Bigger Thomas reminds me of another character we were introduced to around this time last year, Joe Christmas (From William Faulkner's A Light In August) Can it not be said that the two are similar in character? Not only are both out-casts from white society, but they are both murders (assuming Christmas did commit the crime). But not only that, they are both considered "brooders" or someone whose deeply lost in thought. They are both questioning their identity throughout their stories. Does that mean that those who are evaluative state are murders underneath all their brooding? Not necessarily. It doesn't take a lot of thought to commit murder; remember Lenny from Of Mice and Men, anyone? If anything, Bigger's action of killing Mary was more similar to Lenny's action against Curley's wife; both did not seem intentional. If anything, the circumstances that were given to both Lenny and Bigger were conducive to their separate, isolated incidences. Honestly, things do not look well for Bigger, remember how Christmas's story ended as well as Lenny's? It doesn't look like things will turn out better for the Native Son protagonist.
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I agree with what you are saying for the most part. However, I think you failed to note that Lenny was mentally ill, while Bigger has the knowlege to understand what is right and wrong. We see this with the caution he takes while talking to "white people". Meaning that he knew it was wrong to go into her room, and even if he was helping her because she was drunk he knew better to get out of her room as fast as possible; however, he did not. Personally I do not think you can compare Lenny with Bigger bcause Bigger knows better.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the both of you. (Geez a 3 way agreement) I too made the connection between Christmas & Bigger..They both were casted as outsiders within their community for simply being who they were: a minority. Yet, the difference laid in their up-bringings. Christmas was from the south, while Bigger was from the Midwest. Christmas was abandoned from his family-on theother hand Bigger feels useless as the primary male figure in his. Both Christmas and Bigger are more critical on their race then the people their surrounded by. Lastly, Christmas was on a journey to find who he was-thus far, Bigger is on a mission to escape from who he is.
ReplyDeleteTo Darlene- I think Bigger might as well be crippled like Lenny. He is extremely ignorant. Now, i am not excusing what he did, but he just didn't know what to do. You read it, it was in his mind that he "had" to burn her, he "had" to cut her head off.. no, he did not have to, but that is his mentality. What is common sense for us is not for other people. Remember how we learned that knowledge is situational? well, so is commom sense. Plus, fear will cause you to react without thought. It caused Lenny to do it, and Bigger as well.
ReplyDeleteTo Aaron- I don't think Lenny got a happy ending.. lol.
Chanel has a strong point. I know some of you watch Criminal Minds, and don't you guys ever wonder what you would do if you were ever in the victim's situation? The fact is, I, myself wouldn't know how to react if a man was holding a gun to my head. I don't know what I would do. The way this relates to Bigger, is just how Chanel said, that it was the situation he was placed in and an unintended mistake that caused him to react defensively.
ReplyDeleteI totally see the connection Aaron. And as far as this argument goes, I agree with Chanel; Bigger isn't mentally crippled but he has another problem that causes him to do the things he does and that's racism. racism is such a problem that his moral fibers are practically based upon it, like Chanel said he felt as if he HAD to keep he from making any noise, and he HAD to burn her, I'm sure he was aware that killing someone is wrong (he froze when he found out she was dead) but everything that happened was as a result of what he thought was right to do.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Manny, Aida, Aaron(:
ReplyDeletei'm sure we've all been in a situation that you just reacted in.. would you want to be judged for the decision you made? Does that define YOU?
hm.. that might be a good post..