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Opposing views for social change

mpting to change others. Baldwin saw that it was impossible to the overcome hate with more hate. It was his own belief that his “…real life, was in danger, and not from anything other people might do but from the hatred that [he] carried in [his] own heart.” The choices are simple: either attempt to change the world or change the individual.In Native Son, Bigger is so lost in his own rage that it allows him to commit horrible crimes without remorse. It is not Richard Wright’s intention to create a hero in Bigger Thomas but a sympathetic character trapped by white society into committing his acts of violence. Wright wants the reader to understand that in a world of injustice it may take that same injustice to open people’s narrow minds. Bigger and the society that he lives in, allots him few options for progress. Like many in the “real” world, Bigger chooses to break through “white” structured choices with violence. He finds an empowerment like never experienced. Similar to the work of Flannery O’Connor, Bigger’s violence is used to shock the characters of the story, the heart of the reader, and ultimately society.To understand Wright’s message of proactive change in the African-American community, we can look at the creation of Bigger Thomas’ psyche. He is a black male with limited education partly by choice and partly by situation. But it is an irrefutable fact that Bigger would never be able to receive the same educational opportunities afforded to white society. In a conversation with his friend Gus, he says, “If you wasn’t black and if you had some money and if they’d let you go to that aviation school, you could fly a plane.” So Wright is clear in his statement that it was not lack of ambition that hold Bigger and more importantly black society behind. Bigger was being oppressed into living in project housing ironical...

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