Oppressions Of Society In Native Son

The passage we close read as a class,located in book two:Fear on pages 276 through 278 of Native Son, was one of the most significant passages in book two in developing a key theme of: the oppressions of society having great influence over a person's life . This passage is essential to develop this key theme as it is a time in the novel when Bigger opens up to the audience about his life and his feelings driven by the isolation and racism caused by white society,and the overpowering sense of fear and wariness towards white society in black society. Both societies prove to have a pull and influence on Bigger’s life as Wright explains both influences on Bigger in this one passage where Bigger is contemplating his actions of murder within the
All of Bigger's life “ he had be so conditioned in a cramped environment that words or kicks alone knocked him upright and made him capable of action” (Wright 278). Just the words: “conditioned”, “cramped”, “knocked”, and “made capable” seem to enforce an image of a caged and abused animal; in which, in this case, would be the equivalent of a poor black pitbull who are known for their “likeliness towards violence” and history of being used as fight dogs if “conditioned” through abuse and caging to be “made capable” of the action of fighting and killing another dog, as Bigger had been “made capable” of. “He had killed many times before, but only during the last two days had this impulse assumed the form of actual killing// in front of those whose hate for him was so unfathomably deep that,after they had shunted him off into a corner of the city to rot and die, they could turn to him// and say: ‘I'd like to know how your people live’” (Wright 277). Through white societies racism and isolation of “his people”, Bigger had been conditioned into this violence that led him to commit murder,accidental or not; however, white society wasn't the only one that drove Bigger to act out violently in his
What his mother had was Bessie's whiskey , and Bessie's whiskey was his mother's religion” (Wright 278). To Bigger, Bessie's alcoholism and his mother's religion were escapes from the harsh reality of African American life; in which angered Bigger ,because they were “blind” to the radical action and power that could free them as he felt he was through the murder of a white woman. Bigger wanted action and power over his own life from the controlling influences of both societies in his life, “he did not want to sit on a bench and sing,or lie in a corner and sleep” ( Wright 278) and hide away and take it; he wanted to “merge himself with others and be a part of this world// even though he was black” (Wright 278). Bigger’s internal and external struggles with the pressures of both societies, reflect on his character and further develops an overarching theme of: the oppressions of society having great influence over a person's life through Wright's use of metaphors and imagery in the passage from Book two: Fear on pages 276 through 278 of Native