Bigger slowly comes to understand that since the pool hall is the 'hang-out' spot of the gang, he will no longer be able to participateespecially considering the fact that none of his friends were willing to defend his violent behavior.Īfter he is effectively 'kicked out' of the gang, Bigger struggles to clear his head of angry thoughts as he prepares for the interview at Mr. The stir that Bigger causes does more than prevent the gang from robbing Blum's Bigger's raucous behavior gets him thrown out of Doc's pool hall. Bigger suggests the robbery because he wants to appear tough but when Gus calls his bluff, Bigger gets angry and pulls a knife. Bigger is inwardly afraid to rob Blum and so he projects his fear onto Gus, another member of the gang, hoping that the argument will prevent the gang from organizing themselves to attempt the heist. While he sincerely cares about his family, Bigger knows that he will never be offered the type of job that would allow him to offer his family substantial support.ĭespite Ma's prophetic warning, Bigger goes to Doc's pool hall to meet his gang and he suggests that they rob Blum's Deli. Ma warns Bigger to avoid his gang and set aside his criminal habits, lest he end up in the 'gallows.' Ma is unable to relate to Bigger and he is unresponsive to her religiosity and her overtures on 'manhood.' When Ma asserts that Bigger would go out and get a job if he 'had any manhood in him,' Bigger resents his mother for her dependence upon him.

Bigger's dream is to become an aviator but instead he is given a job through the relief agency-a chauffeur for a white millionaire-philanthropist named Henry Dalton. Bigger and his brother back the rat into a corner and as the rat strikes back, tearing a gash in Bigger's pants, Bigger strikes the rat dead, crushing its head with a heavy iron skillet.īigger's life is miserable and after a stint in a reform school, he remains bitter and angry about poverty and racism. An overgrown, yellow-fanged rat is prowling around the room. The depressing mood of the novel is set in the opening scene: Bigger is awakened by the screams of his sister and mother. Bigger lives in a one-room apartment with his mother ('Ma') and younger siblings, Vera and Buddy. The story is set in the Depression-era and Bigger is the novel's twenty-year-old protagonist, a resident of the 'Black Belt,' a Chicago ghetto that is predominantly black. Native Son is divided into three books entitled Fear, Flight and Fate, depicting the final days of Bigger Thomas.

Notes of a native son audio