Bigger Thomas In Native Son Essay

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Mrs. Zugelter

Honors English 11

1 May 2015

Product of Circumstance In most cases, a generalization is inapplicable to all people, but there should be no argument against the fact every individual is a product of circumstance. Personality, sympathy, and rationality—all of which are molded by a person’s experience. Those aspects of character form a human’s life. Their actions and decisions are chosen based on their thought process in regards to past results. The stereotypical prejudice of racism and the circumstances of the life of Bigger Thomas in Native Son by Richard Wright are the excuses for rationality for his actions. The novel takes place during the 1930s in a poor area of Chicago. Tension is rising after

On Bigger’s first night working for the Dalton’s, he is asked to take the daughter of the family to a lecture at the University that night. He begins what he believes will be the first of many simple nights at work. He picks up Mary Dalton and soon into the drive starts to feel uncomfortable by her presence. She makes claims, such as, “after all, I’m on your side” (64) that create an unusual atmosphere for Bigger, but not necessarily for Mary Dalton. Bigger was always been accustomed to the separation of blacks and white, especially in regard to the interactions of men and women. Mary surprisingly has a progressive attitude toward race relations. When she asks Bigger to pick up “a friend of mine who is also a friend of yours,” (64) he is confused as to the person that would be friends with them both could be. The current society did not usually call for the association of these two “groups” together. His introduction with the man, Jan, involves Jan reaching out to shake Bigger’s hand, which makes him question what he had previously known, “he was very conscious of his black skin and there was in him a prodding conviction that Jan and men like him had made it so that he would be conscious of that black skin. Did not white people despise a black skin? Then why was Jan doing this?” (67). Both the whites and blacks