Native Son #7

"Unwittingly, Jan's desire to protect Mary had helped him. Jan's denial of having come to the home would not be believed now; it would make Mr. Dalton and Britten feel that he was trying to cover up something of even much greater seriousness" (Wright 169). Bigger's plan was working out perfectly at this point. He knew Jan was going to try his hardest to stick up for Mary and keep her out of trouble, which would consequently lead him to looking even more guilty. Everyone's focus would then turn to Jan, giving Bigger time to find Bessie and complete the ransom note plan. He did not even think twice as to whether or not Bessie would go through with helping him because he knew how well he was doing at tricking everyone. To the Mr. Dalton and Britten, he succeeded in making himself simply look like a confused black man who was overwhelmed with the situation and didn't know what to say. To Bessie, he was doing the right thing that would bring them both more money. Overall, every part of Bigger's plan was working perfectly. Although Jan's desire to protect Mary helped Bigger look innocent, it also made him feel increasingly guilty each time he tried to stick up for the woman he loved. Overall, Bigger's success in this situation was only making him more uneasy and angry as a person, most likely leading to more mistakes or crimes later in the story.

Native Son #6

"They wanted him to draw the picture and he would draw it like he wanted it. He was trembling with excitement. In the past had they not always drawn the picture for him? He could tell them anything he wanted and what could they do about it?" (Wright 158). This was a completely foreign experience for Bigger. Never in his life had he felt so powerful. What gave him this feeling was having a secret that was completely his own, which he had never had before. Everything in his life was either shared or controlled by other people. He lived in a one bedroom apartment with his whole family, leaving no privacy or room for him to have things to himself. When he was outside of that one bedroom apartment, he still had no freedom. Everything Bigger, and all other blacks did completely followed the stereotype that the white world had made them a part of. Because of this, it is logical to blame the whites for all the crimes and other bad things most blacks were responsible for. As we see in Bigger, by lashing out and taking some type of "revenge" on the whites, the blacks become excited and feel free. These are good feelings that don't come too often for them, leading them to committing these crimes more and more. Bigger loved this sense of power and the fact that a white man wouldn't be able to prove his story wrong will most likely cause him to do other things that he believes he can get away with.

Native Son #5

"He was confident. During the last day and night new fears had come, but new feelings had helped to allay those fears. The moment when he had stood above Mary's bed and found that she was dead the fear of electrocution had entered his flesh and blood. But at home at the breakfast table with his mother and sister and brother, seeing how blind they were; and overhearing Peggy and Mrs. Dalton talking in the kitchen, a new feeling had been born in him, a feeling that all but blotted out the fear of death" (Wright 149). At first, when realizing what he had done, he had expected nothing less than being caught and killed for it. He had killed, not just anyone, but a white girl. He was officially afraid, afraid of what the white force was capable of doing to him. As time passed and he realized that no one else knew, and it was simply his little secret, he began feeling more and more powerful. He was not used to having control over anything or being able to truly live, therefore he had never experienced how it felt to hold a secret to himself. Now that he felt like this, powerful and more free than ever, he loved it. Every trace of fear of the whites had vanished. By killing Mary, and realizing he was capable of getting away with it, he had gotten revenge on all whites that suppressed him over the years and freed himself from the boundaries they had made him feel tied down by. He loved this feeling and planned on going with it for as long as possible.

Native Son #4

"To Bigger and his kind white people were not really people; they were a sort of great natural force, like a stormy sky looming overhead, or like a deep swirling river stretching suddenly at one's feet in the dark. As long as he and his black folks did not go beyond certain limits, there was no need to fear that white force" (Wright 114). Bigger did not see Mary as a person. As said here, he simply saw her as a part of the force that had an insane amount of power over himself and all other black people. Because of this, he did not feel the least bit guilty for killing her. Internally, he felt as though by killing Mary, he was freeing all black people from the white force and how they made them feel. Mary could not experience how this "force" felt because how she looked at it, she was trying to help Bigger. Even though this was true, the fact of how she approached him and simply expected him to forget all previous encounters he had with white people and change how he felt about them because he had met one that treated him equally, really ended up causing Bigger to hate her even more than he had those who were racist towards him.

Native Son #3

"She doubled up with laughter. He tightened with hate. Again she was looking inside of him and he did not like it" (Wright 81). Mary's goal was to simply get to know Bigger, in order to feel as though she was becoming more familiar with the kind of people she wanted to help with her Communist ideas. She had begun feeling as though she was achieving this, while Bigger just continued to hate her more and more. This is a simple quote, but I think it shows a lot about the differing mentalities of these two characters. Mary was a curious, rich, white girl who was willing to befriend someone considered to be below her, a black man. On the other hand, Bigger was not nearly as open to this idea. He had grown up being familiarized of the boundaries between blacks and whites, and by how Mary and Jan were treating him, they were crossing those boundaries. If he were to interact with them in the same way he would with fellow black people, he would also be passing these same boundaries, and he would not allow himself to do this. He was not going to let Mary think she had figured him out.

Native Son #2

"She was an odd girl, all right. He felt something in her over and above the fear she inspired in him. She responded to him as if he were human, as if he lived in the same world as she. And he had never felt that before in a white person. But why? Was this some kind of game? The guarded feeling of freedom he had while listening to her was tangled with the hard fact that she was white and rich, a part of the world of poeple who told him what he could and could not do" (Wright 65). In this quote, we see that Bigger is experiencing something completely foreign to him. Never in his life had he felt comfortable with a white person, nevermind a rich white person, until he met Miss. Dalton. She was completely different than any white person he had come in contact with before. Despite the sense of fear that her crazy and strange personality set in him, Bigger saw something deeper within Miss. Dalton. Although right now the barriers he had set against white people his whole life were keeping him from learning what this was, as this story unravels, the relationship between these two characters will only become more and more interesting.

Native Son #1

"Blum was alone and the store was empty of customers. Yes; they would have had time to rob the store; in fact, they still had time. He had ied to Gus and G.H. and Jack. He walked on; there was not a policeman in sight. Yes; they could have robbed the store and could have gotten away. He hoped the fight he had had with Gus covered up what he was trying to hide. At least the fight made him feel the equal of the,. And he felt the equal of Doc, too; had he not slashed his table and dared him to use his gun?" (Wright 41). Often times when feeling pressured or responsible for doing something that you dont necessarily want to do, people react in strange ways. Bigger is a perfect example of one of these people. Rather than telling his friends he did not want to rob Blum's store, he hid his feelings and lashed out at the last minute by getting into a fight with Gus, in order to avoid going to Blum's all together. This scene was a great example of Bigger's anger problems and violent tendencies that had been referred to earlier in the book. Throughout the rest of this story, I think we will see many more examples of Bigger's inner emotions getting the best of him.