methods in which to subvert this social and systematic order. Paul Siegel suggests that, “Wright,
of course, is not advocating murder. . . But hatred
of the oppressor is a natural, human
emotion; it is only unhealthy when it is
kept stifled. Used as the motor power of an idea
driving toward a goal, it can transform both the
individual and society” (521). We can and should
positively express this hatred by using it to destroy
the oppressor’s obstacles for us.
Nevertheless, “Being Bigger” is not taking
revenge—it is proactive and not reactive. Edward
Margolies states that, “Although Bigger dreams
the American dreams, he knows he can never realize them because he is a Negro. If the civilization
rejects him out of hand, he will reject traditional
and acceptable means and values for achieving the
rewards that civilization has to offer. . . It is not
that Bigger Thomas is so different from us; it is
that he is so much like us” (120). Bigger creates
his own means with which he can live comfortably. In Know Thyself, Naim Akbar articulates,
“Your personal self is the vehicle within which
you travel and all “cars” will go. The task we each
face is to find our “car.” Miseducation has us
looking for someone else’s car and a real education helps us to find our own” (28). Despite the
fact that murder is the extreme, shocking and
monstrous example and vehicle that Wright gives
us, as a criminal, unfortunately, it is the only real
talent (or vehicle) that he owns for obtaining his
goal.
He rebels against any and all forces that
stand in his way—it is not just white society,
represented by the Da lton family, and its oppressors that provide obstacles to his “Being Bigger.”
Keneth Kinnamon argues that Bigger rebels
against religion, family, companions and black
life in general and the white society that oppresses
him (138). Most importantly, he rebels against
the greatest obstacle ever formed against any individual—himself. We are our greatest barrier to
“Being Bigger.” In Breaking the Chains of Psychological Slavery, Naim Akbar says, “Our limitations rest only in our ignorance. We are ignorant
of who we are and what we can do. We have the
need to gain consciousness and only in it is our
true human capacity open to us” (29).
Although the specifics of his rebellion
look different and he uses a different vehicle
(hopefully) than we do or will—Bigger’s oppres-
sion is ours. James Robert Saunders says, “In
talking about Thomas in a college class composed
almost equally of whites and blacks, I found it
interesting that nearly everyone sympathized with
what he was going through. Students between
the ages of eighteen and sixty-five (including an
elderly Jewish woman who had to sell her downtown business establishment because of rising
crime) declared that they understood what drove
him to the depths of depression where the novel
ends. They feared him, and yet they understood
him. As strange as it might sound to some, Bigger
Thomas and his plight do have universal appeal”
(35). W. Lawrence Hogue adds, “In the defense
speech, Max links Bigger’s life and fate to that
of society. Bigger becomes a symbol not only for
twelve million blacks, but also for workers and
labor unions, the economically oppressed peoples
of the world” (28).
We are all Bigger on some level or other
and it is not just economic oppression. Within
this state of being, we must achieve our own goals
according to our own standards and live in our
own worlds. Nevertheless, we must also achieve
and succeed in the environment of the dominant
social power structure. Bigger is a criminal--plain
and simple. Nevertheless, his morality does not
matter at all in his self development and establishment of identity. “Bigger’s existential freedom
is affirmed in the absence of a horizon of reliable
moral ideals” (Hogue 35).
Just like the protagonist’s name derives
from “Big Nigger,” it is a reflection of his emerging greatness—not moral good. “I’ve even heard
Negroes say that maybe Hitler and Mussolini are
all right; that maybe Stalin is all right. They did
not say this out of any intellectual comprehension
of the forces at work in the world, but because
they felt that these men “did things”. . .” (How
Bigger Was Born 514). Bigger started doing “his”
thing. We should do ours. Therefore, psychology
is more important than sociology in “Being Bigger.” This is a weapon that we should use to make
external individuals and social forces respond and
react to us with our own positive and proactive
agenda—not vice versa. Just like Bigger, Mary
experiences this same limitation. She is the same
social product of her environment that he is.
As a native daughter, she is just as afraid,
blind and lost as he is. Anthony Reed suggests
that “Mary and her Communist boyfriend Jan en-