Jonathon Thomas
TTH 12:30-2PM
4/18/12
Native
Son (pgs. 3-42)
Book
one of Richard Wright’s Native Son begins with a quarrel between the Thomas
family of four (Mrs. Thomas, Bigger, Buddy, and Vera) and a large rat inside of
their small and crammed home. Eventually, Bigger, the oldest son of 20, kills
the rat and relieves the terrified family from the scare. As the family
prepares to dress for the day, Bigger’s mother continuously questions Bigger on
the choices of his lifestyle and encourages him to get his life on track by striving
for a job offered by the relief. Bigger’s mother, along with her youngest
child/daughter Vera, believes that Bigger is selfish and inconsiderate for not
taking the job in order to better both the family and the poor living
conditions they endure. Buddy, the middle child, sides with Bigger most of the
time during the arguments with Vera and his mother, but realizes himself that
he would make use of the opportunities that Bigger receives but does not take
advantage of. The entire family appears to be upset and dissatisfied with the
way that they currently live, but no one appears as distraught as Bigger, for
he knows deep down in his heart that the hope of a better lifestyle for the
family rests upon the outcome of his decision of taking initiative of his life
and getting a job and doing well. The entire family sadly shares one room and
only receives the little food that is provided by the good graces of the Relief
(welfare). To show the conditions of how the family eats, Wright (author) reveals
that they only ate bacon and bread for breakfast. As of the moment, Bigger and
his family’s future is not looking too bright if it is solely depending on the wise
decisions by Bigger, because of his level of responsibility and the fact the he
is involved with some of friends (G.H., Gus, and Jack) that have a history of
robbing stores or from other blacks.
After
lots of strife from his mother, Bigger sets out of the house to meet up with Gus
and later with the gang at Doc’s billiards. When the gang meets up, they discuss
their plans to rob a white man and his shop, which they have never done before.
Gus is hesitant to go through with the robbery agreement because he believes
that the repercussions will be more severe than robbing another black person.
Bigger scolds Gus for being hesitant, but secretly feels the same fear that he
sees. Leading up to the planned robbery, Bigger becomes even more hesitant to
carry out the robbery, because he cannot stop thinking of the consequences that
can occur and about the possible opportunities with his job. The day of the
planned robbery, Gus shows up late and Bigger threatens him with a knife, pretending
as if he is upset that they are no longer able to carry out the robbery when he
is actually relieved that they aren’t going to. However, the gang would have
been successful in doing the robbery, but Bigger used his anger tantrum against
Gus and Doc as an excuse to not go through with the robbery and to hide his
fear of consequence. This action basically depicts that the likelihood of
Bigger doing future jobs with the gang is slim.
Questions
1. Does
Bigger’s anger and frustrations have to do with his personality or his age?
(Bigger is 20 years old)
2. Why
does Bigger resent taking the job that will surely allow him to provide for the
family and improve their current living conditions?
3. What
is the reason to why Bigger hides his emotions and some of his thoughts from
his family and friends? How does this action cause him to react with both
family and friends?
Historical Content:
Dead
Presidents clip
Bigger
Thomas Picture
Targeted passages
-
Pg. 9: beginning and middle passages
-
Pg. 42: long passage
Answers to Questions 1 & 2
ReplyDeleteBy: Valencia Price
In my opinion, Bigger’s anger and frustrations have to do with his personality more than his age. Since Bigger is only twenty years old he does have some more maturing to do, but as a whole I think his anger and frustrations stems from his selfish nature. He does not want to assume the role of the man of the household and get a job like he should, which comes from him wanting to do his own thing. Instead of putting his family’s needs in front of his needs and trying to do what is right for them, he wants to do whatever he feels is important and makes him happy at the time.
I think that Bigger resents taking the job that will allow him to provide for the family and improve their current living conditions out of pride and not wanting a handout and because he doesn’t want to work. He is more caught up in how he’s not able to do certain things that whites do and being mad that he can’t.
question # 1
ReplyDeleteI feel like Bigger is angry about two things: he is mad about his age and he is mad about how he has not amounted to anything and how his family reminds him of that. He makes bad decisions and knows he should be more responsible. He knows that and has become frustrated with himself and what he has not accomplished and creates his own persona by letting his bad decisions manifest themselves. In the end he has created his own situations and terrible life through the bad things he has done. I feel like his age is important because he knows at this age he should be more responsible with his actions and make something of himself. Bigger is a spiteful bad person and this person he has created is a result of a series of poor decisions..