Native Son Argumentative Essay

My topic for the debate was to argue that society was the one responsible for Mary’s death and not Bigger’s. In the book, Native Son by Richard Wright, Bigger Thomas is a young black man living in a society that is ruled by the white people around the time of the 1930s. He lives in an impoverished, one-room apartment with his mother and two siblings, Vera and Buddy. Bigger hangs with a group of gang members, Gus, G.H., and Jack, at a poolroom owned by a man called Doc. Bigger’s life can be described as miserable and sad because of the hardships he faces, such as growing up in poverty and the pressure from the segregation. He soon finds himself back on track, accepting a job from Mr. Dalton who was a rich white man who helps the colored people.
Instead of driving Mary Dalton, the daughter of Mr. Dalton, to her university, Bigger obeys Mary’s order to go see her boyfriend, Jan. Jan treated Bigger and Mary to dinner which then lead all of them to be intoxicated. As Bigger brought Mary to her room, laying her on her bed, he accidentally kills Mary by suffocating her to protect himself from losing his job. The incident of accidental murder of a white lady took a turning point in Bigger’s life. My team and I argued that it was not Bigger’s intention to kill Mary, especially knowing the consequences that would follow if he had. He knows his consequences for offending a white person is very severe because of the view the segregated society has already implanted in everyone’s mind. The society was at fault for Mary’s death by putting fear in Bigger living as a black person and segregating the white and black people.
Constantly living under constant pressure from the whites, Bigger has faced internal struggles within him to hold himself together so that he does not risk revealing his fear. One reason why Bigger is not at fault for Mary’s death is because he did not show his obvious fear of society so he would not touch Mary because he was really afraid of society. After Bigger humiliates Gus to lick the blade of his knife, the gang members ran away and Doc kicks him out, Bigger came to a realization that he was the one who is afraid. As he got home, staring out the window, he thought, “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. But he kept this knowledge of his fear thrust firmly down in him; his courage to live depended upon how successfully his fear was hidden from his consciousness” (Wright 42). Wright revealed that Bigger pretend to be strong so that he does not get scared of what society thinks of him. He is afraid of what society already thinks of him as a black person in the 1930’s. He does not want to seem weak since he will be looked down upon by others. Especially during these times, if a black man shows feel to a white man, the black man will be so much more inferior than he already is and the white man will begin to feel much more superior against him.
Bigger’s life is becoming much more difficult as the laws of segregations are upon him. The laws make him feel even more separated from the world. As stated before, Bigger is not at fault for Mary’s death because of how he feels the harsh effect of the segregation. After Gus and Bigger play ‘white’, Bigger finally remarks aloud that the ‘white folks’ do not allow the black people to do anything, stating that he feels like, “‘Half the time I feel like I’m on the outside of the world peeping through a knot-hole in the fence…’” (Wright 20). This shows that black people were unable to do anything against white people. The feelings/thoughts that Bigger is feeling could represent the feelings of the blacks within the community. They all feel isolated from the world because of the differences between them and the whites. Due to their skin color, blacks were trapped inside a vast world that prevents them from chasing their dreams. The blacks were living in a nation of their self which was on the South side. Whereas, in their society as the other ones the strong who can live happily.
In addition, my team and I also pointed out how everyone is different from one another. During the crossfire, we argued that Bigger was the product of his environment that he grew up and lived in. Then, the opposing team attacked us on why the other gang members were not affected like Bigger was. Then, we pointed out that everyone grew up with different background stories that affected each and one of us in a variety of ways. Our opponents did not have any pieces of evidence or quotes to prove that the gang members are affected the same way as how Bigger is. Even though African Americans were discriminated in the 1930s, this does not mean that every African American was identical from each other, facing the same problems and living under the same conditions. Bigger was living in a white supremacist society where African Americans, including himself, were looked down upon with negativities. He was also living in a family that has high expectations on him to raise and supports for his family needs. Due to the lack of resources Bigger was given, he is trapped in his own bubble under the segregated and white supremacist society.
In conclusion, the society was truly at fault for Mary’s death because of the negativities and segregation that are between white and black people during the 1930s.
While arguing about this topic, I noticed that the opposing team did a very good job at addressing their topic, providing valuable details to support it, and asking great questions. But, I believe they should not be repetitive with their attacking points. The reason why being repetitive could have a negative effect is due to the fact that the audience may believe that the people who are arguing may have run out of ideas. I believe that finding new ways to attack keeps the debate fresh and keeps the audience’s attention. Although they ask great questions, they were not able to get their points across. As for us, we should try to bring out questions and quotes to strengthen our side. Overall, I was very proud of our team for being brave and being able to strongly defend the topic even with all of the nervous tensions we’ve experienced during the debate. We were able to exploit each other and bring back ideas from previous class discussions. We were able to challenge our opponents with strong comebacks by pointing out their lack of quotes to prove their arguments, making them hesitate to think about their next
counterattack.

My Position:
I agree with my position that society is responsible for the death of Mary because society molded people to their current self. Society influences people to change and causes people to become who they are. An example of the influence that society has on people would be me. Society has impacted me greatly because of my tough past. Being bullied in the past has made me a stronger and better person because I was able to change myself during these tough times. This change has made me who I am today. It makes people think a certain way depending on the society they’re raised in. As for Bigger, his society puts the fear of the white supremacy in his mind, giving him limitations in life. Therefore, these limitations have led Bigger to make decisions that he was not at fault for because he is constantly living in fear within his society that prevents him from doing certain actions because of the white supremacy. Bigger is not at fault for the death of Mary because Bigger is a product of his environment and acted how he is because of how he was raised and the lifestyle he had.