Well I guess to just expand upon what we discussed in class the contrast in Buckley's speech and Max's illustrates the fact that Max is really appealing to reason and he is the struggling to explain to people something they are so unwilling to accept. Buckley is overconfident and appeals to emotion to try and sway people to agree with him. I definetly wanted to punch Buckley while reading this, though I also wouldn't have minded slapping Max in the face and saying synthesize. But regardless ....
This whole book is just tension. There is some sort of tension between all of the characters, whether it be racially, sexually, or fear driven, it's everywhere. This really draws the reader into the story because Wright makes it easy for the reader to feel the tension themselves.
So what else did people think about Native Son? Anyone remember anything specific we were supposed to address haha?
I feel bad for Bigger's mom and brother. His sister too, but mostly his mom and brother. What do you think?
I think we were supposed to blog some more of our thoughts about tension in the novel. When I think about the word tension, I always think about a taught rope snapping. And when I think about that, I think about Mary getting her head ripped off. When Bigger lives a normal life, he is oppressed, tied down. When Bigger chops off Mary’s head, he is committing himself to his deed; he is going past the point where he can try to plead that it was an accident. It is also important to note that he does not cut her head off cleanly. He uses a blunt axe to gnaw away at her neck, and like a fraying rope, it decays slowly, but once it breaks, all tension is released. Bigger is suddenly living in a world without rules.
So I think the whole foundation of this book is a figurative tension. Max describes it in his speech, and Bigger alludes to it a few times throughout the novel (I have page numbers, but I have the ghetto book that no one else seems to have..).
This tension is the tension between whites and blacks. In such a white dominated society, blacks feel as though, to paraphrase Max, whites are telling them to "stay there!" when life is not supposed to be stationary. That tension is almost invisible... where you find yourself being pushed down or out but don't know why or how to stop it... that's the novel's foundation. Bigger has never truly lived, which is the real tragedy of Native Son.
I also thought we were supposed to write about tension and sources of tension in the novel. We decided to break that question into three parts, tension as it exists literally and figuratively and the ways that Wright creates tension. Literally, tension exists because of the oppresive nature of white society over the African American society. When Bigger kills Mary Dalton, the sexual and interracial overtones of the murder add to the inflammed response and the full-scale manhunt that ensues.
Figuratively, expressions of this tension exist throughout the novel. The way that Mary and Jan treat Bigger upon their first meeting really serves to exentuate that tension. Mr. Dalton's false philanthropy also emphasizes the racial tension. Although he charges Black citizens of Chicago more for inferior housing in a confined district of the city, he turns around and gives a portion of that money back to the people from whom he essentially stole it in the first place. Wright uses the setting of the novel as a manifestation of that tension as well. When the novel begins, the weather is cold, but it is such that the sun is enough to warm Bigger and Gus. After only a couple of days, Bigger attempts to escape the massive manhunt in the midst of a giant blizzard. The blur of white snow emphasizes the oppression of white society. Bigger's feeble and frantic attempts to escape the search party in those last moments mirror the attempts of the black rat Bigger kills in the opening scene. The way the novel is written as a whole, and its structure and syntax, all help to define the harsh conditions of Bigger's existence and contribute to Wright's creation of tension.
okay so i think that there is a lot of tension in Native Son Through the portrayal of Bigger's hatred and discomfort around whites and Bigger's violent murder of Mary Dalton, Wright shows that segregation and oppression will only foster the tension between whites and blacks and will ultimately end in violence. So there is racial tension. There is all sexual tension present in the novel...I think a good scene is the "rape" scene of Mary Dalton. There was also a lot of tension present in the scene when Bigger went to the Dalton's for the first time...he was unsure of whether or not to use the front door and the conversation between him and the Daltons was really tense because of the different cultures.
I think that there are two types of tension that are predominantly noticeable in Native Son. The first form of tension is class tension. From the second that Bigger steps on to the Dalton property, he feels extremely uncomfortable. This discomfort leads to a great deal of tension between Bigger and the Dalton’s, although Bigger feels it more than the Dalton’s do. Bigger’s lack of conversation with the Dalton’s due to their higher status causes some tension that is very noticeable. The problem is that the Dalton’s do not try to do anything to break the tension. They keep acting in the manner of the upper-class, which continues to make Bigger uncomfortable. However, this class tension is broken as soon as Bigger escapes from his life in the Dalton house. I really like the way that Tommy describes the ending of the tension and I agree that the cutting off of Mary’s head is extremely symbolic of cutting the class tension. The other tension that is fairly noticeable is the obvious racial tension. This tension is displayed in two forms. I think the more unusual of these two forms is the tension between Bigger and Jan and Mary. Typically, racial tensions are those of hate between the two races. However, Mary and Jan make their time with Bigger tense and uncomfortable because they are trying to be friendly to him and make him feel equal. However, Bigger is not used to this sort of treatment and I think that this is what makes him very uncomfortable, which makes the scene very tense. However, no novel would be complete without the stereotypical racist white man to make situations tense. This comes in the form of many white individuals in the novel, particularly Buckley. I think that Buckley definitely creates the most tension because he says all of the terrible racist things such as, “crushing the head of the black lizard,” straight to Bigger’s face. I think that Bigger’s general discomfort around white people creates a great deal of tension. However, I think that Buckley takes racial tension to a whole new level.
Tension is defined as "a strained state or condition resulting from forces acting in opposition to each other." This essentially defines Bigger. He is strained by the forces of the whites and blacks acting in opposition to the point where he simply snaps. There is an incredible amount of tension in the novel. The first scene that comes to mind when I think of tension is the scene where Jan and Mary go to dinner with Bigger and get drunk. I felt Bigger's discomfort when I read this scene; Wright does a great job of making the reader experience the tension himself.
We never really talked about Bigger's name. I guess it's a bit up for interpretation as Wright leaves it. Clearly, it can't mean bigger in the sense that he is acting in a "big" or "great" manner because he rapes and kills two women within a day. I guess it means that he is trying to be bigger than the stereotype that the whites feel about the blacks; he tries to live in the white world, but is simply rejected.
I think an important scene that hasn't really been talked about is when the inspectors discover Mary's body in the ashes of the fire. I think the "furnace" concept is really symbolic: just like the smoke gradually built up in the furnace and eventually erupted, choking the whole room, Bigger had filled with fear and anger and eventually snapped. In the book, it's clear that the whites are always putting more coal in Bigger's metaphorical furnace to the point where he can't hold any more and he has to "let off steam."
Another thing I was thinking about is the question of Bigger's martyrism. The fact that he dies could bring up the interpretation that he is in fact a marytr. I don't know, I just feel weird about this thought. If Wright wanted to advocate racial equality, wouldn't he have written about a noble black man, not a savage murderer? Yes, he demonstrates that Bigger's actions were a result of his environment, but still, Bigger's life is pretty miserable.
Also, I feel like there is much irony in the racism that Wright depicts. The stereotype is that blacks were stupid, servile beings. However, Bigger is not stupid; in fact, he is smart enough to know to act stupid in order to trick the whites while they question him about the murder. There is also an element of reverse racism, or at least the portrayal of whites as evil. As we discussed, all the bad events occur when it's snowing. In fact, when Bigger goes to the Dalton's to be questioned by the inspectors, there was so much snow that "he couldn't see ten feet in front of him." I feel like the whites are always presented as some supernatural force (as Mrs. Dalton is compared to a ghost or a white blob) that evilly oppresses the blacks.
To further the discussion of colors, the color red is also important in Native Son. Not only is it the color of blood, but it represents Communism. I find it ironic that Jan, who sincerely wants to help Bigger, ends up being hated by not only Bigger, but the whites as well. I don't know what Wright's opinion of Communism was, but he certainly portrays the party as outcasts who have a noble cause but are hated nonetheless.
Another important concept in the novel is that of "the line," which points out the complete separation of worlds between the whites and the blacks in Chicago. This appears when Bigger confesses to Gus "Goddammit, look! We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things and we ain't. They do things and we can't. It's just like living in jail. Half the time I feel like I'm on the outside of the world peeping in through a knot-hole in the fence." This powerful quote epitomizes the complete separation of the two races, both figuratively and literally. This "line" also appears later in the novel, when Bigger is fleeing Chicago. "He came to a chain grocery store. Bread sold here for five cents a loaf but across the 'line' where white folks lived, it sold for four. And now, of all times, he could not cross that 'line.'"
This past quote brings up another interesting aspect of the novel, especially from a Marxist point of view. The grocery store example and the practices of Mr. Dalton's apartment buildings show that the whites used their economic power to oppress the blacks, keeping them dependent to the point where revolting was not an option.
I think Bigger's pre-court experience is also kind of important. When Bigger was arrested, "four policemen came and stood above him." Does this symbolize the four horsemen, representing death/apocalypse? Then he enters an elevator ("The doors closed and he dropped down"), as if he were going to the underworld. His courtroom literally passes a judgement ("Judgement Day"). His trial clearly has so much religious imagery; I feel that this is interesting because Bigger is anything but a holy character.
Finally, it is important to understand the importance of this novel today. The book opens with a "Briiiiiing," symbolizing a wakeup call to the world, black and white alike. Although blacks had "equal" rights at the time the book was written, the American public clearly needed/needs an eye-opener to see the real truth about racism in our country. Perhaps we should be more conscious of how we treat each other, or more people will end up like Bigger.
So, I haven't been able to read all of the blogs so far, but I'm going to assume that tenseness was found. Personally, however, I think that the novel focused more on the idea of frustration as opposed to tension. Yes, it is true that tension plays a major role in Native Son. But, the underlying reason behind the characters actions, Max's long, drawn-out speeches, Bigger's encounter with the rat, Mary, and Bessie, was out of frustration. Frustration toward a society that they did not feel they could connect to. Because frustration is so prominent in the novel, tension inevitably follows and builds. Thus, the plot moves forward.
Tension is expressed throughout the novel. From the opening scene when Bigger kills the rat, Wright describes the Bigger's actions as very tense. The image of Bigger being stretch and put into very difficult situations comes up a lot in the novel. The biggest cause of tension in the novel is the relationship between blacks and whites in american society. This tension manifests itself in Bigger's extreme actions, especially when he kills and decapitates Mary Dalton.
The imagery of the cold snow and the terrible apartment also add to the level of tension in the book. Mr. Dalton's relationship with the black community as an oppressor who clears his conscience with small donations to the black community also adds to the level of tension.
Tension in the novel obviously builds up when we don't know what Bigger will do next. The first major tension I received when reading the book was when he was left alone with Mary in the car. Mary is very drunk in the scene and I think we all received some sort of feeling that the novel is going to be address rape. From then instant, I was forced to concentrate, despearte and a little frightened to discover what happens next.
I think that it was tension is. We feel it when we fearful of and anxious to discover the consequent event.
Tension between Mary and Bigger clearly shows the literal tension betweent the races. But, Bigger seems to have tense realtions with everyone. He is cold to his mother, sister, Bessie, the Dalton's, and even his friends. Bigger is stressed before meeting the Dalton's and questions whether or not he should take the job. He is tense after Mary's death and does not know what to do with her body. He is tense all they way through the novel to the very end when he is waiting to know if he has received the death penalty or not. There is also sexual tension between Mary and Bigger in the scene when he carries her up to her room and puts her on the bed.
Seeing as most of the tension in this book was racial tension, I felt it the most when Bigger was interacting with the white world. I felt there was a lot of tension in scene when he goes out to dinner with Jan and Mary. Although they are reaching out to him he feels awkward and uncomfortable and there is a total lack of communication. While they attempt to understand him, they can't comprehend how uncomfortable he is in the situation they force him to be in.
I also agree with Glen: there is a lot of class tension, which mixes with racial tension as one generally stems from the other. As Bigger is black he has fewer opportunities for a well-paying job, and therefore feels uncomfortable when introduced into the Dalton household, as their lifestyle is significantly different from his. Bigger is looked down upon by those who are better off than he, but race, something he cannot control, determined his social position. A lot of the tension in Native Son is created by situations where Bigger reacts to circumstances he has no control over.
I agree with everyone about the tension in the book. But I think that we should also look at its purpose. Why does Wright focus on it so much? Obviously, he wants to make social commentary on class and racial tension through the literal and figurative tension, but why does he go out of his way to employ literary devices to illustrate it? I think that part of its purpose might be to foreshadow. For example, Jenny said that the first time she experienced tension in the book is when Bigger and Mary are alone in the car; the tension foreshadows that something is going to happen. I also think that the tension caused by Mary and Bessie's deaths foreshadow Bigger's death. Even though his crimes all originated from one big misunderstanding, it was almost like he had to die at the end. He killed the two of them, because neither was his reality (one is primal, the other romantic/idealized). And I think that the tension caused by Bigger's inability to connect with any other characters foreshadows his death.
Ahh I just remembered we had to blog! I hope this isn't too late!
So I think an important element of tension in the novel is that between Gus and Bigger. In the beginning of the novel, they appear to be best friends, sharing dreams with each other, but quickly, in the bar scene, tension emerges. Literally, Bigger punches Gus and Wright describes the tension of his muscles and between all of the friends in that scene. But also, there is a figurative tension because of Bigger's fear of robbing a white man, Blum. All of the boys know of this fear, but it is difficult for any of them to actually express because it would be addressing the racial prejudices.
14 comments:
So how about that Native Son haha.
Well I guess to just expand upon what we discussed in class the contrast in Buckley's speech and Max's illustrates the fact that Max is really appealing to reason and he is the struggling to explain to people something they are so unwilling to accept. Buckley is overconfident and appeals to emotion to try and sway people to agree with him. I definetly wanted to punch Buckley while reading this, though I also wouldn't have minded slapping Max in the face and saying synthesize. But regardless ....
This whole book is just tension. There is some sort of tension between all of the characters, whether it be racially, sexually, or fear driven, it's everywhere. This really draws the reader into the story because Wright makes it easy for the reader to feel the tension themselves.
So what else did people think about Native Son? Anyone remember anything specific we were supposed to address haha?
I feel bad for Bigger's mom and brother. His sister too, but mostly his mom and brother. What do you think?
I think we were supposed to blog some more of our thoughts about tension in the novel. When I think about the word tension, I always think about a taught rope snapping. And when I think about that, I think about Mary getting her head ripped off. When Bigger lives a normal life, he is oppressed, tied down. When Bigger chops off Mary’s head, he is committing himself to his deed; he is going past the point where he can try to plead that it was an accident. It is also important to note that he does not cut her head off cleanly. He uses a blunt axe to gnaw away at her neck, and like a fraying rope, it decays slowly, but once it breaks, all tension is released. Bigger is suddenly living in a world without rules.
So I think the whole foundation of this book is a figurative tension. Max describes it in his speech, and Bigger alludes to it a few times throughout the novel (I have page numbers, but I have the ghetto book that no one else seems to have..).
This tension is the tension between whites and blacks. In such a white dominated society, blacks feel as though, to paraphrase Max, whites are telling them to "stay there!" when life is not supposed to be stationary. That tension is almost invisible... where you find yourself being pushed down or out but don't know why or how to stop it... that's the novel's foundation. Bigger has never truly lived, which is the real tragedy of Native Son.
I also thought we were supposed to write about tension and sources of tension in the novel. We decided to break that question into three parts, tension as it exists literally and figuratively and the ways that Wright creates tension. Literally, tension exists because of the oppresive nature of white society over the African American society. When Bigger kills Mary Dalton, the sexual and interracial overtones of the murder add to the inflammed response and the full-scale manhunt that ensues.
Figuratively, expressions of this tension exist throughout the novel. The way that Mary and Jan treat Bigger upon their first meeting really serves to exentuate that tension. Mr. Dalton's false philanthropy also emphasizes the racial tension. Although he charges Black citizens of Chicago more for inferior housing in a confined district of the city, he turns around and gives a portion of that money back to the people from whom he essentially stole it in the first place. Wright uses the setting of the novel as a manifestation of that tension as well. When the novel begins, the weather is cold, but it is such that the sun is enough to warm Bigger and Gus. After only a couple of days, Bigger attempts to escape the massive manhunt in the midst of a giant blizzard. The blur of white snow emphasizes the oppression of white society. Bigger's feeble and frantic attempts to escape the search party in those last moments mirror the attempts of the black rat Bigger kills in the opening scene. The way the novel is written as a whole, and its structure and syntax, all help to define the harsh conditions of Bigger's existence and contribute to Wright's creation of tension.
okay so i think that there is a lot of tension in Native Son
Through the portrayal of Bigger's hatred and discomfort around whites and Bigger's violent murder of Mary Dalton, Wright shows that segregation and oppression will only foster the tension between whites and blacks and will ultimately end in violence.
So there is racial tension.
There is all sexual tension present in the novel...I think a good scene is the "rape" scene of Mary Dalton.
There was also a lot of tension present in the scene when Bigger went to the Dalton's for the first time...he was unsure of whether or not to use the front door and the conversation between him and the Daltons was really tense because of the different cultures.
I think that there are two types of tension that are predominantly noticeable in Native Son. The first form of tension is class tension. From the second that Bigger steps on to the Dalton property, he feels extremely uncomfortable. This discomfort leads to a great deal of tension between Bigger and the Dalton’s, although Bigger feels it more than the Dalton’s do. Bigger’s lack of conversation with the Dalton’s due to their higher status causes some tension that is very noticeable. The problem is that the Dalton’s do not try to do anything to break the tension. They keep acting in the manner of the upper-class, which continues to make Bigger uncomfortable. However, this class tension is broken as soon as Bigger escapes from his life in the Dalton house. I really like the way that Tommy describes the ending of the tension and I agree that the cutting off of Mary’s head is extremely symbolic of cutting the class tension.
The other tension that is fairly noticeable is the obvious racial tension. This tension is displayed in two forms. I think the more unusual of these two forms is the tension between Bigger and Jan and Mary. Typically, racial tensions are those of hate between the two races. However, Mary and Jan make their time with Bigger tense and uncomfortable because they are trying to be friendly to him and make him feel equal. However, Bigger is not used to this sort of treatment and I think that this is what makes him very uncomfortable, which makes the scene very tense. However, no novel would be complete without the stereotypical racist white man to make situations tense. This comes in the form of many white individuals in the novel, particularly Buckley. I think that Buckley definitely creates the most tension because he says all of the terrible racist things such as, “crushing the head of the black lizard,” straight to Bigger’s face. I think that Bigger’s general discomfort around white people creates a great deal of tension. However, I think that Buckley takes racial tension to a whole new level.
Tension is defined as "a strained state or condition resulting from forces acting in opposition to each other." This essentially defines Bigger. He is strained by the forces of the whites and blacks acting in opposition to the point where he simply snaps. There is an incredible amount of tension in the novel. The first scene that comes to mind when I think of tension is the scene where Jan and Mary go to dinner with Bigger and get drunk. I felt Bigger's discomfort when I read this scene; Wright does a great job of making the reader experience the tension himself.
We never really talked about Bigger's name. I guess it's a bit up for interpretation as Wright leaves it. Clearly, it can't mean bigger in the sense that he is acting in a "big" or "great" manner because he rapes and kills two women within a day. I guess it means that he is trying to be bigger than the stereotype that the whites feel about the blacks; he tries to live in the white world, but is simply rejected.
I think an important scene that hasn't really been talked about is when the inspectors discover Mary's body in the ashes of the fire. I think the "furnace" concept is really symbolic: just like the smoke gradually built up in the furnace and eventually erupted, choking the whole room, Bigger had filled with fear and anger and eventually snapped. In the book, it's clear that the whites are always putting more coal in Bigger's metaphorical furnace to the point where he can't hold any more and he has to "let off steam."
Another thing I was thinking about is the question of Bigger's martyrism. The fact that he dies could bring up the interpretation that he is in fact a marytr. I don't know, I just feel weird about this thought. If Wright wanted to advocate racial equality, wouldn't he have written about a noble black man, not a savage murderer? Yes, he demonstrates that Bigger's actions were a result of his environment, but still, Bigger's life is pretty miserable.
Also, I feel like there is much irony in the racism that Wright depicts. The stereotype is that blacks were stupid, servile beings. However, Bigger is not stupid; in fact, he is smart enough to know to act stupid in order to trick the whites while they question him about the murder. There is also an element of reverse racism, or at least the portrayal of whites as evil. As we discussed, all the bad events occur when it's snowing. In fact, when Bigger goes to the Dalton's to be questioned by the inspectors, there was so much snow that "he couldn't see ten feet in front of him." I feel like the whites are always presented as some supernatural force (as Mrs. Dalton is compared to a ghost or a white blob) that evilly oppresses the blacks.
To further the discussion of colors, the color red is also important in Native Son. Not only is it the color of blood, but it represents Communism. I find it ironic that Jan, who sincerely wants to help Bigger, ends up being hated by not only Bigger, but the whites as well. I don't know what Wright's opinion of Communism was, but he certainly portrays the party as outcasts who have a noble cause but are hated nonetheless.
Another important concept in the novel is that of "the line," which points out the complete separation of worlds between the whites and the blacks in Chicago. This appears when Bigger confesses to Gus "Goddammit, look! We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things and we ain't. They do things and we can't. It's just like living in jail. Half the time I feel like I'm on the outside of the world peeping in through a knot-hole in the fence." This powerful quote epitomizes the complete separation of the two races, both figuratively and literally. This "line" also appears later in the novel, when Bigger is fleeing Chicago. "He came to a chain grocery store. Bread sold here for five cents a loaf but across the 'line' where white folks lived, it sold for four. And now, of all times, he could not cross that 'line.'"
This past quote brings up another interesting aspect of the novel, especially from a Marxist point of view. The grocery store example and the practices of Mr. Dalton's apartment buildings show that the whites used their economic power to oppress the blacks, keeping them dependent to the point where revolting was not an option.
I think Bigger's pre-court experience is also kind of important. When Bigger was arrested, "four policemen came and stood above him." Does this symbolize the four horsemen, representing death/apocalypse? Then he enters an elevator ("The doors closed and he dropped down"), as if he were going to the underworld. His courtroom literally passes a judgement ("Judgement Day"). His trial clearly has so much religious imagery; I feel that this is interesting because Bigger is anything but a holy character.
Finally, it is important to understand the importance of this novel today. The book opens with a "Briiiiiing," symbolizing a wakeup call to the world, black and white alike. Although blacks had "equal" rights at the time the book was written, the American public clearly needed/needs an eye-opener to see the real truth about racism in our country. Perhaps we should be more conscious of how we treat each other, or more people will end up like Bigger.
Wow, that was beastly.
So, I haven't been able to read all of the blogs so far, but I'm going to assume that tenseness was found. Personally, however, I think that the novel focused more on the idea of frustration as opposed to tension. Yes, it is true that tension plays a major role in Native Son. But, the underlying reason behind the characters actions, Max's long, drawn-out speeches, Bigger's encounter with the rat, Mary, and Bessie, was out of frustration. Frustration toward a society that they did not feel they could connect to. Because frustration is so prominent in the novel, tension inevitably follows and builds. Thus, the plot moves forward.
Tension is expressed throughout the novel. From the opening scene when Bigger kills the rat, Wright describes the Bigger's actions as very tense. The image of Bigger being stretch and put into very difficult situations comes up a lot in the novel. The biggest cause of tension in the novel is the relationship between blacks and whites in american society. This tension manifests itself in Bigger's extreme actions, especially when he kills and decapitates Mary Dalton.
The imagery of the cold snow and the terrible apartment also add to the level of tension in the book. Mr. Dalton's relationship with the black community as an oppressor who clears his conscience with small donations to the black community also adds to the level of tension.
Tension in the novel obviously builds up when we don't know what Bigger will do next. The first major tension I received when reading the book was when he was left alone with Mary in the car. Mary is very drunk in the scene and I think we all received some sort of feeling that the novel is going to be address rape. From then instant, I was forced to concentrate, despearte and a little frightened to discover what happens next.
I think that it was tension is. We feel it when we fearful of and anxious to discover the consequent event.
Tension between Mary and Bigger clearly shows the literal tension betweent the races. But, Bigger seems to have tense realtions with everyone. He is cold to his mother, sister, Bessie, the Dalton's, and even his friends. Bigger is stressed before meeting the Dalton's and questions whether or not he should take the job. He is tense after Mary's death and does not know what to do with her body. He is tense all they way through the novel to the very end when he is waiting to know if he has received the death penalty or not. There is also sexual tension between Mary and Bigger in the scene when he carries her up to her room and puts her on the bed.
Seeing as most of the tension in this book was racial tension, I felt it the most when Bigger was interacting with the white world. I felt there was a lot of tension in scene when he goes out to dinner with Jan and Mary. Although they are reaching out to him he feels awkward and uncomfortable and there is a total lack of communication. While they attempt to understand him, they can't comprehend how uncomfortable he is in the situation they force him to be in.
I also agree with Glen: there is a lot of class tension, which mixes with racial tension as one generally stems from the other. As Bigger is black he has fewer opportunities for a well-paying job, and therefore feels uncomfortable when introduced into the Dalton household, as their lifestyle is significantly different from his. Bigger is looked down upon by those who are better off than he, but race, something he cannot control, determined his social position. A lot of the tension in Native Son is created by situations where Bigger reacts to circumstances he has no control over.
I agree with everyone about the tension in the book. But I think that we should also look at its purpose. Why does Wright focus on it so much? Obviously, he wants to make social commentary on class and racial tension through the literal and figurative tension, but why does he go out of his way to employ literary devices to illustrate it? I think that part of its purpose might be to foreshadow. For example, Jenny said that the first time she experienced tension in the book is when Bigger and Mary are alone in the car; the tension foreshadows that something is going to happen. I also think that the tension caused by Mary and Bessie's deaths foreshadow Bigger's death. Even though his crimes all originated from one big misunderstanding, it was almost like he had to die at the end. He killed the two of them, because neither was his reality (one is primal, the other romantic/idealized). And I think that the tension caused by Bigger's inability to connect with any other characters foreshadows his death.
Ahh I just remembered we had to blog! I hope this isn't too late!
So I think an important element of tension in the novel is that between Gus and Bigger. In the beginning of the novel, they appear to be best friends, sharing dreams with each other, but quickly, in the bar scene, tension emerges. Literally, Bigger punches Gus and Wright describes the tension of his muscles and between all of the friends in that scene. But also, there is a figurative tension because of Bigger's fear of robbing a white man, Blum. All of the boys know of this fear, but it is difficult for any of them to actually express because it would be addressing the racial prejudices.
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