Are we defending Bigger? Native Son Refelction

After watching the play on Wednesday I thought it was very good and interesting. Obviously during this time racism was alive and well, so we all new Bigger was in trouble right when he first kissed the white woman.  But I’ve had a few conversations with people and a lot of them felt Bigger was being discriminated against because he was black. Which is sort of true, but are we forgetting the fact that he actually DID kill her despite it being an accident, and also rapped and brutally killed his wife. I felt some people I talked to were leaving out this big part of the play. Also Bigger was going through some really angry feelings before he killed her. He put a knife to his friends neck the same day of the murder. So it was expected that bigger was going to do more later on in the play.

What I didn’t really understand is why he rapped and killed his wife. He had already been caught and on the run, so why did he kill another person? But aside from this, I don’t think it was because Bigger was black, that he was accused of the missing girl, I think it was more of that it was his job to take her home and watch after her. He had been the last person with her, so naturally the police would have gone after Bigger first. But this also doesn’t excuse the fact that Bigger was mistreated during the integration.

Overall Native Son was a great play and I enjoyed it very much. It made me understand the time setting a little bit better, and understand what it like for a murderer on the run.