Gender Differences Between Two Deaths: A Literary Analysis

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In Richard Wright’s 1940 novel, Native Son, Bigger Thomas murders Mary Dalton and Bessie Mears, a white millionaire heiress and black working class woman. Although both women were killed in a grisly manner, there are several factors that distinguish the two from each other. This paper will address the differences between these two deaths. Beginning with a surface reading of both deaths, this paper seeks examine the larger implications the arise from each murder. Drawing on the works of Sondra Guttman and Kadeshia L. Matthews, who both examine the socio-economic themes at play in Mary and Bessie’s deaths, this paper will argue that Bigger’s relationship to whiteness and blackness, both separately and in relationship to each other, influence