and feelings. When they see Bigger, they see black (Margolies Study 84). Wright portrays Bigger as a coward who gets his security from harming others, even his own friends. This trait makes Bigger unlovable. “He is not simply weak, he is an outright coward. He is a sullen bully” (Margolies Study 72). Though his actions are violent, he reacts to circumstances out of fear of the consequences. “Bigger’s choices are moral and metaphysical -- not political or racial. He might have chosen love or submission, instead he elected violence and death as a sign of his being...”(Margolies Art 2-3). “Slowly, Gus Stood. Bigger held the open blade an inch from Gus’s lips. ‘Lick it,’ Bigger said, his body tingling with elation. Gus’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Lick it, I said! You think I’m playing? “(Wright Native 40-41). Wright also uses Bigger’s destructive behavior to make him unlovable. Bigger takes what he wants at the expense of others. Anyone opposing him has to fight. “Never was he happier than when he had someone cornered and at his mercy; it seemed the deepest meaning of his squalid life was at such times” (Wright Bigger 1X). This type of behavior has destructive effects on Bigger: “...he always oscillated between moods of intense elation and depression” (Wright Bigger X). Wright’s protagonist is purposefully not an educated or sophisticated man. He creates a character that mirrors the preconceived image of Blacks in the era that he was writing (Discovering 2-3). The monster in Native Son reflects the indifferent, impersonal, and industrialized society that existed in Wright’s day.. The similarities between Bigger and people today, white and black, are shocking. “It is not that Bigger Thomas is so different from us’ it is that he is so much like us” (Margolies Art 4). ...
