Big Black Good Man

Are we all secretly racist? The story “Big Black Good Man” was written by the African American novelist Richard Wright to convey that we all possess some level of racism, whether conscious or not. The main character Olaf, describes himself as unbiased; yet, when faced with an exceptionally large, dark man he becomes horribly bigoted and unreasonable. The fact that Olaf describes himself as reasonable, but becomes just the opposite when faced with this overwhelmingly large, black man, characterizes the idea that racism can crop up at any time for any reason; Olaf’s racism just happens to stem from his fear. Olaf knows virtually nothing about Jim; he is overcome by terror and intimidation by this stranger’s appearance alone. The narrator states

that, “There was something about the man’s intense blackness and ungainly bigness that frightened and insulted Olaf,” (351). Wright showed that while racism can appear at any time, it can be unconscious, rooting from some previously established fear.
Olaf’s fear of the larger-than-life character Jim, causes him to dehumanize the man.

Upon first meeting him Olaf was dumbstruck, Jim was unlike anybody he had ever encountered. It was not like Olaf had never seen a person of color but this situation seemed threatening to him, “Olaf took in all comers−blacks, yellows, whites, and browns… To Olaf, men were men, and, in his day, he’d worked and eaten and slept and fought with all kinds of men. But this particular black man… Well he didn’t seem human,” (351). The statement of Jim not appearing to be human is blatantly derogatory. Olaf dehumanized him so he would not feel as bad for his substandard treatment of him; he stopped referring to Jim as a “him” in many parts of the story, rather, he began to call him “the giant.” For example, in paragraphs 31, 34, 36, and multiple others, Jim is simply referred to as “the giant.” Wright is expressing how racism can cause people to treat other ethnicities as anything other than human; after all, would it not be easier to deny a room to a giant rather than a normal

man?
While Wright is presenting the mind of a “racist,” he is also showing that racism can come up seemingly from nowhere; Olaf was said to take in anybody before, now he does not want to take in Jim because of something as trivial as his size and color.

The narrator shows his sudden shift in mentality when he says, “For the first time in his life, he was emotionally determined to refuse a man solely on the basis of the man’s size and color,” (352). This statement shows that, as far as we know, prior to the appearance of Jim, the narrator did not discriminate against any ethnicity. If Olaf didn’t differentiate between races before, why now? This perfectly exemplifies how racism can form unconsciously, only to come rushing to the surface with menial justification, in this case, from Olaf’s resounding, unsubstantiated fear of

Jim.
In the story “Big Black Good Man,” Richard Wright shows how underlying racism can suddenly show itself in the face of something someone does not understand, or even from fear. Before Jim came to stay at this hotel, Olaf would never have described himself as a racist; however, when Jim does make his appearance, Olaf becomes discriminatory towards him, treating him like less of a human being. Olaf’s fear of this man’s appearance causes these latent, racist ideas to bubble to the surface, seemingly from nowhere. When these ideas dawn on Olaf he is taken aback, never before had he been this unreasonable to another person just because of the way that they looked; yet here he was, wanting nothing more than to deny Jim a room because of his skin color and size. Wright is implying that racism and prejudice happen suddenly and unexpectedly sometimes, and anybody can fall victim.