Bigger Thomas and
the narrator from Invisible Man
initially seem to be very different people under entirely distinct
circumstances in extremely contrasting situations. They both are poor, but the
narrator in Invisible Man has extreme
ambitions to be “great”/ “successful” while Bigger seems completely “bored” and
sees no point to work. The Invisible Man narrator loves (and even
worships) his college education while Bigger refuses the offer of night classes
from Mrs. Dalton. The list of these
differences can go on and on, and undeniably Bigger Thomas and the Invisible Man narrator are very
different characters. However, Ellison most
definitely has Bigger and Native Son in
mind while (W)righting Invisible Man.
Bigger and the Invisible Man narrator both are
extremely, extremely conscious of how
white people think of them. When Bigger
walks into the Daltons’ home, he instantly is questioning his every move. The Invisible
Man narrator takes the even more extreme route of making sure that basically
every single aspect of his life is accordance to what the white power structure
wants him to do. As well as this, some of
the distinct textual similarities that really reminded me of Bigger are the
positioning of the “God damn it!” and “blot it out” lines in very similar
contexts. Also, the scene where the IM narrator runs across the icy New York
roofs seems eerily similar to Bigger’s final glimpse of “freedom” on the
snow-covered Chicago roofs.
Natrualism also
plays a big part in both Native Son and Invisible Man. Both Bigger and the IM narrator are abused by their
environment in very similar “test-tube” like ways. Bigger is placed in different situations
where he acts radically differently (home vs friends vs Daltons) and the IM narrator is thrown around by his
“superiors” to do their beckoning (Bledsoe, Norton, the superintendent,
etc). Although we have not seen the IM narrator’s development fully yet, the
important difference between the two is that the IM narrator is a radically different person from the beginning of
the novel to the end (presumably the guy in the basement) while Bigger stays a
relatively “stagnant” character. This is
not saying that Bigger does not change throughout the novel, but his change is
nowhere near as severe as the IM narrator’s
internal (and external) transformation.
Wow, I also did a blog post on the correlation between Native Son and Invisible Man. I really like the connections you made between Bigger and the narrator. Yes, they both start out in very different circumstances but you can really see Bigger in the narrator sometimes. You brought up a good point in that their actions a round white people are quite similar, but the narrator in Native Son really interalizes the values white people imposed on him, and his respect is genuine. He is consumed in worrying that he would displease them, which when compared to Bigger's pure fear for his life and death, really emphasizes the narrator's "paleness" at the beginning of the novel.
ReplyDeleteAhhhh! "(W)righting"!
ReplyDeleteThere are many similarities between the Narrator and Bigger. Both discover their identities and find their place in there then-present day social structures. Both books explore the limited options in life for Bigger and the Narrator. Yet I think you are right to point out the distinct journeys of Bigger and the Narrator. Ellison has crafted a far-more complex world that in many ways seems to be critiquing that of _Native Son_. Ellison's book is less naturalistic and instead of the Narrator being just a symptom of a larger problem as Bigger is in _Native Son_, the Narrator is his own distinct person with a complex personality.
And I think that that is one of the main points Ellison is trying to make in Invisible Man -- the prologue narrator seems to have agency and some sort of control in a system that deems him invisible, while Bigger (and the young IM narrator) are have absolutely no control over their lives.
DeleteGreat post! Lots of people have been comparing Bigger and the narrator from invisible man. Although I agree that they have similar ways of existing in the world I wonder how much of this is more due to the position of lots of blacks living in this very racist world.The Characters have very different view on the world and how they go about living. The narrator in invisible man wanted to just do everything he was told and exist below the whites. Bigger was always mad and felt that his life was option-less. I definitely think Invisible man was written with Native son in mind, but I think these characters share the common thread of internalized racism more then they so any similar personality traits.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that Bigger's character undergoes a good deal less development than Ellison's narrator--and partly this reflects Wright's view of his development (social, personal, cultural) as profoundly stunted because of the conditions under which he lives (so his failure to develop is itself a "symptom" of the problems Wright is exposing). But it also reflects the fact that we see a much broader time-frame in Ellison's novel--it's easy to forget that _Native Son_ all unfolds over the course of a couple of weeks. And in that time we *do* see certain transformative moments, as Bigger reacts with a feeling of power after killing Mary and thinking he might be getting away with it, or especially the way his character starts to develop at the very end, in almost existentialist directions, when he affirms his twisted life as the only life he has, and where he fully "owns" the killing as the most meaningful thing he's ever done (which horrifies Max). One implication of the novel might be that Bigger is executed before his character is able to develop--America, according to Wright, maintains its native sons' stunted social development by killing them off (or convincing them that "they can't win" before they even try).
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