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Bigger Thomas and Personal Freedom

It was this institution which prevented Bigger Thomas from having a sense of identity or acquire individualism. .
             One of the impacts society had on Bigger Thomas was that it characterized him and all his African American brethren into one group. This group was viewed by society as horrible and even subhuman. It was these same views that caused whites to suppress the black population and permanently keep them under white control. However, the reason for this belief arose from fear. Because white society would only see him as a faceless member of the black population, this same fear ultimately produced a Bigger Thomas with little ability to develop his own identity. It was then that Bigger realized the advantage of his violent acts. Bigger comments to this effect, saying "I didn't want to kill! But what I killed for I am." (429). Bigger found a sense of freedom and identity in his acts of violence and it was through them that he forced the white race to take notice and recognize him as an individual. Because white society refused to take notice of him, Bigger felt like he was forced to kill in order to gain the recognition and feeling of individualism white society egotistically possessed. .
             Another impact that society had on Bigger and his fellow African Americans was that it caused them to live with fear. Because African Americans knew they were subject of their own circumstance and that white society constructed and maintained that unjust circumstance, the black population feared the white race. This understanding kept blacks like Bigger Thomas subdued and afraid to do such things as rob a white person's store. It is this fear that blocked the growth of Bigger's individual identity. White society attempted to suppress Bigger Thomas and anyone like him. Throughout his book, Wright depicts religion as something Digger views as suppression against African Americans. This fear is reflected when bigger comments about a Christian cross, saying that the cross "was not the cross of Christ but the cross of the Ku Klux Klan" (338).


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