III -1 BIGGER'S THOMAS' HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
The story of Bigger Thomas reconstructs the social atmosphere
prevailing in the South after the emancipation of the Negroes. Their closeness
to the white world generated hostility, hatred, and violence between the two
races. Living in Chicago's South Side in the 1 930's, Bigger's every action is
predicated on his
obsessive fear of the white man. There was no real security for
him and he could meet his death at the white man's han~s any time.
Wright expresses an existentialist vision of the race relation in
America through the plot of Native Son.
Bigger Thomas, a nineteen-year-old Black, an immigrant from the
South is hired as chauffeur by the rich Mr Dalton. Mary, Mr Dalton's daughter
asks him to drive her to a rendez-vous with her forbidden boyfriend, Jan
Erlone, a white communist. During the evening, Mary and Jan are friendly toward
Bigger, thus proclaiming Bigger's racial equality., At the end of the party,
Mary is drunk and Bigger has to carry her to her room. The blind Mrs Dalton
enters to see if her daughter has retumed; but Bigger fearing that he will be
discovered pushes a pillow down over her face and smothers her inadvertently.
Then he makes an
attempt to cast suspicion on Jan Erlone by suggesting that
Communists have kidnapped Mary. He enlists the help of his girlfriend Bessie
but, fearing that she may give him away, he murders her. He is hunted, caught,
and condemned to
death.
As an object of contempt and brutality, anxious to survive in
a hostile white environment, Bigger is always afraid when dealing with the
oppressor. His fear is
first reported in his delaying the robbery at Blum's. Bigger
and his gang have planned to rob a Jew's store. But on the very day, Bigger
provokes a hysterical fight to prevent the gang from "doing the job" and to
cover his lack of courage and
fear. We can see then, how his own education has greatly
influenced his action. He was born in the environment where he had been taught
to fear the whites and to vow them obedience in order to avoid the risk of
punishment by lynching or death. Therefore, keeping this education in mind,
Bigger dreads the possible consequences that he and his companions might endure
if unexpectedly they got caught during the robbery. When they now corne to take
Blum's store as their next target the plan was not carried out straight away
because the boys came to the
knowledge that robbing Blum who is a white person "would be a
violation of ultimate taboo" .
"They had the feeling that the robbing of Blum's would be a
violation of ultimate taboo; it would be a trespassing into territory where the
full wrath of an alien world would be turned 100 se upon them." 1
Bigger's tragedy is that he lives in a society where he sees
other boys especially white boys going to movies, enjoying themselves in
amusement rooms
and buying anything they want. Therefore, he immediately feels
deprived since he has no means to afford them. Whitescan afford to do
everything they want because they are rich. Bigger himself observes:
"we live here and they live there, we Black and they
whites.'They
1 Richard Wright, Native Son p17-18
got things and we ain't. They do things and we can't. It just
like living in j ail. " 1
That affirmation reveals the segregated basis of the American
society. Bigger is jobless and he lives on relief. Therefore, he is so
conditioned by the racial situation that he cannot respond to individual whites
as separate persons but only as an abstract embodiment of white power. The
inadequacy of his education and his reform school precludes his ever being
capable of providing any satisfactory means of supporting himself and his
family. One must of course consider Bigger's
rejection of the offer of the Daltons to help him attend night
school and continue his education for even beyond that level. Earlier that day,
Bigger laments the fact that Blacks are not allowed to enter certain
professions. For him, it is symbolised by the airplanes he wishes to fly. The
young man refuses off ers of assistance to
complete his education for no matter his education, the
professions to which he might aspire are closed to him.
The life of Bigger Thomas is an unmitigated denial of his hopes.
He will not be more integrated in Northem society, he will hover in "No Man's
land" because
of the white society and its discriminatory laws. Therefore,
Bigger is to live a meaningless existence created out of fear and hatred. As a
matter of fact, Bigger is
tom between fear which is basically the fear of the whites and
hatred which is an
expression of his latent aggressive feeling. Bigger doesn't
really know what to do of his life.
"He wanted to run. Or listen to some swing music. Or laugh or
joke. Or read a real Detective
Story Magazine. (...). These were the rhythms ofhis life :
indifference and violence; period<s of abstract brooding and periods of
intense desire; moments of
IRichard Wright, Native Son, p.23
silence and moments of anger. (...). He is like a
strange plant blooming in the day and wilting at . h
,,1m
g 1...
Moreover, the physical reality of the ghettos also affects the
personality of Bigger Thomas. As a matter of fact, Bigger' s home is located in
the Black Belt, Chicago' s ghetto. The South Side of Chicago where Black people
are housed near the railroad is an area of devastated filthy slums. Like every
other urban ghetto, the Black Belt is characterised by abandoned, crumbling,
and overcrowded fiats. The opening scene in Native Son shows ~im, his
brother Buddy, sister Vera, and their mother sharing a one -room fiat. Their
dwelling lacks adequate space for privacy indicated by the fact that each
member of the family must keep his eyes averted
while others dress. This one room serves as kitchen, living room,
and bedroom. Their apartment is haunted by an enormous rat which symbolically
indicates the status of vermin they have been relegated to by society. Mrs
Thomas and Vera got hysterical at the rodent' s appearance; before Bigger and
his brother can kill it, it bites Bigger' s trousers' leg.
Bigger who is not unaware of~hat serious problem of
accommodation, says to one member of his gang in the street: "you get more heat
from sun than from their old radiators at home,,2The Negro knows that the
invisible walls of the ghetto hold him prisoner. The home of the ghetto lacks
comfort and therefore does not attract him; he feels more at ease in the
streets, yet landlords are always knocking
at his door for money. During the Great Depression, houses were
scarce and this worsened housing conditions for Blacks. Bigger
" .. .remembered that his mother had once
made him tramp the streets for two whole months
looking for' a place to live. . .And he
1 Richard Wright Native Son p.31 2 ibidem p.19
remembered the time when the police had corne and driven him
and his mother and his brother and sister out of a flat in a building which had
collapsed two days after they had moved out... He knew that Black people could
not go outside the Black Belt to rent a flat" 1
Those squalid surroundings affect Bigger in terms of
resentment, frustration, hostility, despair, apathy, self-depreciation, and
resignation. Bigger who is made to live in a rat-infested house knows quite
that others are not so dehumanised. The inaccessibility of the world he covets
adds to his despair. For example, Gus
looking wistfully at a plane advertising gasoline flying up in
the sky says : "Them white boys can fly". To this, Bigger replies: "They get a
chance to do everything". W e can see a Bigger accepting his conditions of
living in resignation.
White society hems Bigger in the hell of the Dalton basement
to maintain glowing, scaring, fury fumace. Mrs Dalton's whiteness haunts him.
Upon first seeing her, he notices that "her face and hair were completely
white; she seemed to him like a ghost". lndeed , the blind woman looks like a
white blur. During an interview with the wealthy family whose chauffeur he is
to be, he saw the luxury
of the world he has only known from outside. He is-ill at-ease,
clumsy, tense and bewildered; he is ashamed and seemed humiliated. When he is
questioned by Mr Dalton, we see a timid, diffident and ignorant Bigger who acts
in a "Jim Crow" way, answering "Yessuh; nosuh...". Bigger chooses this
appearance in order to sustain the whites prejudice conceming the Blacks' real
value commonly distorted with the image of a stupid and uncivilised man who
does not know much about the modem life :
"He had not raised his eyes to the level of the Dalton's face
once since he had been in the
1 Richard Wright, Native Son, p.233
house. He stood with his knees slightly bent, his lips partly
open, his shoulders stooped and his eyes held a look that went only to the
surface of things. There was an organic conviction in him this was the way the
white folk wanted him to be in their presence. None had ever told him that in
so many words, but their manners had made him feel they did. . . "l
Bigger is so afraid that he awkwardly sat on the very edge of
the chair at the Dalton's place. Besides, during the interview, his answers are
brief and contrived to match his assumed awkward gestures in order to prove
that he is definitively an idiot Negro:
"...Well, l'm Mr Dalton" "Yessuh" "Do
you think you'd like
driving a car? " "Oh
Yessuh" "Did you bring the paper? "
"Suh! " "Didn't
the relief give you a note
to me? " "Oh, Yessuh! ,,2
No one in the Dalton's house viewed Bigger as a human being;
he is invisible to them and is seen only as a stereotype. Mary Dalton is
generous and weIl meaning but her tactlessness illustrates how difficult it can
be for Bigger to go along with a member of the dominant class. When she wonders
aloud how Blacks
live, she wistfully reveals the enormous gap between the two
races.
"...You know, Bigger, l've long wanted to go into these
houses... and just see how your people live... 1 want to know those people.
Never. Never in my life have 1 been inside a
1 Richard Wright Native Son p.50 2 ibidem, p.49
Negro home. Yet they must live like we live. They're human" 1
Her constant use of "Y ou", "Y our", and "They" embarrasses
Bigger. Even when he is compelled to eat with Mary and Jan, he pretends to be
reluctant and
shy.
The long scene in the fumace-room is a vivid depiction of the
extent to which whites have become blind through their oppression of Bigger.
For instance, Britten, the private detective Mr Dalton has called on to deal
with the mystery of his daughter's disappearance, suspects Bigger though there
is no evidence yet of the latter's involvement in the affair. Bigger himself
knew that Britten was his enemy. When Mary's bones are finally discovered in
the fumace, Bigger is afraid
and runs away, making suspicion centre on himself. From
now on, he is doomed.
Moreover, Bigger's family is part of his hostile environment.
Parents' influence on children is basic in the shaping of their character;
sustained parental care and guidance have healthy impact on children and
therefore foster peace and. cohesion in society. Richard Wright's depiction of
the Thomases' family exemplifies its weakness as a stable family. Mrs Thomas
replaces the father here; she does her best to provide for her children and
bestows a great deal of affection on them. But the extremely bad living
conditions of the family affect the normal interrelation. Mrs Thomas snaps at
all her wrangling children, but her most bitter reproaches are addressed to
Bigger who is shiftless and troublesome. She thinks Bigger does not care about
the way they live. Bigger's mother is aware of the queer nature of her son but
cannot ,understand why he is so. The truth is that Bigger is subject to a
serious handicap: there is no father image upon which he can model
1 Richard Wright Native Son p.70
his behaviour. Such an absence, generates in him a feeling of
insecurity as a mIe and hinders the confidence he needs to face the problem of
life.
Bigger's position within the family is ambivalent: as a
teenager, he still needs the advice and the guidance of a father on the one
hand, and on the other hand he should be the one to provide for the needs of
his mother, brother, and
sister. Bigger has no job and obviously cannot support his
family materially : this is a serious blow to his ego and it adds to his anger.
Bigger Thomas is an unhappy boy, sick of his life at home. From the outset, his
uneasiness is expressed through the discussion he had with his family and
then,
"He shut their voices out of his mind. He hated his family
because he knew that they were suffering and that he was powerless to help them
. He knew the moment he allowed himself to feel to its fullness how they live ,
the shame and misery of their lives, he would be swept out of himself with fear
and despair. So he held toward them an attitude of iron reserve; he lived with
them, but behind a wall, a curtain. And toward himself, he was even more
exactly... ,,1
The reference to the cacophonous sound of the alarm dock in the
opening line of the novel seems to represent Bigger's meaningless existence we
have dealt
with here. But waking up, Bigger will "shut that thing off' and
create himself a new, meaningful existence.
1 Richard Wright Native Son p.1 3-14
111-2 BIGGER THOM AS'S EMANCIPATION
The transformation noticed in Bigger is brought about by the
murder he commits on Mary Dalton, a murder which has a tremendous psychological
impact on him. After the killing, instead of a previously impulsive and fearful
character, one sees a new Bigger momentarily emancipated. "Now that he had
killed Mary he felt a lessening of tension in his muscles; he had shed an
invisible burden he had long carried. ,,1
Up to then, Bigger Thomas has conceived of white people as
omnipotent, untouchable supermen who controlled his existence. Before the
accidental killing of Mary, the mere thought of exercising violence against
them generated so much fear in him that his will was paralysed. Bigger Thomas'
crime gives him the opportunity to recognise that his former deferential
attitudes cannot bring him an immediate solution. Mary's accidental killing
makes Bigger discover that he had smashed the gigantic white mountain that is
oppressing him : that realisation filled him with a new sense ofhis own
existence, ofhis own worth as a human being. He
is now free from the atavistic fear that has been instilled into
his person by the system.
The metamorphosis which takes place in him at this stage
resembles the change that occurs in man after he had made an existential
choice. Bigger is himself aware of his rebirth as a "free" man for he avows
that he can control himself after the murder. As his lawyer Boris Max declares,
Mary's murder has been a pre-existential act of creation for Bigger; before he
killed, Bigger's life was controlled by white people, after committing the
crime he thinks he will fashion his
existence on his own terms. The act of murder becomes a
regenerative force for
1 Richard Wright, Native Son, p.l09
Bigger; out ofMary's death cornes lif.e for Bigger : he has
murder and has created a new life for himself. Again Max offers the correct
explanation :
"It was the first full act of his life; it was the most
meaningful, exciting and stirring thing that had ever happened to him. He
accepted because it made him free, gave him the possibility of choice, of
action, the opportunity to act and to feel that his actions carried weight ,,
1
Another proof of Bigger gaining his self-control is the
attempt he makes to get a ransom out of the affair. Whereas previously, very
much aware of the penalty involved in venturing into the white man's world,
Bigger foils the plan to rob Mr Blum, he now becomes intrepid enough to attempt
to confuse people by mixing up the murder case with a ransom; aIl this
organised in the calculated manner of a
professional gangster.
Bigger uses violence as a means of proclaiming his freedom and
selfrealisation. AIso, he believes himself the equal of whites because he has
destroyed their most prized possession. After Mary's death, Bigger begins to
rationalise that he has destroyed symbolically aIl the oppressive forces that
have made his life miserable. He kills white oppression in the person of Mary
Dalton, the ideal product of the system. Earlier in his life, Bigger himself
knows he will use violent
impulses as means of springboard and a technique of survival:
"He knew that the moment he allowed his life meal).t to enter
fully into his consciousness, he will either kill himself or somebody else,
,2
1 Richard Wright, Native Son, p.335-36 2 ibidem., p.141
The second odious act of violence results in the death of
Bessie Mear who is Bigger Thomas' girl-friend. She is ~ object of sexual
release for Bigger. He so trusts her that he involves her in his schemes to
extort ten thousand dollars from
the Daltons. When the remains of Mary are discovered in the
fumace, Bigger tums again to Bessie. However, once she discovers that Bigger
had killed the girl, she becomes untrustworthy in terms of Bigger needs. Bigger
Thomas realises that she becomes a threat to him. Therefore, he kills her
horribly with a brick and feels a
vague sense of power afterward.
"And yet out of it aIl, over and above aIl that had happened,
impalpable but real, there remained to him a queer sense of'power. He had done
this. He had brought aIl this about. ln aIl of his life these
two murders were the most meaningful things that had ever happened to him. He
was living truly and deeply, no matter what others might think, looking at him
with their blind eyes. Never had he had the chance to live out the
conse.quences of his actions; never has his will been so free as in this night
and day of fear and murder and flight. " 1
ln Bessie has been killed Black submission
which helps to explain Bigger's feeling of elation. ln fact,
for Bigger.. Thomas, the two murders represent the most meaningful things that
had ever happened to him for they result from a long, brooding anguish against
the whites :
"He had killed twice, but in a true sense
it
was not the first time he had ever killed. He had killed many
times before, but only during
IRichard Wright, Native Son, p.224
~
the last two days had his impulses assumed the form of actual
killing ,, 1
Bigger Thomas' murder of Mary Dalton and Bessie Mear as acts of
self- assertion are also acts which set him free spiritually. More important,
he is proud
"
to have killed and to give a new meaning to his life. Therefore
he does not feel sorry for it :
"1 didn't want to kill! But what l killed
for, l am! What l killed for must've been good! It must have
been good! . . .I didn't know l was really alive in this world until l felt
things hard enough to kill for'em ,,2
Bigger Thomas thinks that his real destiny is within his grasp
and that it is his responsibility to shape his fate acçording to his own
will. Il As long as he could take his life into his own hands and dispose of it
as he pleased, as long as he could decide just when and where he would run to,
he need not be afraid. 11 3Yet this can
be possible only through his own actions and commitment. He has
to assert himself through his own deeds and he cannot escape the consequences
of his actions. Presumably what bestows freedom upon Bigger is a developing
awareness and a final willingness to face .the truth. "He could run away, he
could remain, he could even go down and confess what he had done. The mere
thought that these avenues of action were open to him made him feel free, that
his life was his, that he held his future in his hands. ,,4If is only when
I3igger feels that he is bom anew thanks to his actions, when he finds out that
he is now surviving that he cornes to understand
himself and the others. "Things were becoming clear; he would
know how to act
1 lRichard Wright, Native Son p.225 2,
ibidem p.391
3 ibidem, p.141
4 ibidem, p.179
from now on"lHe is moved with pity toward his family. His anger
against his friends Gus, G.H., and Jack is transformed into a wish for better
things for themo
At last his distrust of white people is replaced by respect and
love for Jan ErIone and Boris Max. More than ever, he cornes to the reflection
that "even these people
whose hatred had shaped his life were trying like himself to
reach something beyond their grasp". But more emphatically, Bigger's
achievement ofpersonal self-
assertion and freedom to survive in a 'white controlled society
is epitomised by this statement to Max:
" l'm aIl right, Mr Max. Just go and tell Ma l was aIl right
and not worry none, see? Tell her l was aIl right and wasn't crying none...
"l
To sum up according to the critic Brignanno Russel's statement,
Bigger Thomas' fteedom through murder has raised him from the darkness of his
life to
the realm of recognition ofhimself and of the worId which
surrounds him.
Violence gives him a sense of fteedom from oppression and power
in the, shaping of his destiny. Bigger Thomas is resorting to violence to mould
his personality with his psychological transformation. Indeed he refers to
violence as a means of proclaimingOhis freedom and self-realisation through the
murder of Mary Dalton. ln the process, he accomplishes the existentialist
doctrine. That man's
destiny is dependent on his own actions to ftee himself from the
shackles of this worId.
The white girl's death though accidental does not explain less
the violence so settled in the hero, for this Clescription reveals a character
without scruple, capable of aIl kinds of harm and ab surdity ° But Bigger
did go further, discovering the
1 full lRichard Wright, Native Son, p. 102-103
meaning of his act, his feeling and attitudes changed.
Moreover, he did not feel guilty after the fumace scene, he was only concemed
with the effective burning of the body so that the murder would not be
discovered. For no one in the world did he feel any fear now. The killing put
Bigger in a position of having to consider himself and his situation in a
completely new light. Like a man risen up weIl from a long illness, he felt
deep and wayward whims. He has now achieved heroic stature. He is proud for he
has reached an ultimate level of rebellion with the death
and cremation of Mary.
It seems that he finds fui filment only by the most violent
defiance of the society that oppresses him. As a cri minai feeling elation, he
achieves a rebirth which is in the measure of the meaninglessness of his former
existence. He mainly feels a new pride of having done "something big", unknown
to his blind environment. His crime was an anchor weighing him safely in time,
giving him a name; it added to him a certain confidence which bis gun and his
knife did not. It was a kind of eagemess he felt, a confidence, a fullness, a
freedom; his whole life was caught up in a supreme and meaningful act. His
attitudes throughout are determined by the heightened perceptions he enjoys as
a result of the murder. He took advantage of the blindness of the others,
fooling white folk during the inquest, and toying with the police. His real
achievement is his diversion of Britten's
attention from himself by acting like an ignorant Black. Thus
both press and police
jump to conclusions from the coined story told them by Bigger
whom they regard
as a stupid but honest Negro.
Bigger associates his' girl-friend Bessie Mear in the
collection of the supposed kidnapped girl's ransom and then in his nightly
escapes, knowing that he would get rid of her at the right time. Bigger's first
and second crimes have given
-
1 Richàrd Wright, Native Son, p.392
him the knowledge of himself and his true identity. As an act of
creation, these crimes raise mm from the level of obscurity to realm of
recognition. "Never had
his will been so free as this night or day of fear and murder
and flight". The point to make then is that Bigger is a human being whose world
had made him incapable of relating to others, except through violence and
crime. But did Bigger ever feel
any guilt or regret? He is prepared to die without the slightest
regret for kiUing twice. Only a queer sense of power remained in him.
"He had committed murder twice and had created a new world for
himself...In aU of his
life these twb murder were the most meaningful things
that had ever happened to him. He was living, truly and deeply." 1
Furthermore, Bigger's violence has been finaUy shown during
his capture by the police. Unwilling to surrender, in a position of
self-defence like the rat that bit back at the beginning of the novel, he
struck one of the policemen with his gun. He ev en shot many times to get rid
of those policemen who were trying to reach him
at the top of the roof. He was not afraid. They defeated him by
the means of a hoe, splashing him with water; weakened, he feU and was
captured.
Yet, Bigger owns something, which is left to him, it is his
newbom freedom which allows him to choose his course of action." Having been
thrown by an accidental murder in a position where he has sensed a possible
order and meaning in his relations with the people about him, he has accepted
the moral guilt and responsibility for that murder it had made him feel free
for the first time in his life,,2. He has thus chosen murder instead of other
reactions, since white oppression gives birth to a variety of attitudes. The
majority of the Blacks are submitted to the
1 Richard Wright, Native Son, p.225 2
ibidem, p.255
same suffering but they do not react the same way : some seek
consolation through religion, alcohol or dep~aved life and enjoyment; others
struggle for education and welfare and constitute the Black bourgeoisie. Very
few Negroes rebel openly,
except the Bigger Thomas type.
r-
At the end of the book, the last part of the story consists of
Bigger's sorrowful meditations which go from his capture to his execution.
After the lawyer'~ speech has failed to save him, and whites are waiting for
his impending
death on the electric chair, Bigger takes up the shield of
hate which is his destiny. Repossessed by hate, he ends by accepting what life
has made of him, a kiIler, a criminal. He rejects aIl kinds of compassion, and
finally accepts his doom. He remains on his uncompromising position by wholly
accepting his fate. What
Bigger leams as a result of fear made him able to go to the
electric chair declaring in existential terms that what he has done has had
value:
" It must've been good! When a man kiIls, it's for something. l
didn't know l was really alive in the
world until l felt things hard enough to kHI for'em. ,,1
It contrasts with the drama and the excitement of the preceding
scenes, and can be compared to the last part of The Stranger written by
Albert Camus. Indeed, there are some similarities in Bigger Thomas' and
Meursault's meditations and reactions. Each of them has committed a co Id
blooded murder and is condemned to death. These two characters are strange,
their behaviour, when about to die, is characterised by an acceptance of their
fate. They wait for death in a equanimous state; it is after aIl what they
deserve. Hope and despair are mixed in them; it is useless to seek protection,
comfort or salvation. They realise the meaninglessness
of life, its absurdity and corne to the conclusion that it is not
worth living.
1 Richard Wright, Native Son, p.391
Bigger's self-creation and emancipation goes along with his
rejection of religion.
111-3 BIGGERS THOMAS' REJECTION OF RELIGION
The economic, social, and political situation of Blacks
tremendously adds to their commitment to religion. Indeed, Negroes constitute a
separate race stunted, stripped and held captive in America, devoid of
political, social, economic and property rights. This state of poverty is made
up by a resort to religion.
Mrs Thomas invokes religion, to draw her consolation, her comfort
and a holy protection in order to face the squalid conditions of the family.
Thus, not only does she thank God for what she eats, but she uses quite a
religious symbol comparing life to a mountain railroad which a man must
endeavour to follow from the cradle to the grave. The white religion extremely
affects the mind of Bigger's mother to a point of obsession, in so far as she
lives entirely under the law of the Scripture to which she identifies herself.
Accordingly, despite his difficulties, man has to rely on God and try his best
to overcome these difficulties in order to guarantee his survival until his
death. Christian religion as far as its principles are concemed teaches man
submission a,nd humility. Generally speaking, completely "acculturated" by
whites, some Black people definitively make of it a means of survival. Their
life is thoroughly controlled by the religious regulations and rules. ln Church
they have been taught that their God of goodness can relieve them of their
burden. People who feel downtrodden, afflicted, and oppressed think that by
resorting to religion which promises honey and milk, they can get
solution to their
predicament. The religious beliefs provide consolation and
spiritual strength to bear one's social conditions.
Bigger's final hatred of religion is mostly inspired by his
social experience as a Negro in a white dominated society. ln this respect, the
bitter reality which occurs is when a captive Bigger is c,onfronted by a Ku
Klux Klan cross flaming atop a building behind an enraged and hostile mob. Yet
previously in the prison when he is waiting to be judged, he received the visit
of the Rev. Hammond who having delivered him a good sermon, gives him a cross
to wear, as a symbol of the
remembrance of Christ. Bigger believes in the possible Christian
salvation and he accepts the cross from the preacher in his cell but later
loses his faith and drives it away. Naturally when Bigger Thomas sees the Ku
Klux Klan cross, he ovemight think of the paradox between the symbolic offering
of salvation for all men and the hateful motivation behind the buming of the
cross of the Ku Klux Klan, this racial organisation whose main action is to,
terrorise Negroes and Whites on the side of
the Negroes.
During an interview between Bigger and his Marxist lawyer Max,
Bigger says that he no longer can attend services after he realises the"
singing, shouting, and praying of his Black skins did not get them nothing".
Bigger's observation is relevant with the Jim Crow law imposed on the Blacks,
which teaches them their place and prevents them from taking advantage of the
American modem achievements. That is why Bigger accuses his Black folk of
accepting to serve submissively a system which deprive~ them of everything and
which utterly shows and reinforces the supremacy of the Whites. Negro behaviour
as Bigger himself points out that white people want Blacks to be religious so
that they can do what they like with them.
Another important impact on religion lies on the emotional and
moral transformation it brings about. Life according to God's way teaches Black
people that they have to arrange their life in a honourable manner, having to
forget and forgive instead of sulking and attempting to avenge. Whenever Blacks
undergo violent acts from whites in the name of God they forget about. The
submissive attitude on the one hand pays them in terms of their avoidance of
white reprisaI and lynching and on the other it makes white people believe that
Blacks are weak
therefore to their crueIty and intimidation. Moreover, in the
desire to put the religious laws into practice Blacks are more likely to avoid
being involved in vicious achievements such as rape or robbery which are
considered horrible sins. The same belief is shared by Bigger's mother who
dreads God more than anything else making mm the core of his life. Mrs Thomas'
retreat into religion provides her with consolation, to put up with her
suffering and bring up her children in rightness and submission.
Instead Bigger joins in a combined force to fight religion in
order to allow himself to have his plac~ in the sun; He does not share his
mother's religion and seems to consider man's revoit :
"He hates hismother for that way of hers which was like
Bessie's. What his mother had was Bessie's whiskey, and Bessie's whiskey was
his mother's religion. He did not want to sit on a bench and sing, or lie in a
corner and sleep. It was when he read the newspapers or magazines, went to the
movies, or walked along the streets with crowds, that he felt what he wanted :
to merge himself with others and be a part of this world, to lose himself in it
so he could find himself, to be allowed a chance to live li~e others, even
though he was"l
1 Richard Wright, Native Son, p.226
This involves a genuine commitment and determination. Once more,
existentialism views man as set free from the daim of a God, Bigger also
perceives
man's position as such. When Bigger meets his death not in
despair but with a belief that he is at last to acquire a new freedom by
shaping his own destiny he one way or another reaffirms the existentialist
tenet that man's freedom is within his
. grasp. It is therefore unnecessary to place too much confidence
and trust in a God who helps only those who help themselves.
Religion, because of the happy life it promises, incites hope
and provides moral strength. Bigger's family believe in it and entirely rely on
it to give a meaning to their existence and to yeam for a better life after
their death. Bigger rejects religion thoroughly though he is aIl the same
psychologically influenced
through his social education. Religion which promises heaven
prevents man
from
organising himself in a concrete way in order to find solution to
his problems . provided that true happiness of man is the results of his own
actions. Mrs. Thomas,
Bigger's mother, finds solace in religion; Reverend Hammond's
influence on her is
. ~
indeniable. A devout woman, she believes that the fight for a
possible well-being and happiness on earth is useless; only happiness in Heaven
is her objective. Vera,
following in her mother's steps is already fearful of life and
has surrendered her freedom despite her young age.
. . ~-.
Bigger scoms religion and the Christian faith. He drives away
the priest who tries to persuade him to pray and believe in God. He is
aggressive in ignoring the humble Reverend Hammond. "And at once he was on
guard against the man. He shut his heart and tried to stifle aIl feeling. He
feared that the priest would make
him feel remorse. He waited to tell him to go... "lThe next scene
is also telling of Bigger's aggressivity:
1 Richard Wright, Native Son, p.262
"Yu gotta b'lieve tha' Ga~d gives etemallife th'u the love of
Jesus. Son, look at me ..." Bigger's black face rested in his hands and he did
not move. "Son, promise me yu'll stop hatin' long enuff fer Gawd's
lovet'come enter yo' heart" Bigger said nothing. "Won't yuh promise, son?
"Bigger covered his eyes with his hands. "Jus' say yuh'll try, son" Bigger felt
that if the preacher kept asking he would leap up and strike him. How could he
believe in that which he had killed? ,, 1
Bigger throws away the cross given him by the preacher; then
he throws a cup of hot coffee into the priest's face. For him, nothing matters;
yet he searches for the meaning of his living and dyin.g; he feels
isolated and longs to be part of the outside world. When he sneaks into his
flat to get his pistols to prepare for robbing Blum's delicatessen,
his mother is singing a hymn :
"Lord I want to be a Christian ln
my heart, in my heart,,2
But his mother's song is wholly ineffective in his world; it
does nothing to forestall his violence. Again, when Bigger is hiding in an
empty apartment, he hears singing from a small church.
" Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus...
Steal away, steal away, I ain't got to stay here... ,,3
lRichard Wright, Native Son p.265
2 ibidem, p.37
3 ibidem p.237-238
The mood of security and resignation that it induces in the
worshippers is not without appeal to Bigger, but he cannot accept the
surrender, the acquiescence
that religion represents.
"W ould it not have been better for him had he lived in that
world the music sang of? It would have been easy to have lived in it, for it
was his mother's world, humble, contrite, believing. It had a centre, a core,
an axis, a heart which he needed but could never have
unless he laid his head upon a pillow of humility and gave up
rus hope of living in the world. And he would never do that" 1
After his capture, Bigger tearsthe crucifix from his neck to
emphasises his denial of his mother's Christianity. He later rejects the cross
offered him by the
Rev. Hammond, the pastor of his mother's church, when the Ku Klux
Klan ignites its fiery cross not far from the Dalton residence. "1 don't want
it", "1 can die without a cross!", "1 ain't got no soul", "1 don't care", he
would curse when the policemen picked up the cross and brought it back.
A more militant kind of religion is represented by the Ku Klux
Klan's fiery cross on top of the building near the Dalton's home. The function
of Christianity is to hand an opiate to the Black masses and to lynch those who
will not be killed into oblivion of their conditions. After see'ing the flaming
cross, Bigger rejects violently the wooden crucifix, Reverend Hammond, and
later a Catholic priest. "1 don't want you! Take your Jesus and go!" he
shouted.
Instead of religious acquiescence, Bigger chooses rebellion as
his way of
life.
1 Richard Wright, Native Son p.238
The theme of rebellion is the central meaning of Native Son,
which the particulars of Wright craft -structure, characterisation, and
symbolism -are
designed to express. Bigger rebels against religion, against
his family, against his companions and black life in general, and against the
white society that oppresses him. The two most important specific. forms that
this rebellion takes are rape and murder, crimes which Bigger both is and is
not guilty of. ln his rebellion, anguish,
and isolation, Bigger is much as existential hero as Cross Damon,
the protagonist ofWright's next novel, The Outsider (1953).
5
3
CHAPTERIV
THE OUTSIDER
The Outsider is the first of four novels written by
Richard Wright after his exile in Paris. ln The Outsider Richard Wright
combines the basic tenets of e)(istentialism to present the picture of a
solitary individual willing to create the ideal man in the modem world. Cross
Damon is a thinking, a questioning man in the perplexing twentieth century.
Indeed, the topic is man against the world, absurd existence in a world of
chaos, chance or accident, and man's dread of his fate in that
world. Cross Damon is an existential hero who escapes from his
nightmarish life to exercise his freedom and to "shape for himself the kind of
life he felt he
wanted" .
A close examination of the main theme in The Outsider
leads us to present Cross Damon as a black intellectual caught in a web of
dreadful life made of a shrewish wife, a religious mother, a pregnant mistress
he does not love, and a
boring postal job which disgusts him. Then we will show how he
seizes a fortuitous subway accident to begin a new existence and create the
kind of life he
wanted. And last, we will consider Cross Damon disillusionment
with the
Communist Party: a diatribe againstCommunism and the Fascist
ideology is part of Cross Damon's existentialist adverÙure.
On the whole, we have centred our study of The outsider on
Cross Damon's life before and after his existentialchoice.
IV 1- CROSS DAMON'S DREADFUL LlFE
"Dread is an alien power which lays hold of
an individual, and yet one cannot tear oneself, nor has a
will to do so, for one fears what one des ires ,, 1
Cited by Richard Wright on page 1 of The Outsider. that
quotation from Kierkegaard establishes from the outset Cross Damon's life as a
dreadful one. It really sets up the absurd world Cross Damon is living before
his existential choice. As a matter of fact, the dread in Cross Damon's life is
shown through the first
section of the novel. A black postal worker living in Chicago,
he is a relatively young intellectual trapped in a dead-end, bleak existence.
He feels overwhelmed by tremendous burdens.
The first burden in Damon's Jife is his failed marriage. His wife
Gladys Damon is a shrewish woman who spends her time squeezing him for money.
She begins her day by physically and verbally abusing her husband. She
violently subdues Damon and does not assumes her role of housewife. Damon's
resentment
at being lurked into marriage has grown into a rage that he
frequently and violentlY vents on his wife. He forewams Gladys that her time
for this kind of behaviour is running out: "This is the last time you're going
to do this to me <2)
Another problem in Damon's life is his emotional mother. She
is too religious and pious and will be troubljng his son with guilt. Cross
Damon feels that she does not love him and, like his father, has rejected him.
He feels that she has
1 Epigraph to Section 1 of The Outsider by Richard
Wright
been especially cruel to him when she beat young Damon and failed
to give him food to eat. Bis unsuccessful relationship with his mother cornes
to a point of
hatred and biological bittemess. Bis mother's religion and
resulting fanatic behaviour are mixed with this. Dread and hatred has motivated
his flight from Chicago. Be then becomes morbidly curious about everybody's
attitude toward him.
The third burden in Cross Damon's life is his love affair with
his mistress Dorothy Powers. She is a fifteen year old and a good natured girl
who becomes Damon 's lover following his familial misfortunes. Yet, Dorothy
falls pregnant and threatens to accuse Damon of rape. As for the women Damon
has met and cared for in various degrees, he is always sadistic toward her and
he demands a kind of masochistic behaviour from her. After courting Dot and
thinking of marrying her, he sits down on a park bench and tells her he has
found the woman with whom he chooses to spend the rest of his life. But once
Dot becomes pregnant, he decides she is wrong for him.
The last but not the least burden in Damon's life is his tedious
job. Damon finds his postal work in Chicago as, boring and troublesome. Be and
his friend spend most of their leisure and work time together, chatting about
sex, racism; sports, the meaning of life and death, and their dreams about the
future. The work at the post office is killing him, but he is trapped by lack
of money and cannot
leave. Bis friends are rather naive men who can quickly convince
themselves that all is right and they have to blame only themselves for their
problems. But Cross Damon is aware of his familial problems and is also
conscious that he lives in a warped world that imposes its ambiguities and
contradictions on him. Cross
Damon is a Southem black man who, like many other Southem Blacks,
escapes his
~ 1 1 Richard Wright, The Outsider, p.I8
Southem roots in Mississippi to transplant himself into what is
perceived to be a more desirable environment for Blacks, Chicago. The lure is
not that Chicago was desegregated but there is at least the possibility of work
for Blacks. Damon is fortunate to be employed as a postal worker during the
Great Depression, when jobs are scarce for everyone. Nevertheless, Richard
Wright makes clear that
Damon and the other black postal workers suffer under extreme
conditions of discrimination in their work environment. Damon's job is as much
as part of the traps in which he finds himself as are his marriage, his mother,
his mistress. During his tedious day of work at post-office, Damon is subjected
to a shift of sorting mail under the scrutiny of white supervisors who go out
their way to inflict stress and
tension upon him.
Because of aIl these' tremendous burdens, Cross Damon feels
insulted at being alive, humiliated at the terms of existence. He feels the
kind of nausea prior
to any existential choice. Damon is an archetypal figure
symbolising vividly the dilemma of many people from an existential perspective.
It is in that sense Damon becomes a tragic figure, not because of who he is or
his failures in life but because he has met the destiny of so many people like
him.
The novel takes the reader on a joumey with Cross Damon as he
goes through the drudgery of his life.
IV 2- CROSS DAMON'S NEW EXISTENCE
Stifled by a shrewish wife he no longer loves, an emotional
mother he both loves and hates, a pregnant mistress, and a routine job Cross
Damon struggles to
create an independent and more authentic existence for
himself. His quest for a new existence passes through freedom and
rebellion .
A fortuitous subway accident in which he is believed to have been
killed provides him with the opportunity to escape his dreadfullife. When
authorities use the overcoat and identification papers he has left behind after
climbing from the train crash to identify another victim as him, Cross Damon
decides to abandon his job and his family. After assuming a number of aliases
he joumeys to New York. Yet, before he leaves Chicago, he murders a co-worker
to protect his secret.
ln New York city, Cross Damon struggles to create a new
identity. At first, he finds himself at the centre of the world of the laws
ofhis own feelings. But now, Damon believes strongly that "what man is perhaps
to much to be bom by a man." 1 It is important to remark that he usually thinks
in a stream of consciousness fashion (p.81-84). Cross Damon takes first the
name of Addison Jordan so that alienation is further prolonged in his lost
identity. He afterwards adopts the identity
of Lionel Lane, a de ad man, and becomes involves with the
communists Gilbert and Eva Blount. After meeting Damon alias Lionel Lane, the
communist couple invite him to share their apartment in Greenwich Village. As a
matter of fact, Gil Blount is a white Communist Party officiaI who wants to use
Damon in order to
incite the racist Langley Hemdon. Thé Blounts wish to
desegregate their apartinent building managed by the Fascist slumlord. His new
social contacts make him feel at ease and Damon accepts the challenge proposed
by the Blounts. The dreamlike state in which he has lived since his flight
Chicago leaves him.
After moving to Greenwich village, Cross Damon starts exploring
his new psychological freedom. He discovers and reads Eva Blount's diary from
which he
Il Richard Wright, The Outsider, p.l 04
learns Gil Blount has deceived her by marrying her not out of
love but because the Communist Party has ordered it. ln fact, she is an
abstract artist, she is married to Gil at the suggestion of the Party in order
to recruit her; she finds this out in Paris when on her honeymoon she and Gil
are in each other's arms; she wants to leave him, but the party had said no,
she rnust stay or they'll slander her. She stays and
. she is in that state of mind when she meets Cross. Alarmed over
this cynical violation of individual rights, Damon vows that the Party will not
destroy his freedom and humanity. That he has violated Eva's privacy never
enters his mind.
Later, Langley Herndon initiates a violent argument with Gil
Blount. When entering the room ostensibly to stop Blount and Herndon from
fighting, Cross Damon kills both men and arranges the eues so that it appears
they have killed
each other. Damon rationalises that, in destroying the
communist and the fascist, he is killing "gods" who would rob him of his
freedom. Only much later does he comprehend that in slaying them-: :
-exercising his complete freedom-he has
himself assumed the role of a god : "Oh, Christ their disease
had reached out and claimed him too. He had been subverted by the contagion of
the lawless; he had been defeated by that which he had sought to destroy" 1.
The double murder is investigated by the New York City
district attorney, the hunchback Ely Houston. But Cross Damon tries to hidden
evidences from him so that Ely Houston decides Blount and Herndon have killed
each other. Very
soon, Cross Damon and Eva Blount become loyers, following her
naive assumption that Damon is a powerless victim. ln attempt to protect her
from the monstrousness of himself, Damon keeps on lying to the woman. ln a
desperate
attempt to conceal his previous crimes, Damon kills a high
communist officiaI who has evidence which will convict him. Jack Hilton, one of
Gil Blount's subordinates
1 Richard Wright, The Outsider, p.197
in the Communist Party, is murdered by Cross Damon for fears
he will reveal his guilt. However, that final murder reignites the suspicions
of the Party, and another high ranking communist Bliming is chosen to examine
Damon.
That Damon has become a demon is further dramatised when district
attorney Ely Houston tells him his mother has died, possibly because of his
deeds,
and then ushers Damon's wife and three sons into the room.
Houston confronts Damon with the wife and children'and blame him for the sudden
death of his mother but is unable to make Damon react. Cross Damon acknowledges
no one and nothing. With no positive proof Houston Ely cannot arrest him.
Finally,
Damon decides to unburden himself to Eva, but she cannot bear the
truth and commits suicide by jumping out a window.
Cross Damon, alone, enters the streets of Harlem and hides in
theatres until
Communist Party members track him and shoot him down. Bleeding,
confuse d, only half comprehending what has happened to him, Damon is utterly
defeated. ln a
final scene reminiscent of Bigger Thomas's last scenes with his
lawyer, Boris A. Max, Damon explains in existential terms : "Don't think l'm so
odd and strange. .. I'm not...I'm legion...I've lived alone, but l'm
everywhere"l.He warns of a new era when men will stop deceiving themselves
about their murderous nature
and the meaninglessness of life. Dying, Damon is asked by Ely
Houston what he has found in life. He responds : "Nothing. . .Alone a man is
nothing" 1.
On the other hand, Cross Damon is a memorable character who
wants to create himself a new existence through rebellion. Damon is a
metaphysical rebel who casts aside almost all societal codes ofbehaviour like
Herman Melville's Ahab
and Fyodor Dostoïevski's Raskolnikov. Instead, Damon accepts
a Nietschean view
.,." 1 Richard Wright, The Outsider, p.280
".
of an amoral universe in which man is destined to become either
an executioner or a victim. The name Cross Damon is itself a mixture of the
Christian ethics of
suffering and of the demonism of Nietzsche. He refuses to
accept social norms in which he does not believe and expresses his dread. ln
fact, The Outsider is strongly influenced by Kierkegaard's Concept of
Dread. He becomes an ethical outlaw and intellectual rebel. Damon assumes a
new identity in New York and begins a life
marked by violence, he tums out to be an ethical cri minaI.
Metaphysical revoIt is a mov~ment through which a man rises
against his condition and the whole creation, and chooses to become a murder
(Dostoïevski)
or accept the evil (Nietzsche). Like Satan the first rebel,
Damon himself rebels against God. He is in total rebellion against aIl that
materialistic culture considered spiritually beneficial. Humility means
servility, and honesty means cheating, so you are aIl right if you can get away
with it. Truth is a relative matter no human being can afford. Cross Damon is
an outsider aIl his life. As a post worker living in Chicago, he feels himself
outside the pale of a loving, understanding, and
protecting family. He feels himself outside the accepted rules
of etiquette. We can see the protagonist struggling agajnst either a life
outside of the world, a confrontation with God or an existence made up of
dreams, rather nightmares. One
is reminded of Promethée claiming his hate of Zeus.
Wright derives his concept of the ethical criminal from
Dostoïevski's Brothers Karamazov. The ethical criminal is a symbol
for a wandering, lost, recycled man. Wright's ethical cri minaI is the marginal
man considered by society as a naught, a zero, a nothing. He is psychologically
akin to Dostoïevski's character, Ivan Kirilov, who has a cri minaI mind.
The existential dilemma of the marginal man who seeks, in a strea.m of
consciousness, to affirm himself as a
~-~
1 Richard Wright, The Outsider p.285
human being. Psychologically or philosophically, the ethical
criminal has deep implications for modem man. Damon is a human being of such
extreme situation
that he is outside the general order of so-called civilised
mankind. His personality has been so fractured by negative social forces that
he is only a whole and coherent person when he is re-creating this world. He
seems an air of liberty, of genuine
freedom to do as one wishes, to live in relative peace. He wants
to become the libertine, the free spirit, the free thinker, relaxed and
stimulated. Damon celebrates
the glory of violence, killing, and death.
Wright opens wide the door into Damon's inner self. He parades
before us an embarrassment of conflicts, complexes, and complicated cycles of
what we gradually recognise are Dostoïevskian depths in the criminal mind.
They underline and emphasise the theme of The Outsider -human guilt and
the problem of evil, and how they torment and tear apart the suffering human
heart. His personality was further broken by his sense of alienation. He grows
up hungry for knowledge,
freedom, and the recognition and acceptance ofhis personality.
But everywhere he tums he feels rejected by family and friends, by fellow
members of his class, by the Communists, the Church, the State and the
Fascists. He grows up with dread, despair, and distrust, with a sense of loss
and lack of compassiate understanding from those around him. He is a lonely
man, an outsider. He is basically a very unhappy man brooding and bitter, angry
and alienated, and aberrant too. His
refusaI of an that leads to the destruction of others and
himself.
It is useful to recall that the existential passages found in
the book are enhanced by the quotations put at the beginning of each section.
The second section of The Outsider, called Dreams, begins with
a quotation from the poem
"Brooklyn Bridge" by Hart crane:
"As silent as a mirror is believed
Realities plunge in silence by. . . "J
The third section, Descent, begins with a quotation from
Paul's letter to
Roman (Roman 7 : 15) :
"F or that which 1 do 1 allow not : for what 1 would, that 1 do
not ; but what 1 hate, that do l ,,2
That is obviously a key to the inner conflicts of Cross as he
wrestles with evil inside ofhimself.
The fourth section, Despair, begins with a quotation
from Shakespeare's
tragedy Macbeth:
"The wine of life is drawn; and the mere lees is left thus vault
to brag of,3
The fifth and final section, Decision, opens with an
ironie quotation from Nietzsche:
"...Man is the only being who makes promises,,4
Cross Damon is more representative of a type whose intelligence
made him grapple with the ethical and metaphysical problems of a society which
has lost the sense of the sacred and in which th~ collapsing of traditional
values meant that everything is permitted.
J Richard Wright The Outsider p.118 2
ibid., p.187
3ibid., p.237
4ibid., p.374
IV 3- CROSS DAMON'S DENIAL OF IDEOLOGY
The Outsider relates Cross Damon's life as a communist and
bis disillusionment with the Communist Party. Actually, a diatribe against
communism is part of Damon's existentialist adventure in the
novel. Cross Damon vows that the party will not destroy his freedom and
humanity.
The same reasoning has made Damon struggle against socialism.
For him, socialism is no more than a degenerated Christianism. It maintains
that belief in the finality of History betrays life and nature, substitutes
ideal to real ends, and contributes to enervate will and imagination. Cross
Damon denounces these values
and similar illusions. They lead to servitude and terror.
Damon joins the Communist Party because he believes in world
revolution, particularly as the correct solution for the Blacks who are the
only "downtrodden" of the American society. ln short, Damon has been won over
to communism because of the Party's position on racism and segregation. Indeed
the party seems
to struggle for all oppressed people or lumpenproletariat.
Moreover, Cross Damon previous commitment to communism corresponds to his
quest for help and
security, and constitutes a loophole to escape his predicament
and to grow intellectually.
But he leaves when he feels that the revolution is not
forthcoming. Black liberation is no longer in the forefront agenda of the
Communist Party, neither internationally in Russia and the Komintern, nor
locally in the United States. He reproaches to the Party, opportunism, recours
to all means, scorn for the individual. The Marxist politics has lost
confidence in itself because of hierarchy, obedience, myths, diplomacy, police,
etc. Damon believes that Trotsky and Lenin are the great
figures of the Russian Revolution, not the nationalist Stalin who
is really a party functionary and bureaucrat.
The Party wants Damon to fit his ideas into left-wing orthodoxy
and assimilate the communist dogma. But he cannot accept thought control,
political lines and disciplines, so he makes "heresy". He further protests that
the discipline of the party is too much for him, feeling that a man should be
free to behave as he pleases and not be ordered to do what the political party
wants to do. Besides, he feels that oneshould have complete autonomy over his
life. That is why, his revoIt is also nourished by the violation of Eva
Blount's rights; he identifies himself with Eva. He certainly expresses his
beliefs that the Communist Party do es not love him, and from the first time he
has been suspicious. Communists, Damon feels,
. have used and exploited certain questions to their own needs.
He feels bitterly too, that he has been used because of his naiveté,
because of his isolation, his desperation, and his ambition. Moreover,
communists are insensitive to the idea of
common humanity.
One point to recall is that Cross Damon has received his
education and a white woman from the communists. Damon grows to realise he can
retain the benefits of the education he receives in the ranks of the party
without continuing to associate with the impossible and obnoxious cornrades he
has grown to despise. Another. point Damon raises is the graduaI dissipation of
the role of intellectuals. The communists decry him as an intellectual
petty-bourgeois, a snob and a deviational social democrat.
Damon is almost prophetie with his premonition that the time
has corne to get out of the Communist Party. Communists have always said that
the day will corne when no one will dare admit his affiliation with the Party,
and aIthough the
time has not yet corne, Senator Joseph Mc Carthy's communist
witch hunt of the fifties is imminent. It is no longer to Damon's advantage or
good fortune as a man
to stay. They owe him nothing, and whatever he owes them he feels
he has paid. What he does stress is his own individualism, his maverick nature,
his desire to be
a loner and not a joiner, his alienation from everything and
everybody, the pattern of his life to break away from everyone-to stand
rootless and alone-- and his consistent determination to remainan outsider.
When he has taken the party discipline long enough and is no longer willing to
accept it, in spite of himself, he is inviting the face of Medusa with her
serpentine hair.
When his apostasy becomes known, he is shot death.
Cross Damon rejects anti-Semitism and imperialism as much as he
rejects racism. The holocausts suffered by Jews in Nazi Germany under Hitler is
an anathema repugnant to him. It is not acceptable by any decent human being.
Marxism, Fascism and other ideas. antithetical to the Christian faith are also
spurned and denied in The Outsider. ,Francesca Franco being the life
time ruler of
Spain, he has made the country a bastion of fascism supported
by the Vatican in Rome and Hitler in Nazi Germany. As a matter of fact, during
the brief days of the Republic in Spain, the Catholic Church lost its power and
its property; when Franco assumed power, he restored the Church to its power
and gave back its
property .Damon vents his wrath on the Roman Catholic Church
and its influence in that country. Damon condemns Spain for its fascism. He is
implying that a fascist country is automaticaIly decadent and filthy in its
morals. Cross spurns and rejects aIl ideologies and organised religions.
Existentialist Damon believes Marx's dictum that religion is the opiate for
people.
j
ln the whole, his break with the Communist Party and other
ideologies is typical of his breaks with his family and friends throughout his
life and consistent with his continuing alienation. Why should he treat the
Communist Party any better than he has treated his own mother aIl his family.
He has corne a long way,
but he will go further ifhe can cast off the unwanted luggage
ofideology, and gain a status as more than a marginal man. That is what Cross
Damon has done.
Long and complex, The Outsider is Richard Wright first
consciously existentialist novel which does not emphasises racial matter. "The
first time l've really tried to step beyond the straight black-white stuff', he
said. Cross Damon is more representative of a type whose intelligence made him
grapple with the ethical and metaphysical problems of a society which had lost
the sense of the sacred and in which the collapsing of values means that
everything is permitted. Actually, Cross Damon is a thinking and a questioning
man in the perplexing twentieth century .
PART THREE
CHAPTER V
A CRITICAL STUDY OF WRIGHT'S HEROES
The dominant characteristics of Richard Wright's heroes are crime
and violence provoked by revoIt. Both Native Son and The Outsider
portray a man in a violent revoit against a hostile environment. As alien
in their homeland, the heroes are crude, resentful, depressed, unstable and
devoid of real kindness. Their actions are repugnant and despicable. Their
suppressed feelings and emotions have been bluntly exposed.
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