“Now, who on earth would think that he, a black timid Negro boy, would murder and burn a rich white girl and would sit and wait for his breakfast like this?” (Bigger, page 107) Before Bigger received the job as the Dalton’s chauffeur, he was filled with hatred and fear toward the white man for taking away his fair share of opportunities in the world. He resentfully refused to accept the fact that because he was black, he does not have the same stake in the world as the white man does. He hated the idea that no one cared about the blacks and that even the police turned a blind eye on black on black crime. After taking the job, spending time around Mr. Dalton, Mary, and Jan, and then finally killing a very drunk Mary and shoving her into the furnace, Bigger’s feelings and opinion toward the black man’s role in society drastically changes.
“There was in everyone a great hunger to believe that made him blind, and if he could see while others were blind, then he could get what he wanted and never be caught at it.” Scared that he will be caught and killed for murdering Mary Dalton, Bigger realizes that he must act like everything is normal because no one would suspect a black man of stepping out of line and meddling in the white man’s world. Instead of being upset with his lack of opportunity and success in the world, he embraces the cage his life was put into by being born a black man and celebrates his newfound ability to hide from his insane crime.
Because of the set role of the black man in society, the other people, or the white people, are blind to what the blacks are capable of when they break the ‘rules’. Due to his crime and his mindset while trying to find a solution, Bigger realizes that he can hide behind what people expect of him.
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