(21) In one scene, the men pretend to be making a business phone call and they speak like how they imagine white businessmen to speak. The game may seem insignificant but it is telling because Bigger and Gus are demonstrating that they are constantly aware that they are different and will never achieve some of the things that white men achieve. Bigger states, "They don't let us do nothing," (22), indicating a sense of hopelessness. This sentiment is further explained when Bigger states, "The got things and we ain't. They do things and we can't. It's just like living in jail" (23). This type of separation from the rest of society is the very thing that drives Bigger to behave the way he does. He feels a sense of loss even at being born and this frustration is released...

He has an attitude of defeatism eve before he has a chance to really live because he comes from poor circumstances and sees relatively no hope as far as success and happiness. He knows he is an African-American and in those days, he simply did not have a chance for much of anything. However, he could succeed at being violent. His admission at the end of the novel reinforces this notion. Bigger tells Max that he did not want to kill anyone but "what I killed for, I am!" (392). Bigger realizes that he does what he does because he is oppressed and is not given the chances to succeed like others.
Work Cited

Wright, Richard. Native Son. New York: Harper…