Bigger-The New Black Hero In Richard Wright's Native Son

As the first protest novel, Richard Wright's Native Son is regarded as a turning point in the history of black American literature. Since its publishing, however, it has almost been simultaneously praised and condemned. Someone argues its blurring of the boundary between novel and document or pamphlet on the one hand; on the other hand, Bigger, the protagonist, is too violent to be able to destroy the myth of black inhumanity. In other words, Bigger Thomas is less a hero than a categorization because he is unable to transcend to the status of stereotype. This paper therefore aims to explore how Bigger develops from a violent youth into a new black hero by analyzing the form of the novel.This paper probes various aspects of the book's form, especially setting, plot, characterization and point of view in each book. The setting in the first two books is used to remind us of the powerful environmental forces both inside and outside Bigger that eventually make him helpless. The analysis of the major scenes in all three books reveals Bigger's development during which he expresses his suppression out of instinctive urge, and then begins reflecting about his motives and actions and finally obtains his awakening of consciousness. At the same time, the characterization of Bigger as the representatives of both the white and the black not only helps to understand Bigger but rejects the controversy upon the image stereotyped by Bigger. Furthermore, the employment of third-person-limited point of view again exposures the reader to Bigger's development when he holds different senses towards the people and environment around him.At the same time, Bigger's behaviors are analyzed under the Freudian theories. Racism has so deprived of Bigger's prospects in life that he feels rather suppressed. When these feelings overwhelm him, he reacts with violence which can be explained either unconscious displacement or projection. Though his violent actions seem to be unconscious, he eventually begins to examine himself after his killing of Mary and, further tries to balance his id which indicates the maturity of his ego.Unlike Tom, the traditional submissive image of the blacks, Bigger finds his own way to control the environment. Though Bigger reveals that the blacks can only be noticed by the whites when they do something violently, Wright's protagonist fails in trying to be accepted through violence. This idea is developed by Ralph Ellison who makes a great success in his Invisible Man by exploring how the blacks can get their position in the white society. The study of Bigger as a new black hero is, therefore, not only a contribution to affirm Richard Wright's position in American literature but suggestive to any further exploration on the changing black images in black American literature.