Mary is not careless, but instead, she’s rather careful. She is not stupid, but she is misguided, immature, and naïve. She tries to rid the world of racism, but instead, she makes Bigger feel increasingly uncomfortable in the car and at lunch with Jan. Mary tries to understand Bigger’s life but she just comes off as annoying, rude, and too confrontational to be comforting. When Bigger first meets Mary on page 51, the first words out of her mouth are, “Bigger, do you belong to a union?” Bigger is upset by this and many other comments of hers.
Mary is misguided and naïve because she doesn’t put Bigger’s feelings and emotions into consideration when she tries to ‘fix’ his lifestyle, which means changing everything he’s ever known. Mary’s goal is to become a part of the Communist Party and help her boyfriend Jan defeat racism by becoming a part of Bigger’s world and blurring the lines between the whites and the blacks. When Mary says, “We want one of those places where colored people eat, not one of those show places.” I felt bad for Bigger because Mary makes it seem like a game for the rich white people to help the less fortunate and unheard become a group who others begin to notice and care about. Bigger doesn’t understand at all because he has no idea what Mary and Jan could possibly want with him. He realizes that the way society is now is the way it will remain – divided.
Mary is immature and misguided because, although she acts with the best intentions, her privileged mindset leads her to believe that because she treats Bigger with a respect he’s never been shown before, he’ll automatically appreciate it and like her when in fact, he hates her and Jan for the way they’re acting. “But he did not understand them; he distrusted them, really hated them.”
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