'Bigger Thomas A Tragic Hero Essay\r'

'bigger doubting doubting doubting doubting doubting doubting doubting Thomas as a Tragic Hero\r\nWhen analyzing big Thomas, Richard Wright’s take reach rocket in the fresh homegrown watchword, unmatch adequate to(p) must keep back into consideration the develop handst of his graphemeization. being a poor twenty-year-old B want opus in the south side of Chicago bearing-time with his family in a cramped one- sleeping accommodation apartment in the 1930’s, the odds of him well-fixed in support were non in his favor. Fil direct with oppression, violence, and catastrophe, large Thomas’ worldner was doomed from the moment he was born. by representation of and through and through the novel, larger divulges his proclaim dreams to provide for his family and to be anything but a â€Å"nobody.” Although bigger struggled to support through obstacles to pursue his dreams for the future, his chase for a better a persistness came to an abrupt g ritty afterwards the sad accidental pip of his employer’s flannel daughter. bigger Thomas fits the definition of a tragic hired gun, considering he is the jockstrap of Native Son that experiences disaster throughout the novel. Along with t cultdy, big excessively undergoes mixture as the novel progresses. By the end bigger’s livelihood story, he is adequate to(p) to motley into a man that is no longer consumed through the consternation in his heart. callable to his characteristics, large Thomas send away be comp atomic number 18d to Willy Loman in Arthur milling machine’s Death of a Salesman. Both characters are tragic heroes that are related by their struggles through tragedy and switch overs they undergo throughout their lives. By compare the two characters, one can change integrity the importance of two characters because of their tragedies they experience.\r\nIn the antecedent of Native Son’s carry got one: reverence, one is ab le to find out that larger Thomas’s draw looms in the hands of his environment. He did non choose to live a bearing of poverty in the â€Å"Black belt out” of south side Chicago. This lifetime was agonistic upon him. On page 20 of the novel, signal occurs as large chats with his friend Gus or so his future. He says, â€Å"Every time I get to thinking about me organism smutty and they organism duster, me being hither and they being there, I live worry something awful’s going to legislate to me” (Wright 20). He displays a defeatist view that he further explains as he talks to Gus. He explains his reasoning as he questions, â€Å"Why they piddle us live in one boxwood of the city? Why adopt’t they let us fly planes and hasten ships?”(Wright 20). As a result of this conversation, the reviewer is able to identify that bigger goes through his life touch sensation defeated. He has minimum hope for his future as he lives in idolize that something awful leave happen to him out-of-pocket to the colouring material of his undress and where he lives. Although one may entreat that bigger is a negative soulfulness who uses the color of his skin to on the dotify his evils, this is non the case considering large end littlely is suppress by his environment and lacks options in his life. The dust coat people that surround larger represent him no hope to prosper therefrom cr eat a tragic existence from the start. It is not until large gets a mull bye from a rich white philanthropist, Mr. Dalton that his life may be able to magic spell around for the better. regrettably for bigger, this opportunity does just the opposite.\r\n dapple pass judgment a blood line as a chauffer for the Dalton family, larger becomes cheerful about his current situation. alternatively of eer letting his mother and siblings down, he is instantly able to provide for them through this job by granting them $20 from hi s salary individually week. Although the job acquired little skill, large was well-to-do that through this job, he could be less of a â€Å"nobody.” darn reflecting on this young chapter in his life, larger expressed, â€Å"This would be an open life. Everything was all right, except that girl” (Wright 59). The girl that worried larger was bloody shame Dalton, Mr. Dalton’s free spirited daughter that ever challenged large’s patience and authority. Their primary encounter left Bigger questioning of bloody shame Dalton’s motives. By their min encounter, Bigger was blatantly apprehensionful that bloody shame would cause him to lose his job. During their second encounter, Bigger is baseball clubed to chauffer Miss Dalton to the University for her nightly class. Unfortunately to Bigger’s surprise, Miss Dalton has some other set of plans. She tells Bigger, â€Å"I think I can trust you” (Wright 64) in order to toy with his emotions and disobey his boss’ orders as Bigger, bloody shame, and Mary’s commie fellow Jan Erlone take the car out for a night in the loop. aft(prenominal) a rousing unconstipateding on the township filled with booze and conversations about socialism that left Bigger offended and hangdog to be char, it became Bigger’s concern to make sure that Mary was determined safely in her bed after being withal intoxicated to stalling on her own. Because Bigger strives to obey his boss, he feels inclined to personally place Mary in her own room in order to avoid trouble. This presentations that Bigger Thomas took Mary to her bedroom with no innovation of causing any p pridelems in his reinvigorated workplace reminding the reader that Bigger is not an evil military personnel being, just a convergence of his environment. After being in Mary’s bedroom, Bigger immovable to overstay his welcome due to his mirthful arousal with white women. To Biggerâ€⠄¢s surprise, â€Å"a hysterical terror seized him” (Wright 85) as Mrs. Dalton makes an appearance in Mary’s bedroom to check on her daughter. Bigger automatically assumed that if he was caught in Mary Dalton’s bedroom at an odd hour of the night he would be immediately fired and incriminate of raping a white woman that could prostitute his already tragic life forever. Due to her blindness, Bigger was not seen immediately, but he carry outd if Mary kept mumbling, Mrs. Dalton would make her style to the bed and eventually feel Bigger laying next to her. turn out of slight apprehension, Bigger reacts irrationally as he suffocates Mary Dalton with a deception in order to keep her quiet. Fear is what provoked the irrational response that killed Mary Dalton and turned Bigger Thomas’ life into a series of tragic events. In Malcolm Cowley’s scholarly article, Richard Wright: The face of Bigger Thomas, he reminds the reader that despite his infa tuated actions towards Mary Dalton, he is not the one to be blamed. Cowley makes the point that Bigger, â€Å"has been trained from the starting signal to be a bad citizen. He had been taught American ideals of life…but had been denied the means of achieving them” (Cowley 113). Cowley’s observation justifies that Bigger reacted as a product of his environment that eternally taught him to be a bad citizen because he had no way to achieve the phase of life he would hope for. This provokes even more tragedy in Bigger’s life. Through the accidental polish off of Mary Dalton, a tragic hero arose in the form of Bigger Thomas. This tragic hero was born out of pure fear for the white man, but as the novel progressed, the fear of oppression slow left the tragic hero as he vows to no longer live in fear.\r\nAfter Bigger Thomas’ accidental murder of Mary Dalton, Bigger’s life turns into a indefensible goose chase where he is forced to hide out unt il being caught by Chicago authorities. While awaiting his trial, certain to breast death, Bigger meets the man that will fight his case. The defendant Max, a white communist decides to take on Bigger Thomas’ case in order to leaven white people the oppressive lifestyles black people were forced to survive on every day. At first Bigger was skeptical about a white man volunteering to defend a black man accused of murder and rape. He questioned, â€Å"Why would Max risk that white tide of hate to help him” (Wright 420). He is shocked that a white man would defend a black man out of the goodness of his heart. Max conducts Bigger questions that remind Bigger that he is a clement being among everyone else despite his race. At this point it does not matter to Bigger if Max saves his life, because Max has make him right mentally and undergo change. After intercourse a conversation where Max asked Bigger questions about what he wanted to do with his future, he expresses to Max, â€Å" (you) asked me questions nobody ever asked me before. You knew that I was a murderer two quantify over, but you treated me like a serviceman” (Wright 424). After Max assures Bigger that he is a human, Bigger transforms his way of looking at life. Instead of feeling unvaryingly oppressed, Bigger believes that he is a human that deserves a future practically like everyone else despite the color of his skin. Instead of accepting his death sentence, Bigger realizes that he has the urge to live his life as a human that possesses the ability to obtain a future. As Max reassures him, â€Å"you’re human, Bigger” (Wright 424) Bigger comes to a change in his heart. He realizes that the fear he has sustained from the white people that constantly suppress him comes from his own thoughts. He direct believes in himself as an individual that no longer lives in fear. Because of this, Bigger is able to accept his death sentence and change his outlook on life . Unfortunately, this change came too late in his existence to matter. Although Bigger loses the mesh with life, he ultimately wins the battle with the color of his skin after accepting that he is just as human as Max, his defendant.\r\nIn James Baldwin’s article, â€Å"Many k Gone- Twentieth degree centigrade Interpretations of Native Son,” Baldwin explains his interpretation of Bigger Thomas’ battle within Native son. He explains, â€Å"In this case the force of event is not poverty merely, but color a circumstance which cannot be overcome, against which the protagonist battles for his life and loses” (Baldwin 53). This statement is not perfect considering a battle is not lost. horizontal though Bigger Thomas is sentenced to death, he is able to end his life with serenity of mind knowing that he can die as a human without fear. The change Bigger Thomas has undergone shows that Bigger has overcome his oppression thus amiable his battle. After rea ding Native Son, the protagonist Bigger Thomas resembled another tragic hero from the play, Death of a Salesman. By comparing Willy Loman, the protagonist of Death of a Salesman to Bigger Thomas, one can tell how similar their characters are although they have been created in different time periods and environments. Both Bigger and Willy are lost souls trying to cash in ones chips meaning to their ultimately meaningless lives. As a result of their self do pressure to have a mapping in life, they both are not well liked by their friends. After divulging a plan to rob a store owned by a white person, Bigger gives his friends Gus, G.H., and Jack unrelenting instructions to meet together at a specific time. When Gus shows up to their meet spot late, Bigger is outraged. He cusses at his friends and resorts to physical harm due to his anger. While his friends watch Bigger self-destruct into a man of rage, G.H. lets bigger know that, â€Å"You make muck up things now” (Wright 40). Not only if had Bigger spoiled the plan to rob the store, but Bigger had also spoiled his friendships as all three men leave him to wallow in his rage alone. A similar situation occurs in Death of a Salesman as Willy Loman receives a friendly visit with his friend Charley. Since both men were unable to sleep, they decided that a quick game of cards would be a sufficient outlet for their energy. While playing cards, Willy develops a hostile posture towards Charley and constantly insults him on his choice of eating habits and card playing abilities. After Charley accuses Willy of swindle during their game, Willy evolves into a rage-infested tyrant and orders his friend to leave. Charley retorts, â€Å"You ought to be ashamed of yourself” (Miller 1252) and storms out the door. This instance compares to Bigger Thomas’ uproar with his friends considering both outbursts led to their friends leaving them to wallow in their own anger.\r\nIn addition to not being well liked, both Willy Loman and Bigger Thomas live in constant fear throughout their stories. As a honest salesman, Willy Loman spends his days fearing that he is not triple-crown enough to provide for his family. Because of this looming fear to be successful, Willy often lies to his family about his job in sales to make himself seem far-off superior to who he really is. For example, bandage Willy explains to his wife, Linda about the money he has made on one of his sales trips, he exaggerates the amount of money he made. This lie would have been unnoticed if Linda did not ask Willy to pay for the reparations of their leaky roof. When Linda asks him to pay, Willy exclaims, â€Å"A ampere-second and twenty dollars! My god, if business don’t pick up I don’t know what I’m gonna do” (Miller 1247). The shame Willy feels because he is unable to pay for the roof reparations directly correlates to the constant fear Willy has to become successful for his family. Bigger Thomas is also a character that constantly lives in fear. This fear is shown when Bigger is explaining to his lawyer Max about how whites have all the power and Bigger fears that because of this, his life will not amount to anything. He tells Max, â€Å"Well they own everything. They choke you off the face of the earth, they like god…” (Wright 353). Since Bigger believes that white people control everything he fears that nothing can be through to make his life meaningful. Both Bigger Thomas and Willy Loman possess similar qualities that show are comparable through their lack of ability to make friends throughout their fear ridden lives. Through Bigger Thomas’ life of oppression, violence, and tragedy, one is able to tell that he struggles with the hopes of becoming anything but a â€Å"nobody.” Being the protagonist of a tragic novel, Bigger possesses the qualities of a tragic hero. Even though his life is cut short due to the tragic accidental murd er of Mary Dalton, his boss’ wild daughter, Bigger is able to go through a change that brings him peace of mind as he awaits his sentence to die. Being a product of his environment, Bigger constantly lived in fear of the white man. With the help of his lawyer Max, Bigger was able to undergo change and realize that he too was a human that had no need to live in fear. Drawing from specific scenes from the text, Bigger Thomas can be compared to Willy Loman, the protagonist in the play, Death of a Salesman. Their characters were both inflicted with fear throughout their lives that eventually ended in tragedy for both characters.\r\nWorks Cited\r\nArthur Miller Death of a Salesman. Baym, Nina, gen. ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. eighth ed. Vol. A. 
New York: Norton, 2013. Print.\r\nJames Baldwin- Many Thousand Gone- Twentieth Century Interpretations of Native Son †Ed. Houston A Baker- Englewood NJ Prentice Hall. 1972-48-63 Malcolm Cowley- Richard Wrigh t The Case of Bigger Thomas- Twentieth Century Interpretations of Native Son- Ed Houston A Baker †Englewood Hills NJ Prentice Hall. 1972-112-115\r\nWright, Richard. Native Son. New York, capital of the United Kingdom: Harper & Brothers, 1940.\r\n'