er’s most important virtue is his intelligence. He does not let the white folk know how smart he really is. He disguises his intelligence with short, simple answers such as “Yessuh,” or “Naw.” He lives in a world within himself. He struggles with himself and his inner feelings every single day but lets nobody know. The authorities think he is a “dumb Negro” and that he is not capable of committing such a horrible crime all by himself. “How could a black man think of such a complex crime?” is the question burning on all of their minds. Bigger doesn’t let anyone inside of him; he keeps everyone at arms length so they can’t know how intelligent he really is. If they cannot know how intelligent he is, then they cannot know how fearful he is of them, how much anger he has towards them, or the reasons for his killing either. Bigger’s intelligence leads him to believe that he is the only one in the entire world that is not blind. He understands himself, so he thinks he understands everything. He realizes though, that he IS blind. He realizes that in order for people to understand him and for him to feel in control of his life he must admit his guilt. But if he blames racism entirely for his crimes, then he would be admitting that racism controlled him totally right from the start. Bigger is smart enough to be open minded and let in white people, and yet still be close minded and lock everyone, except Max, out of his mind and heart.3. (D) The main conflict in Native Son by Richard Wright is character vs. society. He resents, hates, and fears the whites who make the confines of his life so narrow. They tell him what to do, where he can live, and where he can work. If there had been no racism directed towards him, he wouldn’t have been so angry and alone. He would never have killed. He was deprived of the means to live a decent life, and became a tim...
