Richard Wright's How “Bigger”
Was Born, depicts how Wright
came up with the character Bigger Thomas. Throughout his childhood
and most of his adult life Wright has come face to face with many
“Bigger Thomases”. He tells us about 5 “Biggers” that he
encounters throughout this childhood. All of whom are rebellious, un
law abiding citzens, who's personality you can see clearly in the
Bigger Thomas character in the book Native Son.
Bigger 1 was bascially a bully, who would come and snatch up Wrights
and his friends toys and refuse to give them back to them. “The
only way he would give them back is if they flattered him and made
him feel superior to him. Then if he felt like it, he would throw
them at them and then give each of them a swift kick in the bargain
(Wright 435)”. Bigger 2, was about 17 and tougher than the first
Bigger. His hardness wan't directed towards Wright or any negroes but
towards the whites who ruled the south. He would buy food and
clothes on credit and never pay it back and he lived in the dingy
sacks of the white land lords and never paid rent. When asked why he
acted the way he did he would reply, “that the white folks has
everything and he had nothing. Further he would tell us that we were
fools not to get what we wanted while we were alive in this world”
(435). Bigger 3, was refered to the “bad nigger” by the white
folks. Once Wright was a ticket taker at a movie theater and Bigger
would never pay to get in, but would come up to Wright, pinch him,
and walk straight into the movie. He was later killed during the
prohibition days; while delivering liquor to a customer he was shot
in the back by a cop. Bigger 4, didn't like to follow Jim Crow laws.
He would taunt and laugh at the laws and was real rebellious towards
them. He ended up in a asylum for the insane. Lastly, Bigger 5 who
always rode the Jim Crow street cars without paying and sat where he
pleased, was more rebellious than the fourth Bigger and not only
were the negroes afraid of him, so were the white folks. In an
incident involving Bigger and a Jim Crow street car, a group of rowdy
white men even stated, “That's that Bigger Thomas nigger and you'd
better leave him alone (436).” All the Bigger Thomas that Wright
has encountered throughout his life all ccontribute to the Native
Son's Bigger Thomas.
Wright
states that after the negroes were freed that left the whites
outnumber by in these areas. “Hence a fierce and bitter struggle
took place to keep the ballot from the negro, for if he had a chance
to vote, he would have automatically controlled the richest lands of
the South and with them the social, political, and economic destiny
of a third of the republic” (438)On page 438, in How Bigger Was
Born, Wright addresses the reason for black Disfranchisement in the
South. According to the OED, disfranchisement means, “ deprivation
of the priveleges of a free citizen, especially that of voting at the
election of members of the legislature” (OED, n,
disfranchisement)”. The White Negro decided to limit the amount of
education his black neighbor could receive; decided to keep him off
the police force and out of the local national guards, to segregate
him residentally; to Jim Crow him in public places; to restrict his
participation in the professions and jobs; and to build up a vast,
dense ideology of racial superiority that would justify any act of
violence taken against him to defend white dominance; and further, to
condition him to hope for little without rebelling”(438). This
passage can be compared to the Narrative of the Life of
Fredrick Douglass, An American Slave,
because in that novel the white man too tried to leave the negroes
ignorant, didn't want them to be educated and didn't want them to
feel controlled by them.
Richard
Wright “I made the Discovery that Bigger Thomas was not black all
the time; he was white too, and there were literally millions of them
of him, everywhere” (439)
Discussion Question
1. What is your definition of a "Bigger Thomas"?
2. Have you ever came across a Bigger Thomas. Do you know a Bigger Thomas or know of one?
3. Going back to a question that's been asked, now with the exception on the Jim Crow Period, do you still blame bigger for his actions in A Native Son?
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