Bigger Thomas A Tragic Hero

Bigger Thomas as a Tragic Hero When analyzing Bigger Thomas, Richard Wright’s protagonist in the novel Native Son, one must take into consideration the development of his characterization. Being a poor twenty-year-old Black man in the south side of Chicago living with his family in a cramped one- bedroom apartment in the 1930’s, the odds of him prospering in life were not in his favor. Filled with oppression, violence, and tragedy, Bigger Thomas’ life was doomed from the moment he was born. Through the novel, Bigger divulges his own dreams to provide for his family and to be anything but a “nobody.” Although Bigger struggled to fight through obstacles to pursue his dreams for the future, his chase for a better life came to an abrupt halt after the tragic accidental murder of his employer’s white daughter. Bigger Thomas fits the definition of a tragic hero, considering he is the protagonist of Native Son that experiences tragedy throughout the novel. Along with tragedy, Bigger also undergoes change as the novel progresses. By the end Bigger’s life story, he is able to change into a man that is no longer consumed through the fear in his heart. Due to his characteristics, Bigger Thomas can be compared to Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Both characters are tragic heroes that are related by their struggles through tragedy and changes they undergo throughout their lives. By comparing the two characters, one can solidify the importance of both characters because of their tragedies they experience. In the beginning of Native Son’s book one: Fear, one is able to realize that Bigger Thomas’s fate looms in the hands of his environment. He did not choose to live a life of poverty in the “Black Belt” of south side Chicago. This life was forced upon him. On page 20 of the novel, foreshadowing occurs as Bigger chats with his friend Gus about his future. He says, “Every time I get to thinking about me being black and they being white, me being here and

Cited: Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman. Baym, Nina, gen. ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. A. New York: Norton, 2013. Print. James Baldwin- Many Thousand Gone- Twentieth Century Interpretations of Native Son – Ed. Houston A Baker- Englewood NJ Prentice Hall. 1972-48-63 Malcolm Cowley- Richard Wright The Case of Bigger Thomas- Twentieth Century Interpretations of Native Son- Ed Houston A Baker – Englewood Hills NJ Prentice Hall. 1972-112-115 Wright, Richard. Native Son. New York, London: Harper & Brothers, 1940.