited by his lack of education (up to eighth grade), and by the racist practices that force him to live in poverty, and is naive in the sense he is subjected
This murder confirms the whites' fears; Bigger continues cycle of racism in America. Bigger hardly any guilt after he accidentally kills Mary (the communist daughter of his employers). After, being caught for the murder, Bigger sets the precedent in the white community, which is that blacks are savage murders and rapists. Mary's murder makes him believe that he has the power to assert himself against whites. Bigger also commits crimes with his friends, but only does so against other blacks, because he and his friends are too frightened to commit a crime against someone who his white because they fear severe punishment. When all of these factors overwhelm him, he reacts with violence. All he knows is to be ashamed of his family's poverty and afraid of the whites that control his life (he hides this feelings). This view has shaped his life and uses this common excuse to justify why his is in the poverty stricken class. After Bigger meets Max (he communist lawyer sent by Jan) and learns to talk through his problems, Bigger begins to redeem himself, by separating whites as individuals and realizing how racism has suppressed his life. ety's view which portrays whites as sophisticated and blacks as either subservient or savage. Unfortunately, Bigger's redemption is cut short, by his execution (he was tried and sent to the electric chair for the murder). In fact, he feels for the first time as though his life actually has purpose and meaning and feels like a hero because.
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