The novel Native Son, written by Richard Wright, takes the reader into the life of a twenty year old black man, Bigger Thomas, living in 1930’s Chicago. Right from the beginning, we see the terrible conditions in which Bigger is forced to live in, where living in a cramped apartment and killing rats seems to be a normal thing that is faced every day. A main aspect of the story is how fear drives Bigger’s actions in the story, getting him into a great deal of trouble.
We see fear seep into Bigger when his friends and him decide to rob a white owned store. During the heist, Bigger feels he will be caught so he attacks a member of his gang in order to sabotage the robbery. This is just one example of Bigger turning to violence when he is uncertain and feels pressure. He, again, turns to violence and accidentally kills Mary after he is afraid that he will be caught by Mrs. Dalton as he is putting her to bed. Bigger again turns to violence after he rapes Bessie, as he is afraid she will rat him out and get him caught for all of his crimes. This turn to violence speaks to a greater aspect. When Bigger feels fear or pressure he immediately turns to violence, which is a causality of white oppression over black people of the time of the 1930’s. The fear of disrupting white people’s lives causes so much fear that violence is the immediate reaction for Bigger and others like him.
Bigger has lived in oppression all his life, thus causing his fear. This leads to his violent outbursts, like killing Mary, raping Bessie, and sabotaging the robbery. He has become so psychologically damaged that his options for responding to fear or uncertainty are limited to pretty much violence. The reader cannot really blame Bigger for his actions, and we see that Bigger does not regret the things he does.
In the Introduction of the novel it is said that this is entirely Wright’s point, that white oppression will inevitably lead to violence against white people, and it won’t even entirely be a cognizant effort by minority groups to harm white people, it is just naturally what will happen if society continues on this path. This is a point Wright is known for because most other defenses against racism were built off of emotional appeal, like in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, this showcase that black people were people with lives and feelings that were effected by racism. While Wright surely does depict his characters as real human beings with lives and feelings, his hardest hitting point against racism isn’t that black people are people who deserve respect, instead it’s that white people will end up paying consequences for the oppression of blacks and it will be their own fault. Which you can imagine probably struck white people more than the argument that you should just respect other human beings (it is sad that that is how it is though)
I agree that fear completely drives Bigger’s actions in this story. His first crime when he accidentally murders Mary Dalton is because he doesn’t want Mrs, Dalton to know that he is in her bedroom. His fear also leads him to kill his girlfriend Bessie while she is sleeping because he told her the entire truth about what he did to Mary Dalton.
Fear is definitely a major theme in the book. It is worth noting that Bigger uses fear against his friends to pressure them into robing Blum. Fear is also used by the white community to keep African Americans in line.