Karen Xie
Hawrylczak Pd. 3
Annotations Pg. 42-80
Quote
"He was going among white people, so he
would take his knife and gun; it would make
him feel that he was the equal of them, give
him a sense of completeness" (Wright 43).
" 'Are you the Thomas boy?' 'Yessum' "
(Wright 45).
"He squeezed through and stood
uncertainly...she was staring at him and he
looked away in confusion. He was glad when
she left" (Wright 45).
" 'I'm Mr. Dalton.' 'Yessuh.' '...?' 'Yessuh.' '...?'
'Suh?' '...?' 'Oh, yessuh!" (Wright 47)
" 'How much rent do you pay?..Married?..Sit
down...' " (Wright 48-49)
"I'm a supporter of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People. Did
you ever hear of that organization?" (Wright
53)
"In all of the white women he had met...there
was always a certain coldness and
reserve...but this girl waded right in...I bet she
spends plenty of dough...millions must be as
common to him as nickels" (Wright 59)
Annotation
Bigger assumes that the disparity between
being black and white can be patched if he
has something over them. In his case, they
are weapons. His belief that this will affect his
position is convoluted and shows that he
believes violence is a legitimate solution.
"Boy" and the repetition of the answer
"Yessum" is something used a lot in the
novel. Boy has always been used to
intimidate and belittle, even subconsciously.
The whole scene draws into an extremely
uncomfortable scenario. Bigger is a fish out of
water, and his anxiety is apparent in his
character.
Bigger's lack of variation in all of his
responses make the dialogue seem
one-sided and forced. This conversation
would never happen on the streets.
His confusion makes this seem like an
interrogation. Dalton has a real curiosity
about the life Bigger lives since it's
poverty-stricken and he finds that fascinating.
Although he is a white man, it's different and
good for Bigger to see a situation where his
employer is attempting to make strides. He
must speak for a bigger audience that
recognizes brutality faced by minorities.
His dramatic change in attitude when faced
with something new--he'd never even thought
about the possibility that a white person
would find him interesting in the way he found
them. He could be a gold digger.
"Now, what did ​that​ mean? She was on ​his
side. What side was he on? Did that mean
that she liked colored people?" (Wright 64)
"Were they making fun of him? What was it
that they wanted? Why didn't they leave him
alone? He was not bothering them...He was
very conscious of his black skin...maybe they
did not despise him...the badge of shame
which he knew was attached to a black skin"
(Wright 67)
"His moving would have called attention to
himself and his black body...if he were white,
if he were like them, it would have been
different. But he was black" (Wright 69)
" 'Where's your father?' 'Dead...killed in a riot
when I was a kid' " (Wright 74)
"He was not driving; he was simply sitting and
floating along smoothly through darkness"
(Wright 78)
Classic Bigger misinterpreting her stunted
because of his immense wealth (obviously
that contributes to some of her quirkiness)
and not knowing how to respond to remarks
that aren't flagrantly racist.
Wright writes of that he has an immense
hatred to himself. Bigger seems to hate his
differences and his dissociation and
awareness of his difference being all in his
mind shows he has some loose screws.
He is analyzing every moment because he
feels isolated when he is the isolating factor.
His struggle is not unjustified because he is
different, but only through that one identifying
factor.
Explains why the only parent in his life is his
mother. He was stunted from a young age
because the expectations of being a
breadwinner in his family overshadowed a life
that he could've led.
Those last couple swigs are going to have an
effect on what his character does. His
descriptive language is written for a reason,
to emphasize the actions and consequences
that'll follow Bigger trying to drink his
problems away.