Reading Native Son (continued)

At the police station, Jan visits Bigger and brings an attorney, Boris A. Max, to defend him. Jan isn’t angry about Bigger’s actions and wants to help him, but the cards are stacked against Bigger. The prosecuting attorney, Buckley, strongly wants a conviction - just in time for the upcoming election. Although Max does his best to defend Bigger during the trial, raising some very interesting questions about Mr. Dalton’s role in creating a situation in which Bigger and his family were made fearful, angry, and helpless, it is too hard to paint Bigger as a sympathetic character. Bigger is found guilty just because he is black. Buckley uses the rape and murder of Bessie to convince the jury that Bigger did the same to Mary. (Notice there is no real concern for the prosecution of Bessie’s murder; she is just used as evidence.)

In the end, Bigger is sentenced to death.

Sitting in his cell, Bigger has a chance to do a lot of soul searching. He realizes that Jan has genuinely tried to help him despite everything. He sees that Jan and Max have treated him as an equal throughout his trial and his feelings toward them begin to change. On the day of his execution, Max visits Bigger once more. As Max leaves, Bigger haltingly tells him to tell Jan “Hello.”

Useful vocabulary to describe the change in Bigger’s feelings:

• Cogitate - Think over
• Ruminate -Think over
• Remorse - Regret, sorrow
• Deplore - Regret
• Contrite - Sorry