Where did it come from?
Throughout the novel Bigger carries fear with him wherever he goes. At the beginning of the story you learn that Bigger is undecisive with what he wants to do with his life. After being tormented by his mother for the families poverty, Bigger fears he might fail to support his family. Then, when plotting to rob a white man, he attacks Gus to cover his fear of what would happen to him if he were caught. When fooling around with Mary and Mrs. Dalton enters the room Bigger sufficates Mary for fear of being fired. He burns the body since he's afraid to be caught. From here on Bigger is on the run and cannot go back to the way things were. Bigger commits murder then to his own girlfriend because she knows the truth and doesn't like the risk of her getting him into trouble. Where did all this fear come from? Was he born with it? Does the fact that his father was killed in a riot years ago contribute to Bigger's violent ways of dealing with fear? Does this fear arise from something other than the way white and black people relate during this time frame?
4 comments:
I believe the fear stems mostly from race relations, and you certainly cannot blame Bigger there. However, I do believe it is somewhat his personality that causes his fear. Also, we must distinguish between his fear, which is very normal, and his actions, which are very abnormal. So, his fear is a product of society, but his actions can be entirely blamed on his sensationalistic personality.
I would agree his fear most definitely stems fom the societal pressures placed on him. I think Bigger feels he must live with fear as a way of keeping his guard up. If he is to let his guard down he will be swept up in an evil wind of The Whites. I think this is perhaps a defense mechanism that Bigger might employ...
I think the fear Bigger has is from the drastic differences among the two races, the whites and the blacks. As a black person, he has been told that they will always be below the whites. It could have caused some fear because he knows that if he does anything wrong, the punishment will be much more severe for a black person than a white person. The fear probably developed very early in his life because of the conditions he has lived in and learing about the dominance of the white race. The fear that Bigger displays is very normal for the entire black race at this time.
The fear that Bigger is feeling is obviously coming from how society is at that time. There is no other way for him or any of the other blacks to act because it is not accepted in the white dominant society. In a way his fear contributes to his violent behavior because he is fearful society. His fear he was born with and we can see that in the other general black public as well. When the police are hunting Bigger he overhears two people talking about him and how they are afraid. And how they've always been afraid but now even more. It's just something that has been engrained into the minds of the blacks since before they were even born and wouldn't leave until the civil rights movement began later.
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