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EN 546
Literary Response
Biggers Clandestine Internal Chaos Caused by Masculine and Feminine Ideals within Native
Son
Richard Wrights epic novel, Native Son, is an emotional and hauntingly raw narrative
during the early twentieth century that showcases societys views regarding the unequal social
structure and conditions between white and black people in city of Chicago. The protagonist of
the piece, Bigger Thomas, witnesses, experiences, and actively participates in the violence that
grips this segregated and scared metropolis, and exerts an overly masculine faade and is
terrified of others seeing his fear which he directly attributes to weakness and femininity.
Although Bigger masks his fear behind phallic symbols like his gun and knife that he must have
with him at all times, Bigger still cannot control his hatred for his own race and hatred for the
whites and allows Bigger to emit feminine like qualities which he loathes. Bigger has been
emasculated by the general belief that a white woman is more powerful than he is because he is a
man, and the piece carefully hides the predominant notion of the inferiority between genders. He
is not only insubordinate to the white man, but even more damaging to Biggers ego, he is treated
as he is inferior by his mother and as well as all white women; from the very beginning of the
literature, Bigger is ordered around by his mother to shut that thing off and turn on the light,
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revealing her power over Bigger which indicates his fear of the sex and emasculation (Wright 7).
The fate of Bigger seems doomed from the start for almost everything he has is stripped away
from him including his freedom, identity, and any options for improvement have been replaced
with the fear of doubt that he will ever accomplish anything meaningful in life. Bigger knows he
has the odds stacked against him, so why should he even try, and any innocent hope he once had
has been swapped with bitterness and hatred. Bigger throughout the novels first and second
section has two common phallic symbols, a gun and a knife, that denotes masculinity, and feels
Because Bigger conceals many of his emotions and opinions, as the work progresses, the
intensity of these suppressed sentiments that were buried deep inside of him finally snaps,
leading to Bigger no longer able control his rage and becomes progressively more violent until
all his hidden hatred surfaced for all to see and open the eyes of all the deliberate neglect to see
society as it is, and not what is falsely envisioned. Bigger and his gang of petty thieves,
especially Gus, repeatedly test each others courage, and the situation that arises between Gus
and Bigger when Bigger forces Gus to lick his knife is worth analyzing. After Bigger fears that
Gus has become aware of Biggers cowardice, Bigger immediately resorts to animalistic instincts
like fighting for dominance and pride, and after Bigger overtakes Gus, he demands that Gus
lick his phallic weapon symbolizes Biggers need to feel dominant over other black men, since
he feels inferior to almost everyone else that surrounds him (41). Even though Bigger attempts to
exert his masculinity and creates an imaginary world where he and his fellow black friends
pretend they are white, Bigger is described after the altercation with Gus as becoming pregnant
with another idea, which presents Bigger as possessing an ability that only women can do, and
immediately follows with Bigger cutting a circle and threatening to cut [his] belly button
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out, which evokes images of the maternal womb where Biggers thoughts originate (41). Bigger
perceives himself as emitting feminine traits and his hatred for the gender can be distinctly
throughout the novel; when examining this incident, it appears that Bigger is illustrating his
misogynic attitude toward women by desiring to destroy this adversary with his knife, or
symbolically, Biggers masculine self. Bigger is terrified that everyone will know that he is not
as tough as he projects himself to be, and the repeated reference to his suffering from bouts of
hysterical tensity, eludes to the common psychiatric diagnosis primarily given to women and
implies Biggers oppressed feminine traits that erupt violently due to his self-hatred of
possessing characteristics of a sex he deems inferior to himself and cannot accept his true
identity.
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Work Cited:
Wright, Richard. Native Son: The Original 1940 Text. New York: Perennial, 2003. Print.
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