William James once said, "It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings." Through this quote, James shows his belief that even if placed in a bad environment, a person should overcome its effects. In Native Son, by Richard Wright, the protagonist Bigger Thomas, a 20 year-old black man living in a poverty stricken part of Chicago, is forced to cope with bad surroundings throughout his entire life. Bigger's relationships with other blacks, authority figures, and his family eventually leads to his downfall in the novel and cause him to do things he wouldn't normally do.
Bigger's friends Jack, G.H., and Gus cause Bigger to try and hide his fears and act differently several times in the novel. The way Bigger copes with his fears is by trying to blame them on others. Early on, Bigger and his friends discuss robbing Blum's store and Bigger has several fears concerning this dangerous job. He normally doesn't feel this way because they always have robbed other blacks, however this time they"ll be robbing a white man. When confronted with this fear, Bigger reacts with violence, and tries to hide his fear by blaming it on Gus. As Bigger, G.H., and Jack wait for Gus, Bigger begins to try and blame fear for Gus's being late. After G.H. defends him and Bigger tells him to shut up he says, "There you go again Bigger. Gus was just talking about how you act this morning. You get too nervous when something's coming off-(39). G.H.'s statement causes Bigger to come to the reality that maybe he does act that way when he's nervous or afraid. He then snaps and takes his anger out on Gus by continually threatening and kicking him. Doc laughs at the whole situation, which makes Bigger feel embarrassed and angry. In defiance of Doc, he once again tries to hide his fear. "He walked to the billiard table, his eyes on Doc.
