Power In Native Son

Power can be perceived by the minds of many as untamed force or dominance. In Richard Wright’s Native Son, the main character, Bigger Thomas understands this strength of power first hand. Bigger Thomas is young black male living in the struggle of a segregated society in the later 1930s. Bigger experiences many hardships throughout his life due to the color of his skin. Growing up poor, uneducated, and without a father Bigger was mad at the world. Although, he had a great mother, he still had the struggle of trying to care for his family by doing all he could to support them. He gets a taste of dominance and is suddenly consumed with the desire to have more power. Wright shows that power can corrupt many, especially when they have never felt

Due to him being raised by only his mother, he held women in high regards. In the novel it stated that Bigger is told to look away when women are dressing, to be respectful and considerate of their privacy. Bigger’s jobs is to set an example for his brother as well as to be man of the house. Although Bigger has a job to try and help care for his family, his mother constantly belittles him. For instance, Bigger’s mother states, “Bigger sometimes I wonder why I birthed you” (Wright 11). She expects more of Bigger due to the fact that he is the eldest. Bigger’s mother sees him as a lazy good for nothing. She even blames him for their living conditions when she states, “We wouldn’t have to live in this garbage dump if you had any manhood in you” (12). Being put down all the time by his mother and society, Bigger felt unqualified. Although his name being Bigger, he ironically didn’t have that big of a mindset. He was deprived of have natural rights, he wasn’t as educated, and was not as open-minded. Although he started to “gain power”, there was always that anxiousness of getting caught and the consequence that would be waiting for him. He was constantly watched under a microscope, mainly by cops and the white society. Bigger is trying to free himself of the power the white people have on him, he wants to be his own person and not have to live by the rules of other

On his first night on the job, Bigger takes Mr. Dalton’s daughter, Mary Dalton to secretly meet up with her boyfriend Jan. Although though all three characters are around the same age group, Bigger still felt extremely uneasy due to the fact that they are superior to him. Jan, Mary’s boyfriend was a Communist and made sure not to hide his views. While hanging out they get drunk and it is Bigger’s job to take both Jan and Mary home. After dropping off Jan, Bigger sees that Mary is drunk beyond belief, and he’s afraid of getting blamed if anything goes wrong. Bigger has fear towards the white people because As he tries to put Mary to bed, Mary’s blind mother walks in. Bigger does all he can to quiet Mary. He gets so frightened to the point where he ends up killing Mary by silencing her with a pillow, in order not to be caught by Mary’s mother.This is the start of Bigger’s power addiction. He is able to make it seem as if Mary is okay at home in her bed. When he find out that he kills Mary, he takes matters into his own hands and ends up dismembering her and burning her in the furnace to cover up his mistake. He knows if he was ever caught he would be sentenced to death and even accused of raping Mary, just because he’s