Native son book 3 summary. Native Son Book Two Summary and Analysis 2019-03-04
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Summary of Native Son Book 2: Flight
The press arrives and Bigger learns that Jan has been arrested for kidnapping Mary, but Mr. Buddy is as rash and youthful as Bigger and he assures Bigger that he will defend his innocence and get a gun and kill four of five people himself. Next, the flamboyant State's Attorney, Buckley, arrives with Mr. Somebody could have discovered something by now. No, he had talked to Max of his own free will. He talks on how the oppression of whites has made him this way. Bigger asks the man for a newspaper and the guy gives it to him.
The preacher arrives with a message that seems, almost, to have been inserted into the text forcefully by Wright. Bigger thinks back to his mother's words that wealthier whites were fairer and less bigoted than poorer whites that always feel threatened by enterprising blacks. He thinks about how he can jump from roof to roof if necessary. Bigger simply wants to be an aviator because he knows he can never become one and when he asked if he would be seriously interested in the job if it were possible, Bigger admits his lack of interest. Buckley denounces Jan's moral character by accusing him of sexually offering Mary Dalton to Bigger in payment for joining the Communist Party and argues, furthermore, that the content of the communist pamphlets induced Bigger to commit the crime.
In Book 3, entitled 'Fate', Bigger prepares for his trial. Buckley also suggests that the content of the Communist pamphlets induced Bigger to rape and murder Mary Dalton. Although there are benevolent white characters Jan, Max , there are few to none powerful, politically-influential African American characters, though Max later makes passing mention to civil rights leaders. When Bigger returns, he feels a stronger impulse to leave town, but he convinces himself that he is strong enough to pull the whole thing off. Bigger asks Ma for some tram-car fare, and leaves the apartment. Book Two presents a darker sense of irony than the irony displayed in Book One.
Native Son Book 1 Summary & Analysis from LitCharts
Each is an individual, and, although they act so differently, are just as human as one another. These he is met by a white maid, who asks if he is Bigger Thomas, here to talk to Mr. In fact, the South Side will soon swarm with cops looking for him. Ironically, Bigger is a chauffeur with access to a car and he drove this car to the train station. Britten says you have to treat blacks that way to get information from them. He realizes that there is a lot he doesn't know about other people but worries that it is too late for him now.
When they make a stop at Ernie's Kitchen Shack, Bigger is reluctant to go inside because his friends and acquaintances will see him with the outsiders. While thinking about this plan, which would provide quick money for the group, but which would mark the first time the gang had robbed a white, as opposed to a black, merchant, Bigger runs into Vera, who is exiting the apartment on her way to her sewing lesson. Jan brings his lawyer friend in anyway. Dalton tells the group that his daughter has been kidnapped. The burning cross makes him want to kill, even while he feels his own cross around his neck. It is her blind presence that causes her daughter's death and provides much of the suspense of Book One's conclusion.
Dalton wants to know if Bigger has revealed his accomplices. This case presents only two alternatives, and both are unpleasant. He begins to wonder himself if that is who he is. The Daltons will permit the Thomases to keep their apartment, but that is all the relief they can provide. However, Max becomes frightened that Bigger is deluded when he states that killing Mary and Bessie must have been good, because after all, men have to kill for something, some purpose.
To recapitulate: On a Saturday, Bigger learned that he would have a job as a chauffeur for a millionaire family; he takes the job after rejecting the temptation to rob Blum's deli. What else could he do? After taking a walk to cool off, Bigger heads to his apartment and after a brief deliberation, he decides to carry his knife and gun with him to the Dalton's home. As he is about to leave her, her mother, who is blind, comes into the room to check on her. He lifts the brick and smashes it in her chest, hearing her moan. Let's find out what happens next. Bigger does not want to rob Blum's deli, but he perceives the heist as an adult thing to do. Britten while the investigator asks several rounds of questions.
The side with the most men. At the front of the room, he sees a pile of white bones, the ransom note, the trunk, the hatchet blade, and the signed confession. Buckley is permitted to continue with few restrictions and he twists Jan's answers to cast aspersions on his character, suggesting that Jan offered as Bigger's reward for joining the Party's efforts. Despite the moral, religious connotations of her name, Mary is a communist sympathizer and a rather casual romantic whose exploits are uncovered and revealed in a seedy newsreel of all things. Only Max and Jan, during this period of imprisonment, are truly able to connect with, and to help, Bigger.
So he shouts that he was glad to know Max before he dies. Dalton shows up and asks some of the same questions, but he also wants to know if Jan was drunk and if in the morning the car was just like it was when Bigger left it the night before. So he hurries but first he gets a suitcase from under the bed and packs his clothes. He feels alive and invincible. Bigger replies in nervous, short phrases—similarly to how he behaved with Mr. There was a young white woman who tried to undo several centuries of wrongs and was misunderstood. Max loses all attempts at an appeal, and Bigger prepares for death.
After that, Jan enters with a lawyer named Max. But Bigger also knows that a great deal of misery, for himself and for others, will ensue if he does not take the job with Mr. It would be the same as putting Bigger in the hands of the howling mob. He begins to deny the charge, but Bessie says that she can look at him and tell that he has and that if he can kill Mary then there is little to stop him from killing her. Jan leaves but later confronts Bigger about the lies. Buckley argues that law is holy because it makes us human—Bigger pay for violating that law.
