User talk:Atcovi/Native Son: How Bigger Was Born

Irving Howe's comment on Native Son:
 * "The day Native Son appeared, American culture was changed forever. It made impossible a repetition of the old lies and brought out in the open, as no one ever had before, the hatred, fear and violence that have crippled and may yet destroy our culture"

How Marry Dalton and Peggy unknowingly show their true colors towards blacks
"Mary uses the same language as Peggy to describe black Americans. When talking to Bigger, she uses the phrase “your people.” She refers to black Americans as “they” and “them,” implying that blacks constitute a separate, essentially different class of human beings. Her phrase “our country” indicates that she views America as a nation dominated by white people. When Mary exclaims, “They’re human,” she implies that a psychological division exists between white and black Americans. She does not have the sensitivity to say “we’re human” because she cannot include blacks and whites in the same collective. To her, the idea of being “human” means living like the white “us.” We see, then, that though Mary has the best intentions and considers herself socially progressive, on an unconscious level she still sees blacks as separate or different."
 * Mary Dalton

"Indeed, we see that Mary and Jan prove just as condescending as Mr. and Mrs. Dalton, even though they ascribe to radical political and social views and make a genuine effort to understand racial problems in America. Mary and Jan enjoy an odd yet titillating satisfaction from the act of eating at a black restaurant with Bigger. We get the sense that breaking social barriers is a sort of game to them. Though Mary and Jan want to experience black life, they do not even come close to an understanding of its most horrific aspects—the frustration and hopelessness Bigger feels every day. Like the Daltons, Mary and Jan remain blind to the social reality of what it means to be black. For a moment, it seems that Mary may recognize her blindness to Bigger’s feelings. She weeps because she is ashamed that she has pushed Bigger against his will. Jan, however, lacks the sensitivity to recognize that he and Mary have placed Bigger in an awkward position, so this small window of understanding is quickly closed."

--https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section4/page/2/

Themes

 * "Mary and Jan’s simple assumption that Bigger will welcome their friendship deludes them into overlooking the possibility that he will react with suspicion and fear—a natural reaction considering that Bigger has never experienced such friendly treatment from whites. In this regard, Mary and Jan are deceived by their failure to recognize Bigger’s individuality just as much as an overt racist such as Britten is deceived by a failure to recognize Bigger’s humanity."

---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 23:32, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

How has Christianity been corrupted in America?
"When Reverend Hammond gives Bigger a cross to wear while he is in prison, Bigger equates the cross with the crosses that are burned during racist rituals. In making this comparison, Wright suggests that even the moral province of Christianity has been corrupted by racism in America."

--https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/motifs/

Symbols
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/symbols/

"Mrs. Dalton’s inability to see Bigger causes him to turn to violence, just as the inability of whites to see blacks as individuals causes blacks to live their lives in fear and hatred"
 * Blindness

"The blizzard is raging as Bigger jumps from his window to escape after Mary’s bones are found in the furnace. When he falls to the ground, the snow fills his mouth, ears, and eyes—all his senses are overwhelmed with a literal whiteness, representing the metaphorical “whiteness” he feels has been controlling him his whole life. Bigger tries to flee, but the snow has sealed off all avenues of escape, allowing the white police to surround and capture him"
 * Snow

Bigger's interactions with whites and blacks
Consider Wright's style of writing and the way he reveals Bigger's complexities through the difference in what Bigger thinks and what he says to whites as well as to his own people. You must be able to discuss Wright's choices as the author and what they reveal. If you discuss the character's actions, you need to be able to explain what they reveal on the deeper level.

'''Bigger seems to not be able to be himself and talk freely to white people as he has grown up to apply himself to the social structure: Blacks cannot talk to whites. He finds it bizarre and abnormal.'''

Bigger on the Daltons and Jan
"Bigger sees Mary, Jan, and the Daltons as blind because he senses that they arrogantly assume that their knowledge of “blackness” can protect them."

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section5/page/2/

---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 01:19, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

Bigger's scheming on the Daltons
"Though Bigger has clearly committed a crime, Wright implies that he is not fully to blame for his actions following the murder. Bigger makes a conscious choice to lie and plots to injure the Daltons, but the mindset in which he makes those choices has been shaped by the social structure the Daltons and other whites help to perpetuate."

---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 14:41, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section6/page/2/

Whiteness metaphor
"Bigger’s flight from the police during the blizzard can be interpreted as a metaphor for his entire life. He is literally corralled by the relentless manhunt, as the forces of “whiteness” pursue him in an intense building-by-building search of the entire South Side. Like a cornered rat, Bigger is trapped within the ever shrinking square of space that the police have not yet searched. The snowstorm is a literal symbol of the metaphorical “whiteness” that Bigger fears. The snow encompasses and impedes Bigger, shutting down the city and preventing his escape from the white manhunt. Like the waves of white men searching for him, the snow falls relentlessly around Bigger, locking him in place. Literally and symbolically, “whiteness” falls on Bigger’s head with the power of a natural disaster."

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section7/page/2/

---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 20:09, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

How does Bigger think of himself as "Christlike"?
"He even thinks of himself as Christlike in the presence of his family and friends. Just as Christian tradition maintains that Jesus died to wash away the sins of the world, Bigger has “taken fully upon himself the crime of being black” and will die to wash away the shame blacks have experienced."

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section8/page/2/ ---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 00:15, 14 October 2018 (UTC)

Where does the earring found in the furnace come from?
"Mrs. Dalton testifies that the earring found in her furnace is a family heirloom that she had given to Mary."

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section9/

---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 15:39, 14 October 2018 (UTC)

Max vs. Mr. Dalton
"As Max knows that Mr. Dalton owns a controlling share in the company that manages the building where Bigger’s family lives, he asks Dalton why black tenants pay higher rents than whites for the same kinds of apartments. Dalton replies that there is a housing shortage on the South Side. Max retorts that there are areas of the city without housing shortages, and Dalton replies that he thought black tenants preferred living together on the South Side. Max then succeeds in making Dalton admit that he refuses to rent to black tenants in other neighborhoods. He accuses Dalton of giving some of the real estate profits to black schools merely to alleviate his guilty conscience. Before dismissing Mr. Dalton, Max asks him if the living conditions of Bigger’s family might have contributed to the death of his daughter. Dalton cannot comprehend the question."

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section9/

---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 15:47, 14 October 2018 (UTC)

Information on the hysterical black prisoner
"Another prisoner tells Bigger that this hysterical prisoner went crazy from studying too much at a university. The man had been trying to understand why blacks were treated so badly and had been picked up at the post office, where he was waiting to speak to the president. His screaming disturbs other prisoners, and he is taken away on a stretcher."

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section9/

---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 15:52, 14 October 2018 (UTC)

His new fear during the trial
"Bigger now longs for more time to examine and understand his relation to others. His new fear is that he will die before he has time to reach this understanding fully. He also feels defenseless in the face of ongoing hatred"

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section10/page/2/

---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 11:27, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Towards the End Analysis: The look into Bigger's change in jail
"Finally, as Max is leaving, Bigger asks him to “[t]ell Jan hello.” As Jan requests in the beginning of the novel, Bigger finally calls him by his first name, signifying that he finally sees whites as individuals, rather than a looming force"

"Nonetheless, it is important to note that Bigger does change in jail, accepting that the acts he has committed are part of who he is, but also that hate for one’s oppressors is a natural feeling. It is the repression of these feelings—a repression Bigger has forced upon himself in order to survive—that leads to his violent acts"

"Max makes an appeal to the rich and powerful simply to understand that they are sowing the seeds for a new civil war in continuing their oppression of blacks"

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section11/page/2/

---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 11:41, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section10/page/2/
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson/section10/page/2/

---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 11:43, 15 October 2018 (UTC)