Native Son Dualism

The Man who Kills Himself, Twice: A Dualistic Character in Richard Wright’s Native Son

When discussing Richard Wright’s Native Son, the role of violence, particularly the murders of both Mary and Bessie, in correlation to the novel’s theme about the social condition of blacks in America, is often in question. Can Wright’s exaggeration of violence, treated as a tool for revenge, be used to justify the oppression of racism on the black community in the 1930s? One could suggest Wright’s answer lies in his portrayal of racial oppression; more specifically, the social construction whites exercise on a disenfranchised, early twentieth century, black man. Furthermore, this social construction Wright describes, reinforces discrimination and objectification

As a result, Bigger, who wants to experience the joys of romance, fills undeserving and afraid to indulge in any privileges she presents because he feels society says differently; that because he is black, he deserves less than everyone else. The love Bigger has with Mary, therefore, turn aggressive as “[h]e watched her with a mingled feeling of helplessness, admiration, and hate. If her father saw him here with her now, his job would be over” (82). Of course, Bigger wants to love Mary, who shows her attraction for him, but having romantic feelings for a white woman is socially unacceptable and his fear of getting caught whether drunk, in this case, or in love drives him angry and violent. At a conscious level, he is aware of the punishment he could receive if he gets caught with Mary, and he fears to participate in this kind of freedom, whether it be the freedom to express his love or the freedom to have fun, so much so that he kills her to conceal it from

For Bigger, Bessie is the only person he can relate to, though unlike Mary, she is weak and oppressed by an imposing society. Bigger’s “[a]nger quickened in him: an old feeling that Bessie had often described to him when she had come from long hours of hot toil in white folk’s kitchen, a feeling of being forever commanded by others so much that thinking and feeling for one’s self was impossible” (331). The killing of Bessie does not lie in his treatment of her, but rather, a way of releasing the fear he builds up living in Mary’s white world. In a way, being with Bessie signifies his retreat, not only to conceal the freedom he experiences but also from an oppressing environment, from the world he cannot stay too long in. While Bigger kills Mary to conceal his freedom he experiences with her, from society, he kills Bessie because she represents the weakness that comes with being black.

Ultimately, the murders of Bessie and Mary are a metaphorical representation of Bigger’s need to destroy the duality that makes up his black identity; that is, his oppressed side Bessie reminds him of and a much freer side associated with Mary. Ironically, the deaths of both women are induced by societal fear; the same fear the public has of a homicidal Bigger, who put him to death. One could not