th a pillow and accidentally smothers her to death. Unaware that Mary is dead, Mrs. Dalton prays and then leaves the room. Bigger tries to cover his crime by burning Mary's body in the Daltons' furnace. Then attempts to frame Jan for Mary's disappearance.A comment by Bigger's girlfriend, Bessie, gives him the idea to try to collect ransom money from the Daltons. He writes a ransom letter and signs it "Red," then talks Bessie into taking part in the whole plan. But, when Mary's bones are found in the furnace, Bigger and Bessie run away to an empty building. Bigger is scared that he is going to get caught because of Bessie, so he rapes her and then he beats her to death with a brick. Everyone is after Bigger to try to catch him and bring him to jail. He escapes the huge manhunt as long as he can, but he is eventually captured after a huge shoot-out. The press and the public decide his guilt and his punishment before his trial even begins. All the people just assume that Bigger raped Mary before killing her and burned her body to hide the evidence. The white authorities and mob use Bigger as an excuse to terrorize the entire South Side neighborhood.Jan is heartbroken over Mary's death, but he finally understands that he is partly guilty too. He realizes that he was wrong to expect Bigger to act differently to him than to any other white man. Jan also realizes that he violated all of the "rules" that apply to race relations. And the fact that he did that, angered and shamed Bigger. Jan gets his friend, Boris A. Max, to defend Bigger for free. He tries to save Bigger from the death penalty by arguing that what Bigger did was an affect of the environment he was in. Max warns the public that there will be more men like Bigger if America does not put an end to the huge cycle of hate and punishment. But, even after the trial, Bigger is sentenced to death....
