Throughout Native Son, Bigger makes choices. Many of these choices cause him to tumble down a continuous spiral to his eventual trial and execution for the murder and supposed rape of Mary Dalton. While reading this book, I thought at many times to try to call out to Bigger, and give him a bit of guidance because I could see where some of his actions were leading. I realized that I was using education that I had received in my schooling years that Bigger was not fortunate enough to have, and that Bigger's environment hadn't prepared his foresight enough to prevent him from making several fatal mistakes in a row.
So is the true culprit Naturalism? I believe that Wright was trying to achieve the same response I gave to seeing Bigger make those mistakes. I believe that his Naturalist "lab" (for lack of a better term) was designed to show how much education can play into the choices we make. And I do not mean only the education you receive in schools. If Bigger had seen more of how white people behaved and not just the dramatizations they showed in the movies, he might have not been so lost when the Daltons hired him. That said, I feel like the scenario that Wright sets up does express that African Americans need to be separate from whites and not try to assimilate. The book shows that African Americans should try to be more free in their actions instead of thinking about how to act around white people and live up to their expectations.
So is the true culprit Naturalism? I believe that Wright was trying to achieve the same response I gave to seeing Bigger make those mistakes. I believe that his Naturalist "lab" (for lack of a better term) was designed to show how much education can play into the choices we make. And I do not mean only the education you receive in schools. If Bigger had seen more of how white people behaved and not just the dramatizations they showed in the movies, he might have not been so lost when the Daltons hired him. That said, I feel like the scenario that Wright sets up does express that African Americans need to be separate from whites and not try to assimilate. The book shows that African Americans should try to be more free in their actions instead of thinking about how to act around white people and live up to their expectations.
Good post! I agree that Wright outlines problems but doesn't offer a solution. I found your take interesting when you said how Wright was trying to say that blacks shouldn't try to assimilate. I hadn't thought of that interpretation. I do agree though that if Bigger had a proper education, maybe he would have handled his situation differently.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I agree that if Bigger had had more education, things might have turned out differently. I think your point about understanding how white people behave is interesting and could definitely be expanded to Mary and Jan. If they had known more about the experiences of African Americans, they wouldn't have made Bigger so uncomfortable and wouldn't have forced him into a situation where he had to make the choices he did.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I was struck by how you mentioned social education and I think that its true that if bigger knew how to act around white people that were either less racist or not racist he would have not have had as many problems with Mary and Jan. I think that if Jan and Mary would have had more experiences with African Americans they would also have understood that they were going to make Bigger really uncomfortable. I think that this wasn't just caused by Bigger's understanding coming from movies though, I think it was largely related to the way that he was conditioned by the rest of society to act around white people.
ReplyDeleteI really like your point about how Bigger might have behaved differently if he had had more experience with white people. He had had no experience with the kind of racism presented by Mary and Jan where they meant well but simply failed to not be racist, and as such he had no way of knowing how to act in the situations that they put him in. This would definitely support a naturalist-leaning argument that the events of the novel were not entirely Bigger's fault.
ReplyDeleteNice post. To me, the themes you explained about education and the freedom of black people to make their own choices regarding how to behave around white people (not sure what a good shorthand word for that is) is a major callback to the book "Mumbo Jumbo" which we read in History as Fiction. That may mean nothing to anyone who wasn't in that class, but to those who were, I think the educated reader willing Bigger to act differently somewhat resembles Atonism in that we want to control Bigger in a way - and Jes Grew is the freedom to make his own choices. I'm not sure if this is what Wright meant with these themes, given that I'm not sure Bigger exactly embodies Jes Grew. What do you guys think? Sorry Harmen and Company :( Mumbo Jumbo is really good though I recommend highly
ReplyDeleteThe idea that Wright offers a problem and not a solution occurred to me frequently as I was reflecting on the book. The way the Wright writes (haha) is almost paradoxical sometimes. Is it better for blacks and white to be able to live in the same neighborhoods, or should they stay separate and not assimilate? Based on Native Son alone, I'm not sure how Wright would answer. In our present day, a majority of Americans have an obvious answer. But it's hard for us to envision what conditions were like, some 70 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThis whole thing about not understanding the other race when interacting with them also seems to apply to Mary and Jon. In a way, their actions set up the story of the entire book when they tried too hard to not be racist.
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