As the novel continues, Book Two is titled “Flight”, which symbolizes the mental and physical escape he must make. Bigger, now a murderer, must return to work to avoiding raising any suspicions. The murder is significant because it “forces Bigger to confront the fear of the unknown, which has plagued him throughout his life” (Smith 107). While murder threatens Bigger’s life, it gives him a purpose of getting away with the murder. This “purpose” is new to Bigger because he lacks a self-identity, but the murder has forced rebirth: giving him a new life.
As he returns to the Dalton’s the next day he is greeted by a private investigator, Mr. Britten. Britten is a direct symbolization of white racism toward African Americans and how Whites view …show more content…
Surprisingly, Communists are hated just as much, if not more, than Blacks by Whites. Bigger, with a multitude of reporters, is in the basement of the Dalton household when ashes begin to compile in the furnace. Bigger attempts to put more coal in, but just ends up filling the basement with smoke. A reporter runs over and takes control of the furnace, beginning to sift through the ashes. He finds remains of what he believes to be human, calling his fellow reporters over. Bigger then panics, and with little thought sneaks out of the house and begins to run through a whiteout snow blizzard. He goes directly to his girlfriend's house, Bessie Mears. Bessie has been in on the plan with Bigger for the entire time, but now begins to have second thoughts on running from the authorities with him. That night they stay in an abandoned building in the South Side. Bigger, yet again taking control of his environment, rapes Bessie. Afterwards, he brutally beats her head in with a brick while she was slept, with intent to kill. He then throws what he thinks to be her lifeless body down a ventilation shaft. What he later finds out is that Bessie was still alive and she froze to death overnight. “Killing Bessie Mears puts Bigger in the position of a quester, consciously searching for an identity” (Skerrett, Jr. 137). Very similar to the killing of Mary, Bessie’s death gives Bigger a sense of identity and wholeness he has never experienced before. It again, gives his life
As he returns to the Dalton’s the next day he is greeted by a private investigator, Mr. Britten. Britten is a direct symbolization of white racism toward African Americans and how Whites view …show more content…
Surprisingly, Communists are hated just as much, if not more, than Blacks by Whites. Bigger, with a multitude of reporters, is in the basement of the Dalton household when ashes begin to compile in the furnace. Bigger attempts to put more coal in, but just ends up filling the basement with smoke. A reporter runs over and takes control of the furnace, beginning to sift through the ashes. He finds remains of what he believes to be human, calling his fellow reporters over. Bigger then panics, and with little thought sneaks out of the house and begins to run through a whiteout snow blizzard. He goes directly to his girlfriend's house, Bessie Mears. Bessie has been in on the plan with Bigger for the entire time, but now begins to have second thoughts on running from the authorities with him. That night they stay in an abandoned building in the South Side. Bigger, yet again taking control of his environment, rapes Bessie. Afterwards, he brutally beats her head in with a brick while she was slept, with intent to kill. He then throws what he thinks to be her lifeless body down a ventilation shaft. What he later finds out is that Bessie was still alive and she froze to death overnight. “Killing Bessie Mears puts Bigger in the position of a quester, consciously searching for an identity” (Skerrett, Jr. 137). Very similar to the killing of Mary, Bessie’s death gives Bigger a sense of identity and wholeness he has never experienced before. It again, gives his life