Then he began to cut the green cloth on the table with long sweeping strokes of his arm. He never took his eye's from Doc's face" (42). As this quote shows, Bigger once again transfers and hides his fear into anger and violence. After leaving the billiards room he walks over to the Dalton's, where he's faced with another problem that causes him to act differently than he intends; authority figures.
Around his friends and other blacks, Bigger tries to act bold and tough when he's afraid, however when he's around authority figures, he acts completely opposite. When Bigger first encounters Mr. Dalton at his job interview, we see him for the first time act shy and confused. When Mr. Dalton asks him if he is Bigger Thomas he replies that he is, however Richard Wright describes his conformation showing his confusion on how to act and talk. ""Yessuh," he whispered; not speaking, really; but hearing his words issue involuntarily from his lips, as of a force of their own" (47). This gives an inside look at how Bigger feels around a white authority figure. He doesn't act like himself, being afraid of not acting as he thinks Mr. Dalton wants him to. As seen later on through his actions, his inability to act calm and like himself around authority figures builds up and immense amount of anger in him. Another time Bigger acts unlike himself around an authority figure is when he kills Mary Dalton. When Bigger is putting Mary to bed, Mrs. Dalton appears in the room and causes Bigger to do something he had not planned on. "Frantically, he caught a corner of the pillow and brought it to her lips. He had to stop her from mumbling, or he would be caught" (84). Here it's easily seen how scared of authority Bigger really is. Instead of getting caught in the room with her and the suspicions that would follow, he kills Mary to keep him from getting caught. This action shows the drastic change of personality seen in Bigger.