Bigger Thomas Character Analysis

Bigger Thomas, an impoverished, segregated 20-year-old black male, is suffering under a mental disorder called Subgate Impoveriza Disorder (SID), and deserves a mitigated sentence for the murder of Mary Dalton. Bigger exhibits symptoms of SID like irritability, frequent anxiety, restlessness, paranoia, powerlessness, and acting on fear. He shows irritability towards his family, like when he gets mad by what his mom and sister said about him and his job at the breakfast table. He is also anxious every time he is near a white person because he gets really self-conscious of his black skin and tries not to attract attention to himself, even when his legs and arms are cramped and when he is uncomfortable being so close to Jan and Mary on the car. In addition, he gets extremely conflicted over
Bigger wants to become a pilot, but he couldn’t because of his low economic standing and lack of opportunities for people of his race. These symptoms cause Bigger to feel unsafe and have the need to protect himself. As a result, Bigger suffocated Mary accidently in order to protect himself because he was afraid of what Mrs.Dalton might do. This is largely caused by the anxiety, restlessness, segregated society, and Bigger’s feeling of powerlessness that come with this disorder. Therefore, Bigger deserves to be sentenced to prison for five years and 2 years at a rehab facility to suppress this mental disorder. Bigger killed Mary as an act of protecting himself and the five years in prison to should teach him that he made a mistake and to not get himself backed up into a position like that again. The two years at the rehab facility should be covered by the government because they didn’t do anything to lessen the segregation or improve the black’s economic standing. People may say this is unfair, but the way society worked backed Bigger into a corner and gave him this