Fear In Native Son, By Richard Wright
How Bigger Thomas’s fear impacted himself and other
Fear is so unique and personalized to one self yet it is one common trait between all individuals. When I think of fear, I think of my future. I fear bringing shame to my family; I fear my superiors repudiating my resume to a college, I fear not achieving my goals, I fear for my parents not able to provide, not because they don’t want to but because they are unable to. I fear the future because it is unknown. To go through something where I don’t know the next step is to, leave my world, my connections to people and depend on only myself and ideas. Ideas like faith, hope, destiny and love. My heart pressured and heavy; the stability removed from my body leaving trembling hand and legs, acute hearing and sight because everything is paradox in my …show more content…
mind, is me in the presence of fear (naked and vulnerable).
These emotions that I personally experience is similar to how people feel faced in extreme immoral situation, like the holocaust or the segregation of blacks and whites. During these extreme times fear is ubiquitous and is at its climax. The fear within over powers the mind and impairs the individual judgment. It clouds one’s mind and vision from the big picture and pin points to only now, and how to survive for the moment. Native Son by Richard Wright explores the impact of fear at its climax during the segregation of blacks and whites from the perspective of Bigger Thomas. In this book Richard Wright dedicates 1 of the 3 section exclusively to fear and portrays it throughout the book. Richard Wright, in Native Son demonstrates fear from Bigger’s view to show how fear of unfamiliar things cause chaos to himself and the people around him. Fear of the white world for Bigger not only played with his mind but caused
physical damage and saliently harmed his view on society.
Bigger Thomas was born into a world where he didn't have a lot to live for as a result of unequal share of power and civil rights between the blacks and the whites. The black Americans suffered through many heinous events in the U.S. history such as the slavery, torture, the Jim Crow Laws and the segregation. And the blacks suffered from this because the fear overpowered their minds and blocked their urge to resist those cruel punishments. This fear was passed onto Bigger’s family, disguised as poverty, the death of his father, and the state of his family, their conditions, including him. Because Bigger was raised into such a weak and unstable family, he didn’t have any accomplishment or anything to lose in his life, but his reputation. And if anyone tried to defame him or even attack his reputation, he would do what his past generation did to solve a conflict, use violence. This fear of losing his reputation is one of the many examples where fear controls Bigger’s mind and exacerbates the situation.
Save for the sound of Doc’s whistling up front, there was silence. Bigger watched Jack closely; he knew that the situation was one in which Jack’s word would be decisive. Bigger was afraid of Gus, because he knew that Gus would not hold out if Jack said yes. Gus stood at the table, toying with a cue stick, his eyes straying lazily over the billiard balls scattered about the table in the array of an unfinished game. Bigger rose and sent the balls whirling with a sweep of his hand, then looked straight at Gus as the gleaming balls kissed and rebounded from the rubber cushions, zig-zagging across the table’s green cloth. Even though Bigger had asked Gus to be with him in the robbery, the fear that Gus would really go made the muscles of Bigger’s stomach tighten; he was hot all over. He felt as if he wanted to sneeze and could not; only it was more nervous than wanting to sneeze. He grew hotter, tighter; his nerves were taut and his teeth were on edge. He felt that something would soon snap within him.
"Goddammit! Say something, somebody!"
"I’m in," Jack said again.
"I’ll go if the rest goes," G.H. said.
Gus stood without speaking and Bigger felt a curious sensation—half-sensual, half-thoughtful. He was divided and pulled against himself. He had handled things just right so far; all but Gus had consented. The way things stood now there were three against Gus, and that was just as he had wanted it to be. Bigger was afraid of robbing a white man and he knew that Gus was afraid, too. Blum’s store was small and Blum was alone, but Bigger could not think of robbing him without being flanked by his three pals. But even with his pals he was afraid. He had argued all of his pals but one into consenting to the robbery, and toward the lone man who held out he felt a hot hate and fear; he had transferred his fear of the whites to Gus. He hated Gus because he knew that Gus was afraid, as even he was; and he feared Gus because he felt that Gus would consent and then he would be compelled to go through with the robbery. Like a man about to shoot himself and dreading to shoot and yet knowing that he has to shoot and feeling it all at once and powerfully, he watched Gus and waited for him to say yes. But Gus did not speak. Bigger’s teeth clamped so tight that his jaws ached. He edged toward Gus, not looking at Gus, but feeling the presence of Gus over all his body, through him, in and out of him, and hating himself and Gus because he felt it. Then he could not stand it any longer. The hysterical tensity of his nerves urged him to speak, to free himself. He faced Gus, his eyes red with anger and fear, his fists clenched and held stiffly to his sides.
"You black sonofabitch," he said in a voice that did not vary in tone. "You scared ‘cause he’s a white man."
Later on at this scene Bigger pulls out a knife toward Gus and is on the verge of stabbing him. This lengthy quote shows how Bigger acts out his fear by bullying others and when the fear does not disappear he uses violence. This entire act is just a way for him to release his fear by anger. Because Bigger feared the white society and white society didn’t provide him with anything, Bigger rebelled against society’s law. As a result he and his gang collude together to rob a white person’s store. Bigger was scared to his bone of robbing a white person, because he never robed a white person before. If it was a black person, Bigger wouldn’t be in the same situation. However Bigger could not show his emotions nor fear, because then it would make him look soft and not hard. He thought that showing his fear and vulnerability would abase him rather than help him. So Bigger took all his fear out on Gus. He pointed everything thing he felt but tagged Gus’s name rather than his. And when Gus didn’t react the way Bigger expected him to, fear overpowered him and did the most uneducated decision to help ease the situation, pull out a knife and threaten to kill. After putting someone life on line, Gus acted immediately by obeying Bigger and Bigger regained his confidence and his name. Richard Wright explains it great from the following passage, where we see Bigger’s true inner thoughts.
“Like a man staring regretfully but hopelessly at the stump of a cut off arm or leg, he knew that the fear of robbing a white man had had hold him when he started that fight with Gus; but he knew it in a way that kept it from coming to his mind in the form of hard and sharp idea. His confused emotions had made him feel instinctively that it would be better to fight Gus and spoil the plan of the robbery than to confront a white man with, a gun.”
Later on as Bigger and Jack decided to go to the movie theatre, where the audience saw how base Bigger and his friends were. It was also the place where Bigger first heard about the Daltons, especially Mary Dalton.
“Here are the daughters of the rich taking sunbaths in the sands of Florida! This little collection of debutantes represents over four billion dollars of America’s wealth and over fifty America’s leading families…(31)
Mary Dalton, daughter of Chicago’s Henry Dalton, 4605 Drexel Boulevard, shocks society by spurring they boys of La Salle Street and the Gold Coast and accepting the attention of a well known radical while her recent winter vacation in Florida” (32)
http://www.shmoop.com/native-son/fear-quotes.html http://www.shmoop.com/native-son/fear-theme.html http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/newsat/chapter15section4.rhtml
Fear is so unique and personalized to one self yet it is one common trait between all individuals. When I think of fear, I think of my future. I fear bringing shame to my family; I fear my superiors repudiating my resume to a college, I fear not achieving my goals, I fear for my parents not able to provide, not because they don’t want to but because they are unable to. I fear the future because it is unknown. To go through something where I don’t know the next step is to, leave my world, my connections to people and depend on only myself and ideas. Ideas like faith, hope, destiny and love. My heart pressured and heavy; the stability removed from my body leaving trembling hand and legs, acute hearing and sight because everything is paradox in my …show more content…
mind, is me in the presence of fear (naked and vulnerable).
These emotions that I personally experience is similar to how people feel faced in extreme immoral situation, like the holocaust or the segregation of blacks and whites. During these extreme times fear is ubiquitous and is at its climax. The fear within over powers the mind and impairs the individual judgment. It clouds one’s mind and vision from the big picture and pin points to only now, and how to survive for the moment. Native Son by Richard Wright explores the impact of fear at its climax during the segregation of blacks and whites from the perspective of Bigger Thomas. In this book Richard Wright dedicates 1 of the 3 section exclusively to fear and portrays it throughout the book. Richard Wright, in Native Son demonstrates fear from Bigger’s view to show how fear of unfamiliar things cause chaos to himself and the people around him. Fear of the white world for Bigger not only played with his mind but caused
physical damage and saliently harmed his view on society.
Bigger Thomas was born into a world where he didn't have a lot to live for as a result of unequal share of power and civil rights between the blacks and the whites. The black Americans suffered through many heinous events in the U.S. history such as the slavery, torture, the Jim Crow Laws and the segregation. And the blacks suffered from this because the fear overpowered their minds and blocked their urge to resist those cruel punishments. This fear was passed onto Bigger’s family, disguised as poverty, the death of his father, and the state of his family, their conditions, including him. Because Bigger was raised into such a weak and unstable family, he didn’t have any accomplishment or anything to lose in his life, but his reputation. And if anyone tried to defame him or even attack his reputation, he would do what his past generation did to solve a conflict, use violence. This fear of losing his reputation is one of the many examples where fear controls Bigger’s mind and exacerbates the situation.
Save for the sound of Doc’s whistling up front, there was silence. Bigger watched Jack closely; he knew that the situation was one in which Jack’s word would be decisive. Bigger was afraid of Gus, because he knew that Gus would not hold out if Jack said yes. Gus stood at the table, toying with a cue stick, his eyes straying lazily over the billiard balls scattered about the table in the array of an unfinished game. Bigger rose and sent the balls whirling with a sweep of his hand, then looked straight at Gus as the gleaming balls kissed and rebounded from the rubber cushions, zig-zagging across the table’s green cloth. Even though Bigger had asked Gus to be with him in the robbery, the fear that Gus would really go made the muscles of Bigger’s stomach tighten; he was hot all over. He felt as if he wanted to sneeze and could not; only it was more nervous than wanting to sneeze. He grew hotter, tighter; his nerves were taut and his teeth were on edge. He felt that something would soon snap within him.
"Goddammit! Say something, somebody!"
"I’m in," Jack said again.
"I’ll go if the rest goes," G.H. said.
Gus stood without speaking and Bigger felt a curious sensation—half-sensual, half-thoughtful. He was divided and pulled against himself. He had handled things just right so far; all but Gus had consented. The way things stood now there were three against Gus, and that was just as he had wanted it to be. Bigger was afraid of robbing a white man and he knew that Gus was afraid, too. Blum’s store was small and Blum was alone, but Bigger could not think of robbing him without being flanked by his three pals. But even with his pals he was afraid. He had argued all of his pals but one into consenting to the robbery, and toward the lone man who held out he felt a hot hate and fear; he had transferred his fear of the whites to Gus. He hated Gus because he knew that Gus was afraid, as even he was; and he feared Gus because he felt that Gus would consent and then he would be compelled to go through with the robbery. Like a man about to shoot himself and dreading to shoot and yet knowing that he has to shoot and feeling it all at once and powerfully, he watched Gus and waited for him to say yes. But Gus did not speak. Bigger’s teeth clamped so tight that his jaws ached. He edged toward Gus, not looking at Gus, but feeling the presence of Gus over all his body, through him, in and out of him, and hating himself and Gus because he felt it. Then he could not stand it any longer. The hysterical tensity of his nerves urged him to speak, to free himself. He faced Gus, his eyes red with anger and fear, his fists clenched and held stiffly to his sides.
"You black sonofabitch," he said in a voice that did not vary in tone. "You scared ‘cause he’s a white man."
Later on at this scene Bigger pulls out a knife toward Gus and is on the verge of stabbing him. This lengthy quote shows how Bigger acts out his fear by bullying others and when the fear does not disappear he uses violence. This entire act is just a way for him to release his fear by anger. Because Bigger feared the white society and white society didn’t provide him with anything, Bigger rebelled against society’s law. As a result he and his gang collude together to rob a white person’s store. Bigger was scared to his bone of robbing a white person, because he never robed a white person before. If it was a black person, Bigger wouldn’t be in the same situation. However Bigger could not show his emotions nor fear, because then it would make him look soft and not hard. He thought that showing his fear and vulnerability would abase him rather than help him. So Bigger took all his fear out on Gus. He pointed everything thing he felt but tagged Gus’s name rather than his. And when Gus didn’t react the way Bigger expected him to, fear overpowered him and did the most uneducated decision to help ease the situation, pull out a knife and threaten to kill. After putting someone life on line, Gus acted immediately by obeying Bigger and Bigger regained his confidence and his name. Richard Wright explains it great from the following passage, where we see Bigger’s true inner thoughts.
“Like a man staring regretfully but hopelessly at the stump of a cut off arm or leg, he knew that the fear of robbing a white man had had hold him when he started that fight with Gus; but he knew it in a way that kept it from coming to his mind in the form of hard and sharp idea. His confused emotions had made him feel instinctively that it would be better to fight Gus and spoil the plan of the robbery than to confront a white man with, a gun.”
Later on as Bigger and Jack decided to go to the movie theatre, where the audience saw how base Bigger and his friends were. It was also the place where Bigger first heard about the Daltons, especially Mary Dalton.
“Here are the daughters of the rich taking sunbaths in the sands of Florida! This little collection of debutantes represents over four billion dollars of America’s wealth and over fifty America’s leading families…(31)
Mary Dalton, daughter of Chicago’s Henry Dalton, 4605 Drexel Boulevard, shocks society by spurring they boys of La Salle Street and the Gold Coast and accepting the attention of a well known radical while her recent winter vacation in Florida” (32)
http://www.shmoop.com/native-son/fear-quotes.html http://www.shmoop.com/native-son/fear-theme.html http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/newsat/chapter15section4.rhtml