Free Native Son Essays: Actions Define Character :: Native Son Essays

Actions Define Character in Native Son   Richard Wrights novel, Native Son, consisted of various main and supporting characters to part with an effective array of personalities and expression.  Each characters actions defines their individual personalities and belief systems.  The main character of Native Son, bigger Thomas has a variety of personality traits motivated by his fear, quick temper, and tremendous intellect.   Bigger, whom the novel revolves around, portrays various personality elements through his actions.   Many of his actions suggest an overriding response to fear, which stems from his exposure to a harsh social mode in which a clear line between acceptable behavior for whites and blacks exists. His swift anger and his destructive impulses stem from that fear and becomes apparent in the scuttle scene when he fiercely attacks a huge rat. The same murderous impulse appears when his secret dread of the delicatessen robbery impels him to co mmit a barbaric assault on his friend Gus.  Bigger commits both of the brutal murders not in rage or anger, but as a reaction to fear.  His regular(prenominal) fear stems from  being caught in the act of doing something socially unacceptable and being the subject of punishment.  Although he later admits to Max that Mary Daltons behavior toward him made him nauseate her, it is not that hate which causes him to smother her to death, but a feeble attempt  to evade the detection of her mother.  The fear of being caught with a white woman overwhelmed his common land sense and dictated his actions.  When he attempted to murder Bessie, his motivation came from intense fear of the consequences of letting her live. Bigger realized that he could not take Bessie with him or leave her behind and concluded that killing her could provide her only merciful end.   The emotional forces that drive Bigger are conveyed by means other than his words. in addition reac tions to fear, his actions demonstrate an extremely quick temper and destructive impulse as an integral part of his nature.  Rage plays a key part in his grassroots nature, but does not directly motivate the murders he commits.  Rage does not affect Biggers intelligence and quick thinking and it becomes evident during the interview with Briton.  The detective makes Bigger so angry that the interrogation  becomes a game to Bigger, a game of logic and wills, of playing the stupid negro, and telling the man exactly what he wants to hear.