In Native Son by Richard Wright, the internal conflicts of Bigger Thomas reveal a lot about his character and the thoughts he has about his condition as a black male living in 1930s segregated Chicago. The third person limited point of view is crucial to the understanding of Bigger so that his unforgivable actions do not come without thought and reason, and so that the reader does not give up on Bigger although he has committed awful crimes. Many times throughout the book, I have felt conflicted about whether or not to feel bad for him, because there is justification for giving him mercy and also for not. This conflicted feeling was manifested by two black men, Jack and Jim, when discussing what they would do if they say him and the police were still hunting him, and is also manifested in the different attitudes of Mr. Buckley and Max once Bigger is caught. There seems to be a common trend that as Bigger is committing some awful action, there is no room for empathy, but when he feels the repercussions and reflects upon his actions, Bigger demands it.
There are certain times in the novel where Bigger’s actions completely shadow his humanity and no sympathy can be felt for him. One example is at the beginning of the novel when Bigger is overcome with fear for robbing Blum’s store so he takes out all of his emotions on Gus. Bigger’s inhumane and psychotic way of acting, “Bigger laughed, softly at first, then harder, loader, hysterically;feeling like hot water bubbling inside of hm and trying to come out… ‘Get up and I’ll slice your tonsils!’” (37-38) are so extreme that there can no longer be sympathy felt for such a cruel person, seeming to find enjoyment out of knowing that somebody fears him. In this moment he took the role of the hostile, power-hungry character, and the relatable human emotion of fear was forgotten with such harsh actions on his part. Another instance when Bigger acts so harshly that I cannot find justification for his actions is when he rapes and brutally kills Bessie. His raping Bessie before killing her, for the sole purpose of getting rid of her because she knew too much, was much too abusive and vampiric to rationalize. The style that Richard Wright wrote the scene in with short fragments that simulate Bigger’s thoughts in the moment reveal that Bigger was not thinking about Bessie but he was just doing something for the selfish pleasure of it. His soon incredibly gruesome way of killing Bessie, murder via a brick to the skull, received no sympathy as Wright used descriptive, gory imagery,”He lifted the brick again and again, until in falling it struck a sodden mass that gave softly but stoutly to each landing blow.”(237). Wright’s choosing of such a violent plot serves to rid of empathy for Bigger at this moment. Lastly, I did not feel bad for Bigger when he was on the run from the police, specifically when the newspapers read that all the black communities were being searched, unemployed, questioned, and overall seen in the same way as the violent “rapist murderer” that Bigger was. I felt this was completely unfair but also ironic because Bigger was known to hate this innate reputation of being dangerous solely because of the color of his skin, but in this case his reputation was legitimate, and he was at fault for the rest of the black community having to deal with his reputation as well.
As unbelievable as it may sound, there still are parts of the novel where I am left feeling empathetic for Bigger because of his situation. The third person limited point of view also contributes to this feeling of empathy because Bigger is pitiful in his thoughts, but because he is a black male in a time when black males are seen as guilty for everything, the reader is left to feel sorry for his condition. When he murdered Mary, he had no intent on doing so but was just afraid of being caught in her bed with her, so he tried with all his might to keep her quiet which ended up in him suffocating her. Even after, he is extremely terrified at what he just did so he feels the need to rid of all evidence by burning the body. Bigger also demanded empathy when he reflects nonidentity as a black male, constantly feeling “raped” by society as he is constantly accused and abused because of his image. He compares himself to a rubber band, revealing that all the struggles he has with being a black male constantly take a toll on him and stretch him like a rubber band, connecting to the fact that Bigger is emotionally and physically exhausted once in prison.
In general, Bigger Thomas is an incredibly complex character built by Richard Wright to both feel hatred towards as a true hostile character, although only acting harshly from his deep rooted fear towards the white authority, and also feel empathy towards as a disenfranchised black male in 1930s America.
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