Money's Role for Wright and Bigger

If I had not read Native Son, but only knew that it is commonly labeled a protest novel and that it followed a rebellious, frustrated African American man in an urban setting, I would have expected money to be more at the forefront of Bigger's conciousness.   I've grown up thinking that most of the public actions that extremely poor people would make are driven by their need to alleviate their destitution. For Bigger, this is not the case. It's not that money is not important to him (In fact, it is very important to him -- he risks leaving the kidnapped note to get more of it), but that he does not think about the importance of having money itself nearly as much as he considers the social and emotional implications that accompany destitution...and, of course, being black.  I can't help thinking that if Bigger had been excessively fearful, driven, and angry because of destitution and the fact that whites controlled money, he would have been a much healthier person.  He would have done what he could to get money -- and if he got frustrated and committed a crime relating to money-related race relations in the process, he would have had a more solid defense statement, been considered sane by both sides of the case, and probably would not have recieved the death sentence.

Considering this perspective, I was shocked by the fact that money, as an issue in and of itself, did NOT appear in Mr. Max's interpretation of events in the slightest. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised in the least if Mr. Max's nurture-type explanation of Bigger's actions had been the central point of his argument. Our society seems to be currently conditioned to feel sympathy for people like Bigger because their lack of money is what caused the lack of resources, opportunities, experience, etc., which other people can take advantage of.

So I began to wonder why Wright seemingly ignores the issue of money as a cause or factor in the explanation of Bigger's character and personality development, both in Native Son, and in "How 'Bigger' was Born."  Was it intentional or unintentional?  If Wright intentionally disregarded the issue of money in Mr. Max's narrative of events, he could have been protesting against the fact that destitution as cause for rebellion is considered a more solid defense statement than the experience of a vile amount of racial baggage.  Possibly Wright is attempting to communicate that such racial baggage is so completely upsetting and frustrating that one can forget to provide for one's life necessities.  Yet it is likely that Wright disregarded the fact of Bigger's destitution in and of itself unintentionally.  He never once mentions the issue of poverty in "How 'Bigger' was Born."  On the contrary, Wright refers to "the sympathies, loyalties, and yearnings of the millions of Bigger Thomases in every land and race..." (446).  He discusses the typical Bigger as having a "deep sense of exclusion" (443), a "revolutionary impulse" (444), feeling "oppressed" (444), having "agonizing doubts and chronic suspicions" (445), and generally being "a hot and whirling vortex of undisciplined and unchannelized impulses" (445).  And those impulses are fed by "emotional and cultural hunger" (447), not by a wish to improve one's physical situation by buying one's way out of it.

Given the fact that the issue of money was not meant initially to be an important issue in the book, the role it does play in Bigger's conciousness is slightly bizarre.  From the opening few pages, we see that Bigger's attitude toward money---whether he doesn't care, is forced to realize it's a necessity, or is jealous of those who have it---is absolutely inconsistent, and depends only on whatever thoughts or feelings he is preoccupied with at a given time.  As an example, we can examine Bigger's reaction to his mother's insistence that he take the job so that she "can fix up a nice place for you children.  You could be comfortable and not have to live like pigs" (11).  Bigger's only reaction is anger, a feeling that they his family had made him "surrender" into taking the job, and a repetition of the statement, "I wish you'd let me eat" (12).  He does not consider the money or benefits of the job at all.  And yet his VERY next statement is a demand for "carfare"--- for the day's money!  Then, when he goes outside the house and is confronted with Buckley's richness ("I bet that sonofabitch rakes of a million bucks in graft a year" (13)), he decides he wants money, because, "if he did not get more than he had now he would not know what to do with himself for the rest of the day" (13).  He ignores the fact that the job could get him money for the rest of his life, because he does not want the job---it would be conceding to his family's wishes.  Instead, he remembers his friends and the excitement of robbing Blum's for money.  But later, Bigger becomes "fascinated with...and a little afraid of" the idea (23), ultimately pulling out with violence to disguise fear.

It is important that these scenes, which constitute the entirety of our knowledge of Bigger's life before accepting the job, are all essentially struggles about money.  And yet the issue of lack of money itself does not actually emerge as the main focus of Bigger's conciousness in the text.  Everything has a double-meaning for Bigger.  Buckley's money is not just his money, but the fact that people like him "own the world" (22).  This lack of ownership is the real issue that Bigger has with his own lack of money.  He has no ownership without any money.

So when discussing the concept of free will in Native Son, it is interesting to note that the ownership of Mary's money is what gives Bigger the impression that he has free will.  After his murder, he feels the "roll of crisp bills in his pocket" protects him because "he could always run away" (129).  And having planned to send the kidnap note he feels, for the first time, that he "could handle things, ... take life into his own hands and ... he need not be afraid" (149).  This is extreme confidence, arguably achieved because of his control of the money.  And even when the bones are discovered in the furnace, he says "It was all over.  He had to save himself" (221).  But once he throws the money down the air-shaft with Bessie, he thinks he is "in for it," that he has "seven cents between him and starvation and the law and the long days ahead" (239).  The difference is subtle, but the loss of the money is what really makes him give up that he will be able to get away from the law.  He does not want to admit it, but he recognizes that seven cents will not keep him alive.  Again, he has no ownership, even over himself and his own fate, because he has no money.

With this in mind, it is easy to see why Bigger gives up on talking and eating once he has been captured.  But it is his time in jail talking to Mr. Max that changes his attitude toward the necessity of free will and ownership in the world, which, from his perspective, had previously been defined by his lack or abundance of money.  Suddenly, instead of assuming that his self has no value and that it is what he has and does which have value, he gains a "sense of the value of himself," albeit "fleeting and obscure" after talking to Max (361).  It is only then, in his last days and hours, when he can first even try to dare to mentally transcend racial and class boundaries and consider possible connections with other human beings.