Native Son Character Analysis

From a young age, members of society are impressionable on those around them in their attempts to conform to the ever-expanding set of social norms their peers follow and enforce. The characters in the book Native Son by Richard Wright are no different. In this story, a young black man, Bigger Thomas, navigates through Chicago in the 1930s, during a time of severe segregation and discrimination against African-Americans, to the point where they have almost no freedom at all. To support his family and survive, Bigger takes a job as a chauffeur for the Dalton’s, an esteemed white family praised for their donations to colored organizations. After driving their daughter, Mary, home, Mary’s intoxicated state forces Bigger to carry her up to her room, and while he is laying her down in bed, Mrs. Dalton walks in. In order to cover up the fact that he was in Mary’s room, Bigger suffocates Mary, and to disguise this crime Bigger commits a series of other missteps while on the run, such as stealing things and murdering his “girl”, Bessie. Although Bigger is the one that physically murders Mary, the constant racism forces him into a corner, leaving him no other options but to lash out. Therefore, rather than the murder being entirely Bigger’s fault, society’s restrictive role and continued oppression also causes the killing of Mary by

In Native Son by Richard Wright, Bigger is molded by the large white influence around him, restricting the majority of his desires and seemingly controlling every aspect of the society he resides in, causing him to become a more negative version of himself. Due to his limited actions, thoughts, and behaviors, Bigger eventually lashes out, resulting in a murder in which those surrounding him, particularly the discriminatory and racist groups, are partly to