The Native Son, By Bigger Thomas

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In the late 1930’s, the era the Native Son was written, African American men and women were considered outcasts and were constantly treated differently. They were not able to get the benefits and opportunities that white people had unlimited access to. They’re oppressed and were almost seen as worthless as dogs. African Americans could only handle so much of this discrimination, eventually some were pushed past their limit of control. In the story, of the Native Son, Bigger Thomas is seen as full of anger and hate. He let the discrimination get to him and he committed unforgiveable actions. He lost his control. In this paper I will look at how Bigger Thomas is treated in his social class and how these classes affected his actions. Bigger Thomas was just like every other person with dreams; he wanted so dearly to be an aviator. “I wanted to be an aviator once. But they wouldn’t let me go to the school where I was supposed to learn it. They built a big school and then drew a line around it and said that nobody could go to it but those who lived within the line. That kept all the colored boys out.” (p.213) Unfortunately, there were social classes that were set that kept him from being able to achieve that dream. “Bigger hates whites who prevented him from having a good life. He was not allowed to attend the aviation school.” (Latifa, 2012) The social classes that were set had white people over African American people, so racism is a really big part in how these classes were formed. “Yeah,” Bigger said, wistfully. “They get a chance to do everything.” (p.22) Since Bigger wasn’t at the opportunity of being able to be an aviator, he had to go in a search for a job. He ended up working for the Dalton family. He did not like his job ... ... middle of paper ... ... to Bessie, to even considering the thought of killing himself. The feeling never actually leaves him. It frightens him, and I don’t think it would be so bad if it weren’t for the discrimination and segregation. The social classes are so easy to set upon the color of your skin. Black people get the scraps while the White people bask in their privileges. They get to follow their dreams and achieve their goals, unlike the people in Bigger’s community. The separation of where they live and the conditions is very obvious. The jobs pay more for the White people, where Black people would end up with jobs no one wanted, and then have to pay more for rent than any White person would. The oppression surpassed Bigger Thomas’s limit and caused him to commit actions he didn’t intentionally want to happen. He was an angry man and was only noticed the second he was out of line.

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