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ornamental line

To Die Without Shame

"the sky stretched in a cold, dark-blue oval, cupping the city
like an iron palm covered with silk" (259).
Richard Wright's Native Son (1940)

 

Points for Reflection

Richard Wright's Native Son (1940), pp.180-340

  1. what does Bigger mean when he tells himself that he has killed many times before (106, 239), or raped many times before (227-28)?
  2. does either fear or defiance conquer the other feeling, within Bigger, before Book Two ends? Or, do these two emotions tussle with one another throughout like two equally powerful adversaries?
  3. which is greater while at the Dalton household, Bigger’s conviction of his newfound power and agency, or awareness of his fatigue and weariness?
  4. does Bigger experience more autonomy and self-reliance when on the move than when standing still?  Track his mental state throughout the closing events of Book Two.
  5. Bigger concludes that the papers carry his story “only after he had acted upon feelings which he had had for years.”  What is the problem with this observation? 
  6. how does Bigger’s treatment of Bessie shape the reader’s opinion of him?
  7. is Bigger correct in assuming that Mr. Dalton and Mr. Britten “would never think that a black, timid Negro” (187) could kidnap or otherwise injure Mary?
  8. Wright details a series of images that appear in Bigger’s head throughout the narrative.  Do these images relate in any significant way to his emotional life?
  9. does Bigger have the makings of a criminal mastermind?
  10. Bigger has considerable street smarts, and evinces enviable acumen, but no practical experience interacting with what particular group of people?
  11. what types of prejudice do the press betray in the conversations Bigger overhears?
  12. do you agree with Bigger’s conclusions about what truly lies behind rape (227-28)?
  13. does Bigger commit rape?
  14. when Bigger is accused of rape in the newspaper (243, 256), how did you feel?  Is the accusation a just one?
  15. why might Richard Wright wait so long to begin detailing the injustices faced by black Americans when it comes to housing, instead of leading with this at the opening of the novel?
  16. consider the war of words that erupts between Jack and Jim, two black men, over the situation of Bigger and—more generally—the situation faced by black Chicagoans (250-52).  Jim says he’d die to protect Bigger, and Jack says he’s turn in Bigger to protect himself.  Does the novel, thus far, encourage us to join one side of the argument over the other?
  17. is Bigger justified in feeling anger towards a culture that “shunted him off into a corner of the city to rot and die” and then, in the person of Mary, turned around and said, “‘I’d like to know how your people live’” (240)?
  18. are we to assume that the in-depth analysis of Bigger’s feelings and actions is his own, that he is incredibly self-aware, or that this assessment is the narrator's?
  19. can you distinguish which descriptions of Bigger’s thoughts are his own, self-reflective musings, and which are those of an omniscient narrator?
  20. why does Bigger lose his old braggadocio once imprisoned?  Why doesn’t he continue to present himself as bold and capable?
  21. though Bigger’s first murder was an accident, he believes he has long lived with an “urge to kill” (308).  Is it possible to “link up his bare actions with what he had felt” (309), though Bigger himself cannot?
  22. is Bigger indeed contrite (310)?  Does the text provide other evidence of such penitence?
  23. did the narrative to this point provide evidence that Bigger did indeed come up with the ransom ploy out of “some obscure need to be at home with people” (274)? Is there any evidence in Book 3 that he wants close-knit community?
  24. is it possible to reconcile Bigger’s desire to merge with “some other part of the natural world” with his desire to direct the “will to kill [. . .] upon himself,” and can this itself be reconciled with his “fear of death” (274)?  Does this collection of feelings evince cold, hard reason, or emotional chaos?
  25. what kind of alternate religious symbology does Bigger imagine as a replacement for Christianity?
  26. at what points does Wright appropriate Biblical language and repurpose it?
  27. do any elements of the newspaper articles Bigger reads strike you as incredible--as unrealistic?
  28. do the northern newspaper articles evince the same prejudices as the southern variety?
  29. for what array of reasons does Bigger reject Christianity?
  30. why might Wright have not used Reverend Hammond’s own dialect to render the elaborated version of the Genesis creation account he delivers to Bigger (284)?
  31. what part of Bigger sees in Christianity something that he actually needs, and what is it that he admits to needing?
  32. does the cross, a central symbol of Christianity, offer Bigger lasting refuge?  Why or why not?
  33. is Jan right to claim that he should be in jail for murder instead of Bigger (288)?
  34. whose words are more powerful, Reverend Hammond’s or Jan’s?
  35. is Jan correct in assuming that Bigger believed enough in himself to kill—that he thought he was settling something (290)?
  36. does Jan lie when on the stand, during the inquest?
  37. what social injustices does Max highlight during the inquest, and are Mr. Dalton’s responses to Max’s line of questioning adequate?
  38. is Buckley, the state attorney, a two-dimensional character easy to detest?
  39. is Buckley justified in pressuring Bigger to confess?
  40. what function does Bessie's death serve those who would prosecute Bigger for Mary’s murder?


a painting with a bright blue sky and three run-down small gray and black houses. There is a laundry line along the right side, and a mechanical plow on the left. a woman in a red dress is bent over gathering firewood in the foreground.
Firewood, #55 (1942)
Jacob Lawrence


Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu