Native Son Essay: Society's Accountability

Society’s Accountability The sweeping influence of society can dictate important choices in one’s life. In Native Son by Richard Wright, the behavior of Bigger Thomas is largely caused by the devastating effect of his environment on every aspect of his life. Bigger grows up in Chicago in the 1930s and is enveloped in a prejudiced and racist culture that ultimately drives his reprehensible acts of violence. The oppressive society in which Bigger lives engenders his actions. The expectations held by society make Bigger feel as though he is destined for crime simply because he is Black. When he fulfills these expectations by accidentally killing a White girl, he thinks that the crime “[feels] natural; he [feels] that all of his life [has] been

Contemplating the reasons behind his recent murders, he recognizes that “he had been so conditioned in a cramped environment that hard words or kicks alone knocked him upright and made him capable of action- action that was futile because the world was too much for him. It was then that he closed his eyes and struck out blindly, hitting what or whom he could...” (Wright 240). Bigger’s surroundings are “cramped” both literally and figuratively, since he shares a one-room apartment with his poor family and is constantly living under the influence of a society that oppresses his people. This impression of being restricted in all areas of life is what triggers emotions of hate in Bigger, so much so that he brutally lashes out at those around him. Bigger’s lawyer, Mr. Max, later addresses this issue in court when he declares, “Hemmed in, limited, circumscribed, he sees and feels no way of acting except to hate and kill that which he thinks is crushing him” (Wright 390). Bigger’s life, confined within both the streets of Chicago’s South Side and society’s disparaging expectations, gives him virtually no opportunity for nonviolent behavior. So, he tries in vain to eradicate these boundaries using the method assumed for him by society- violence. Ultimately the harsh realities of Bigger’s environment inspire hateful feelings in him that generate such contemptible acts as

Max tells the court of white men, “What is happening here today is not injustice, but oppression... And it is a new form of life that has grown up here in our midst that puzzles us, that expresses itself... in terms we call crime” (Wright 391). The widespread persecution of Black people in Bigger’s society is an attempt to crush an entire “lesser” race, and it forces Bigger to attempt survival and prosperity in a world that is prejudiced against him. Since it is the only way he has learned, he does so through crime. Max again brings up the idea that their society as a whole is responsible for Bigger’s actions, saying, “The hate and fear which we have inspired in him, woven by our civilization into the very structure of his consciousness, into his blood and bones, in the hourly functioning of his personality, have become the justification of his existence” (Wright 400). The hatred and fear of white people possessed by Bigger is caused by the relentless racism he has experienced his entire life, and this animosity has become such a part of him that it manifests in his personality and daily actions. These innermost feelings drive him to murder so that he can express his hate while also feeling as though he has a purpose in life. Society collectively disseminates the idea that Black people are inferior to whites, causing Bigger to seek a violent