Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game
Throughout Native Son, I found myself hating Bigger Thomas and the decisions he made. I am aware this is what Wright intended, but it led me to question Bigger's choices more thoroughly. While it is clear he killed Mary, can we really blame Bigger? Aside from his appalling actions with Bessie and his overall awfulness as a person, how much of his actions were really his fault? Are we supposed to hate Bigger himself, or hate his environment that contributed to the way he is?
Richard Wright specifically portrays Bigger Thomas as a terrible person. Even before Bigger killed anyone, Wright makes it obvious he's awful. From the opening as he taunts his sister with a dead rat and makes her uncomfortable watching her change, we are meant to hate him. This "a-hole" demeanor is only strengthened when we see him start a fight with Gus, and threaten to kill him. As the book progresses, Bigger's actions become more and more severe. While I am aware the actual killing of Mary was accidental, his groping without her consent beforehand, and disposing of her body afterwards were not. Furthermore, the rape and murder of Bessie in cold blood only adds to this awful character Bigger Thomas. While I think all of these instances Bigger is at fault for, I wonder how his environment has added to this. Richard Wright purposely has Bigger as a terrible person so readers hate his character and feel less sympathy for his consequences, after reading him do such horrid things. However, a big part of hating Bigger is understand the environment which has produced Bigger, and continues to produce other 'Biggers' and people similar to him.
The moment where Bigger actually kills Mary can be somewhat explained by the fear he experiences, as a result of being a Black man in a White girl's room alone. This is not the first instance in which he feels this discomfort and fear of his circumstances. From the moment Bigger meets Mary, she makes him incredibly uncomfortable. "in his relations with her he felt that he was riding a seesaw; never were they on a common level; either he or she was up in the air (72)". It is clear he wants to be done with her after spending the night between her and Jan, taking them to the restaurant and having them try to sing gospel songs in the car. These small things don't seem like much to people who have never experienced that discomfort or fear that comes along with their race, which Wright is aware of. Wright has his readers wondering, why is bigger so uncomfortable by these people who are seemingly being so kind to him, even supporting "equal rights" and trying to be helpful. What Jan and Mary don't understand is that Bigger is not used to this, and does not receive this happily. Its as if Mary and Jan expect Bigger to thank them for treating him as a human, more than just a 'dumb black boy' who drives them around. This naive ignorance constantly around Bigger in the Dalton home combined with the racist society in which he resides are some of the contributing factors of his surroundings that shape who he is. Whether or not he admits it to himself, the environment in which he has grown up in have made him Bigger Thomas, more than anything he has done himself.
In a world where everyone wants to believe they are special and unique, Wright makes the claim that in reality, we have very little control over our lives. "half the time i feel like i'm outside of the world peeping in through a knot-hole in the fence (23)". Bigger Thomas was only living the life he was intended to live, and the choices he made were less him choosing than him living in the environment around him.
Wright also makes a point about paying attention to the environment people are in when Max and Mr. Dalton are talking. Though Mr. Dalton can't see how his donations of ping pong tables don't actually help any of the black youth, Max makes a point to ask "will ping-pong keep a man from murdering? (273)". Here Wright is bringing attention to all the 'attempts' White people make to 'help' Black people, when in reality they are only doing it to feel better about themselves. Though Mr. Dalton controls the housing area in which Bigger lives and is able to change the poor conditions and small rooms, that is of no meaning to him because he never really wanted to help. He only wanted to be able to say he was one of the 'good' Whites, the ones who are 'rooting' for the Black people. With Mr. Dalton's ignorance, in combination with Bigger's awful personality, Wright is wanting people to make a change. He wants us to hate Bigger and do something about it. It is not that we should hate Bigger Thomas alone, but we should hate the environment that made him so. It dumbs down to the old saying "don't hate the player, hate the game" and in this instance, hate both. If you hate the player so much, hate the game, and change the game. Stop allowing the game to create more players like the ones you hate, and stop allowing society to create more Bigger Thomas'.
With this in mind, is Mary's death Bigger's fault? Or is this a result of the way the environment has made him? Or is this not a question of blame, but an understanding on how the results have come to be. Mary's death is Bigger's fault, but only because Bigger is Bigger, because society has made him so. The player plays the game, but the makers of the game made the player, so in reality the game is played by the makers, and all the players are just the pieces.
Richard Wright specifically portrays Bigger Thomas as a terrible person. Even before Bigger killed anyone, Wright makes it obvious he's awful. From the opening as he taunts his sister with a dead rat and makes her uncomfortable watching her change, we are meant to hate him. This "a-hole" demeanor is only strengthened when we see him start a fight with Gus, and threaten to kill him. As the book progresses, Bigger's actions become more and more severe. While I am aware the actual killing of Mary was accidental, his groping without her consent beforehand, and disposing of her body afterwards were not. Furthermore, the rape and murder of Bessie in cold blood only adds to this awful character Bigger Thomas. While I think all of these instances Bigger is at fault for, I wonder how his environment has added to this. Richard Wright purposely has Bigger as a terrible person so readers hate his character and feel less sympathy for his consequences, after reading him do such horrid things. However, a big part of hating Bigger is understand the environment which has produced Bigger, and continues to produce other 'Biggers' and people similar to him.
The moment where Bigger actually kills Mary can be somewhat explained by the fear he experiences, as a result of being a Black man in a White girl's room alone. This is not the first instance in which he feels this discomfort and fear of his circumstances. From the moment Bigger meets Mary, she makes him incredibly uncomfortable. "in his relations with her he felt that he was riding a seesaw; never were they on a common level; either he or she was up in the air (72)". It is clear he wants to be done with her after spending the night between her and Jan, taking them to the restaurant and having them try to sing gospel songs in the car. These small things don't seem like much to people who have never experienced that discomfort or fear that comes along with their race, which Wright is aware of. Wright has his readers wondering, why is bigger so uncomfortable by these people who are seemingly being so kind to him, even supporting "equal rights" and trying to be helpful. What Jan and Mary don't understand is that Bigger is not used to this, and does not receive this happily. Its as if Mary and Jan expect Bigger to thank them for treating him as a human, more than just a 'dumb black boy' who drives them around. This naive ignorance constantly around Bigger in the Dalton home combined with the racist society in which he resides are some of the contributing factors of his surroundings that shape who he is. Whether or not he admits it to himself, the environment in which he has grown up in have made him Bigger Thomas, more than anything he has done himself.
In a world where everyone wants to believe they are special and unique, Wright makes the claim that in reality, we have very little control over our lives. "half the time i feel like i'm outside of the world peeping in through a knot-hole in the fence (23)". Bigger Thomas was only living the life he was intended to live, and the choices he made were less him choosing than him living in the environment around him.
Wright also makes a point about paying attention to the environment people are in when Max and Mr. Dalton are talking. Though Mr. Dalton can't see how his donations of ping pong tables don't actually help any of the black youth, Max makes a point to ask "will ping-pong keep a man from murdering? (273)". Here Wright is bringing attention to all the 'attempts' White people make to 'help' Black people, when in reality they are only doing it to feel better about themselves. Though Mr. Dalton controls the housing area in which Bigger lives and is able to change the poor conditions and small rooms, that is of no meaning to him because he never really wanted to help. He only wanted to be able to say he was one of the 'good' Whites, the ones who are 'rooting' for the Black people. With Mr. Dalton's ignorance, in combination with Bigger's awful personality, Wright is wanting people to make a change. He wants us to hate Bigger and do something about it. It is not that we should hate Bigger Thomas alone, but we should hate the environment that made him so. It dumbs down to the old saying "don't hate the player, hate the game" and in this instance, hate both. If you hate the player so much, hate the game, and change the game. Stop allowing the game to create more players like the ones you hate, and stop allowing society to create more Bigger Thomas'.
With this in mind, is Mary's death Bigger's fault? Or is this a result of the way the environment has made him? Or is this not a question of blame, but an understanding on how the results have come to be. Mary's death is Bigger's fault, but only because Bigger is Bigger, because society has made him so. The player plays the game, but the makers of the game made the player, so in reality the game is played by the makers, and all the players are just the pieces.
The question of who is to blame is extremely difficult to tackle, yet it seems to be a central question to the book. I'd like to think that Wright wrote the book in a way that would make it difficult to pinpoint one specific person or thing to blame for the tragedies of the book. No one can really put all the blame on Bigger himself, because the author makes it clear that it's much more that just Bigger that causes him to do the things he does. Additionally, Wright chooses to put Bigger's thoughts out in the open, for everyone to see. I think this was purposefully done to help readers to see Bigger not just as a straight up bad person but as a complex character that has been molded by his surroundings.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you, Mayahuel. Looking at the novel through the perspective of it being a protest novel, in which certain ideas are very blatantly, "protested", then it makes perfect sense for one of these factors that Wright is protesting to be society. More specifically, like you said, the environmental impacts on youth. It makes me think more about how much free will disadvantaged peoples actually have, and in this case, how much of Bigger's reactions (like you said) can be blamed on environment, and not him?
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