Karen Xie

Hawrylczak Pd. 3
Fear

Book 1 is titled fear because Bigger is faced with that emotion frequently. He starts off
with a naive sense of fear that he masks as power when he terrorizes the weaker people in his
life. When there's a black rat in his apartment, it's up to him to get rid of it. When he's about to
kill it, "he was afraid to hurl it, fearing that he might miss...the rat's belly pulsed with fear" (Wright
5). Wright's decision to use "fear" twice in this quote is not used to describe Bigger's emotion --
he's not scared of a rat that is no match for him. Instead, fear is used to describe his hesitation
to kill it and it is experienced by the rat, a foil to Bigger's control. He is used to being in control of
situations he puts himself in, whether it's tormenting a rat, his sister, or Gus, because his victims
are never people that can defend themselves. However, when faced with white people, he has a
lack of control over this situation, and that is the cause of his fear. He doesn't know how to react
to being around the people he's hated all his life. During his first encounter with Mr. Dalton, he
states that he would "have to be careful here...for a moment his impulses were deadlocked; he
did not know if he hsould pick up his cap and then find the paper, or find the paper and then pick
up his cap...he relaxed a little, then stiffened when he heard Mr. Dalton walk back into the room"
(Wright 53). He's extremely uncomfortable and out of his element because he's alienated for his
blackness. This fear is not outright fright, but more tension and unfamiliarity.
As the book progresses, he starts to fear for his life and the route he's taking because
he's so poorly equipped to deal with accidentally murdering Mary. "Then, convulsively, he
sucked his breath in and huge words formed slowly, ringing in his ears...​She's dead...​his
hands...trembled in midair...it was unreal, like a nightmare...he had to life a dead woman and
was afraid" (Wright 89). Bigger's terrifying moments realization that he's killed someone have
the potential to destroy him. He understands that if he's caught, he will be dealt with in a jarring
way because he's black, and suspense is created from his predicting of what might happen.
This tangible, sweaty fear is only a natural response to an act so horrendous and accidental. He
is no longer fearing killing a rat, which is so minor to his possible manslaughter charges and
public hatred.