Olaf's Hatred Toward Jim in Big Black Good Man

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Recommended: Analysis of Black Boy by Richard Wright

Olaf's Hatred Toward Jim in Big Black Good Man

Olaf's hatred toward Jim in the "Big Black Good Man" was unnecessary. His fear of Jim is what initially caused this hatred. Olaf had no reason to fear or hate Jim. He hated Jim just because of who he was; a "Big Black Good Man" (Wright 265). Olaf's hatred of Jim is manifested in several ways throughout the story; when he called Jim a nigger, after his conversation with Lena, and his fantasy of a white shark eating Jim.

Olaf's first sign of hatred is when he called Jim a nigger in his thoughts. In the story he was wondering to himself about "Why was he so damned worked up and nervous about a nigger and white whore?" (Wright 266). Olaf hated Jim so much that he called him out of his name. To Olaf, Jim was not even a black man; he was just a big black nigger. Olaf used the word to boost his self-esteem in order to make Jim seem like a nobody. In the story Olaf said that he was not prejudice, but to use the word nigger to classify Jim was uncalled for. When Olaf used the word nigger to refer to Jim, it showed the beginning stages of his hatred for Jim.

Another example of Olaf's hatred for Jim was after his conversation with Lena. It states in the story "Try as he might, he could not shake off a primitive hate for that black mountain of

energy" (Wright 267). The reason Olaf could not shake off his hatred for Jim was that Lena was not scared of Jim like he was. Olaf did not like how Jim instilled fear in him. He did not like how Lena handled Jim like she stated before coming over to the hotel. He also did not like the idea that he was the only one that was scared of this huge black man. All of the things running through Olaf's head were another reason he came to hate Jim.

Olaf's true hate was shown through his fantasy of a white shark eating Jim. In this fantasy; Olaf's hatred of Jim was shown the strongest. Olaf's fantasy was that the ship Jim was on would sink and a white shark would come and eat Jim.

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