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以弗洛伊德三重人格理论阐述《土生子》中别格的悲剧命运

以弗洛伊德三重人格理论阐述《土生子》中别格的悲剧命运
以弗洛伊德三重人格理论阐述《土生子》中别格的悲剧命运

以弗洛伊德三重人格理论阐述《土生子》中别格的悲剧命运

摘要

《土生子》是二十世纪杰出的美国黑人作家理查德·赖特的代表作。这部小说被看作是美国黑人小说发展的里程碑。作者以震撼人心的真实笔触展现了美国社会中的种族歧视和黑人的贫困生活状况,揭示了导致一些黑人走向暴力和犯罪的道路的原因。

这篇文章以弗洛伊德的三重人格理论阐释了小说主人公别格·托马斯的失衡人格和悲剧命运。通过描写别格·托马斯强大的本我、逐渐缩小的自我、以及慢慢扭曲的超我,分析了造成别格人格失衡的原因和由此铸成的悲剧命运。身为一个黑人,别格从心底里排斥自己的身份地位,时刻想着改变命运,然而却又无能为力。因此,别格形成了压抑,恐惧,甚至有些仇恨的心理,如小说情节所示,别格始终生活在这些负面情绪的折磨中,这是导致别格人格失衡的内在原因。而外在因素包括来自不平等的社会规则、白人群体的歧视和政府人员的盲目。身为黑人的别格无法正常平衡自己的心理和行动,最终,导致了他悲剧命运的发生。

关键词:《土生子》;别格;三重人格;悲剧命运

Interpretation of Bigger’s Tragedy in Native Son in the View of Freud’s Triple Personality Theory

Abstract

The novel Native Son is one of the most outstanding masterpiece of Richard Wright in 20th century, and it is regarded as the milestone of the African-American novel in America. The author’s strong p en described the racism in American society, the poor situation of the black people and how some black man like Bigger stepped into the criminal way.

The thesis will interpret Bigger’s tragic fate in Native Son in the view of Freud’s Triple Personality th eory, as well as his distorted personality. By analyzing Bigger’s strong Id, gradually narrowing Ego and distorted Superego, this thesis interprets the reasons causing Bigger’s distorted personality and his tragic fate. As a black man, Bigger hated his identity heartily, and hoped to change his fate now and then. However, he was helpless.Therefore, his heart was filled with repression, fear and even hatred. As the novel shows to the readers, he was constantly burned by these negative emotions. And the other reasons include the unfair rules in the society, the prejudice of people and the “blindness” of the government. In that environment, Bigger could not keep balance between his mentality and actions. Finally, the tragedy happened to him, and he was put to death.

Key Words: Native Son; Bigger; Triple Personality Theory; Tragic fate

CONTENTS

Ⅰ. Introduction ........................................................................................................... - 1 - Ⅱ. Freud’s Triple Personality Theory......................................................................... - 2 -

2.1 The definition of the Triple Personality Theory .............................................. - 2 -

2.2 The development of the Triple Personality Theory......................................... - 2 - Ⅲ. The paradoxical development of Bigger’s inner world ...................................... - 4 -

3.1 The manifestation of Bigg er’s Id (5)

3.2 The expansion of Bigger’s Id.......................................................................... - 6 -

3.3 The constraint of Bigger’s Ego and Superego ................................................ - 8 -

3.4 The rational regression of Bigger (10)

Ⅳ. The causes of the imbalance of Bigger’s personality ......................................... - 12 -

4.1 The fear of self-identity—an African American ........................................... - 12 -

4.2 Bigger’s psychological distortion and suppression ....................................... - 13 -

4.3 The oppression from society ......................................................................... - 15 -

4.3.1 The prejudice from the white ............................................................... - 15 -

4.3.2 The “blindness” of the powerful people .............................................. - 16 - Ⅴ. The influence of Bigger’s personal imbalance on his fate.................................. - 17 -

5.1 The degradation of Bigger’s morality........................................................... - 17 -

5.2 The unchangeable miserable life of the African American ........................... - 18 -

5.3 The doomed tragic fate—death ..................................................................... - 20 - Ⅵ. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... - 21 - Bibliography ............................................................................................................. - 23 -

Interpretation of Bigger’s Tragedy in Native Son in the View of

Freud’s Triple Personality Theory

Ⅰ. Introduction

Richard Wright was born near Mississippi in 1908, and lived in Memphis, Tennessee. Grown up in the tough environment of being an African American, Wright was an intelligent writer of Harlem Renaissance after the First World War. His masterpiece Native Son was regarded as a milestone of development of the novels written by the American black writers. In the novel Native Son, Wright used the shocking words to express the racial discrimination and the impoverished life of the black in American society, as well as how they finally went to the criminal roads. Bigger Thomas, the protagonist of the fiction, was a black young man who was trapped in a life of poverty in the slums of Chicago. He was introduced to be a driver for Mr. Dalton by a charitable organization. One night, Bigger drove Miss. Dalton home, who was greatly drunk, and took her in the room. In order not to wake others up and keep secret, Bigger was very cautious and discreet to walk, move and even breathe. However, they were still heard by Mrs. Dalton, a blind lady. According to the law, a black man could not stay in a white woman’s room alone. So Bigger was worry about being found. Therefore, he covered Mary’s mouth tightly to prevent her from making sound. To his surprise, his power was too strong and at last he smothered Mary. Then Bigger began his flight. Finally he was arrested by the police.

Native Son consists of three part s: these are “Fare”, “Flight” and “Fate”. Richard Wright shows the black’s rebellion against the unfair fate by describing Bigger’s complex mental process. At that time, the Freudian psychoanalysis has appeared to show a great influence on literary works. Wright pays lots of attention to the portraying and analyzing of the character morbid psychology. Based on the Triple Personality Theory of Freud, there are three elements of one’s personality, known as Id, ego and superego, which work together to create complex human behaviors. The theory is often used to analyze the character personality in literary works.

This thesis illustrates Bigger’s imbalanced personality and tragic fate from the

perspective of Freud’s Triple Personality Theory. The whole passage consists of sit parts.

Ⅱ. Freud’s Triple Personality Theory

Sigmund Freud’s Triple Personality Theory contains three elements: Id, Ego and Superego according to the creator of the Western psychoanalysis. There are so many people applying this theory to analyze their essays. Then I will introduce this theory briefly.

2.1 The definition of the Triple Personality Theory

As the founder of the Western psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud created his Triple Personality Theory with three elements Id, Ego and Superego.

Id is the original spring of the spiritual power and the collection of the unconscious instincts. Followed by the principle of happiness, Id is also the root of all desires, the foundation of one’s personality and the power of mental process. Ego is psychological intermediary which helps to regulate and protect individuals and society. It is expressed by intellect and cautiousness. Based on the principle of reality, ego is the mediator of the contradiction between inner world and the outside world. Furthermore, ego develops with the studying process and the adaptability of the environment. Superego, regarded as the moralized ego, is located in the highest level of one’s personality. And it is formed by the individual’s acceptation of the moralities and regularities in social life. In social life, superego formulates the norms of moralities, and its major functions are introducing ego and restricting id. Then one could achieve the ideal personality.

Freud regarded, the aim of id is to pursue happiness, the goal of ego is to pursue reality and the purpose of superego is to achieve the perfection. Ego must submit the forced rules of superego, and it should not only find the satisfactions of id, but also take the values which are not violating the rules of superego into consideration. In general, id, ego and superego are balanced in the coordination of each other, which ensures the regular development of one’s personality.

2.2 The development of the Triple Personality Theory

The Triple Personality Theory was created by Sigmund Freud at the end of 19th century. As a modern trend of thought, the Triple Personality Theory has been spread broadly in many fields, such as psychics, medical science, literature, pedagogic, etc. At the very beginning, psychoanalysis was just a curing method of the mental sickness; later, the method was led into the studies of psychology. And until 1920s, psychoanalysis was used in the fields of history, culture and history. Thus, the Triple Personality Theory has become a philosophical theory.

Although Freud generally objected to modifications of his ideas when they are suggested by other people, he constantly revised them by himself. And he kept his capacity for creative innovation until the end of his life. During the early 1920s, the latter part of the World War I, Freud made extensive additions to, and revisions of, psychoanalytic theory. There are three most important aspects of the revisions: they are narcissism, the structure of the mental apparatus, and recognition of the signification of aggressive impulses in addition to sexual ones.

Actually, Freud's theory of personality includes three fields, and they are Hierarchical theory of consciousness, Theory of personality development and Theory of personality structure (Triple Personality Theory).

The Hierarchical theory of consciousness expounds mental activities, such as desire, impulse, thinking, fantasy, judgment, decision, emotion and so on. Freud believed that all these activities would happen in different hierarchies. They are consciousness, preconciousness and subconsciousness.

The Theory of personality development includes five periods. The first is oral stage (0 to 18 months). At this stage the mouth, lips and the tongue are emotional areas, and babies in this stage are easy to rely on others. The second stage is anal stage (18 months to 3 years old). At this stage the erogenous zone is the anus, and it's easy to have a two character: anal discharge character and anal sex constipation sex character. The third stage is phallic stage (age 3 to 6 years). At this stage the erogenous zone in genital, and people would appear the character differentiation. It's easy to have a mother and father plot plot. The fourth stage is latent stage (age 6 to 12 years old). At this stage, children’s activity show a trend of separation between men and women. The

fifth stage is genital stage (adolescent to grow). This stage is also called the genital stage. Since then, people have had the demand to similar age of the opposite sex, and begin to have sexual life and the consciousness of the marriage and family. At this point, the development of sexual psychology to become mature.

The three levels of Triple Personality Theory are intertwined, and form an organic whole. At normal circumstances, the three parts are in a state of coordination and balance, so as to ensure the normal development of the personality. If all three disorders and even in destruction, it would produce psychological barriers, and endanger the development of personality.

Freud thought that the Triple Personality Theory was a whole, and each part under it interacted with the other two. Among them there was a kind of balanced relationship of one’s personality. By this balance, one could achieve his aims and live in regularity under the restrictions of morality and reality. If id, ego and superego lose their balance and cause a chaos of one’s inner, one would be trapped in frenzy. The tragic fate of Bigger Thomas in Native Son was caused by this kind of imbalance.

Ⅲ. The paradoxical develop ment of Bigger’s inner world

In Native Son, Bigger Thomas is just a typical bad black young man, but he is depicted more thoughtful than other black men in the novel. Born in a poor black family, Bigger doesn’t submit to his fate. Unlike his mother, Bigger is not a pious Christian, and he is not an alcoholic like his girl friend Bessie. He is also unlike Uncle Tom in Uncle Tom’s Children who is always grinning and bearing it whatever he is faced with. Bigger is a fully new figure of the black culture. But he is seldom educated, so he often acts under the desire and impulsion from his id. He is not reconciled to his fate and struggles in the society to pursue an opportunity of equality. In this process, we witness his manifestation of id, his expansion of id, and the disappearance of his ego and superego; at last, his rational regression when he is at the last moment in his life.

3.1 The manifestation of Bigger’s Id

At the beginning of the story, Wright shows us an awful situation of Bigger’s

family. They only rent one small room and in the crowded room there are rats on the floor. When Bigger’s mother and his sister dress up, the two boys must turn themselves back in order not to make the female feel embarrassed. Just as Wright depicts, "The two boys kept their faces averted while their mother and sister put on enough clothes to keep them”. In spite of this, Bigger still finds his own little fulfillment of happiness, such as stealing a glance while his sister dressing up and enjoying his sister’s fear of a rat in his hand. While the whole family members are in chaos, Bigger only cares about his own entertainment. That is Bigger’s id under the principle of happiness.

As a black young man, Bigger Thomas has been depressed by the racial discrimination and oppressed by the poverty of life. At the beginning, Bigger is a regular man though he is always dissatisfied with his unfair fate. We can say his id, ego and superego are a little bit balanced to some degree. In book one, Wright depicts Bigger and his several friends Gus, G.H. and Jack planned to rob a white businessman called Blum. Although they made a detailed plan in advance, Bigger’s fare of the white man finally led to the planned robbery’s failure by making a purpose trouble with one of his friends, Gus. Durin g fighting with him, Bigger beats Gus “really before he was conscious of doing so”. Thus Bigger is totally controlled by his anger and fear. Therefore we find that in Bigger’s mind, ego and id each have a place in Bigger’s mind. Although he is filled with the hatred to the white, he still obeys the principle of society and morality.

Before accepting the work, driving for Mr. Dalton, Bigger acts almost based on his id---the desire of instinct and impulse of emotion. He always wants to change the situation of obeying and submitting. Once he said that they have whatever they want, but we have nothing; they can do everything, but we can do nothing. And in his heart, he has a kind of impulse to do something, just as he wants to do. These are the expression of Big ger’s id, the normal id, but it under the control of his ego.

Going to the Dalton’s as a driver and worker for the furnace is the first time for Bigger to walk into the white’s world. He cannot get used to the friendliness of Jan, Mary and Mr. Dalton because of the long-time fear and dread. At the first time he meet Jan, the white young man shakes hands with Bigger on his own initiative, and even

invite him to have dinner at one table. All of these astonished Bigger and he finds a different world of the white. But he still does not believe this kind of friendliness because of the fear. He feels uncomfortable when faced with the unfamiliar friendliness, and even rejects it. He thinks that it is these "friendly” white skins that make his “black” skin totally exposed, and he even has some hatred of them. “I hate her (Mary), from before meeting her.” At last, he even also hates Jan, as well as his friendliness. At this moment, their “white” makes him realize his own “black”. These are no doubt a manifestation of Id.

As for Bigger’s girl friend Bessie, Bigger also shows no care for her. For him, Bessie is just a tool used to fulfill his desire and later, he regarded Bessie as his helper to blackmail Mr. Dalton. Thus, when he finds Bessie is not useful at all, he even killed her ruthlessly.

In a word, Bigger Thomas’s id has been shown apparently by his wild instinct, his tendency to violence and his self-concerned way of life. His id’s manifestation appears in almost every aspect at his life, and it becomes stronger and stronger.

3.2 The expansion of Bigger’s Id

As what has mentioned above, Bigger accepted little education and only acts according to his desire of instinct and impulse of emotion. Once he has stepped into the society, his personality was influenced greatly by his strong id. Stepping into Mr. Dalton's big house, the unfamiliarity made him feel so uncomfortable that his id gradually becomes stronger and stronger. Although all the Dalton’s family members treat Bigger friendly, as well as the lively young rich girl Mary and her boy friend Jan, who is one of the Communist Party members, they not only cannot touch Bigger in his heart, but also let Bigger become more hostile to them. The reason is that Bigger feels ashamed when facing the white, the rich and the nobleness of the white man. In his potential consciousness, Bigger has a “prejudice” against all white men, and he cannot distinguish the hatred from the fear towards the white. As the author portrayed, “she was beautiful, slender, with an air that made him feel that she did not hate him with that hate of other white people. But, for all of that, she was white and he hated her.” Therefore Bigger gradually leads himself on the wrong side of unreality and he is

trapped into the state of irrationality. Then his id expands.

The expansion of Bigger’s id is shown mainly in several plots. The first one appeared in book one before Bigger kills Mary by accident. As a young man, Bigger naturally has a desire of women, especially beautiful women. He always stares a beautiful woman when wandering on the street. In book one, as the author portrays, “Automatically, his eyes followed each car as it whirred over the smooth black asphalt.

A woman came by and he watched the gentle sway of her body until she disappeared into a doorway. He sighed, scratched his chin and mumbled”. Although he was eager to beautiful women, his ego at that time is strong enough to control his id.

But when stepping into the Dalton’s, and after Bigger meeting Mary, he thinks that she is beautiful as he imagined before. At a midnight, he has to send the totally drunken Mary to her own room. When keeping Mary in his arms, Bigger’s mental process was complex. “He felt her hair brush his lips. His skin glowed warm and his muscles flexed; he looked at her face in the dim light, his senses drunk with the odor of her hair and skin. He stood for a moment; then whispered in excitement and fear...” Then Bigger’s instinct occupied his whole mind. When keeping Mary in his arms, he thought, “She was smaller than Bessie, his girl, but much softer.”

In addition to this, there is a detailed depiction to show his great id eventually beat his weak ego.

“Something urged him to leave at once, but he lean over her, excited, looking at her face in the dim light, not wanting to take his

hands from her beasts. She tossed and mumbled sleepily. He

tightened his fingers on her beasts, kissing her again, feeling her

move towards him. He was aware only of her body now; his lips

trembled.”

It is so apparently that Bigger’s id is largely expanded, and his ego is totally defeated.

Another plot shows that Bigger’s id expands is that Bigger went to his girl friend’s home after killing Mary by accident and then burned her into the furnace. Filled with fear and flurry, Bigger came to B essie’s home, and when he came in, he wanted to do

nothing but kiss her. It is actually a manifestation of the strong id. At that moment, he did not think his result of killing Mary, did not worry about his family and even his own fate as a normal person, but only searched for a fulfillment for his physical desire. “He grabbed her arm and pulled her to him, kissing her long and hard, feeling as he did so that she was not responding.” This description is in book two—flight. We can see that Bigger’s id is str ong enough to cover all his morality and fear.

Through these plots, we find that when the id begins to expand, Bigger lost his balance in personality and even did something immoral. At that moment, the ego does not work to control the great id. And the man will be worse and worse when he loses his ego.

3.3 The constraint of Bigger’s Ego and Superego

For a long period, Bigger had a kind of feeling that he hated the white people, but was still afraid of them. That was because of the lifelong racial discrimination and oppression. In order to avoid being found by Mrs. Dalton that he was staying at a white girl’s room at midnight, he covered Mary’s face so tightly and finally killed her unexpectedly. It was not only because Bigger wanted to protect himself in the white people’s environment, but also because of the long-time social pressure to him. When the id was strong enough to break through the restriction of ego, it would cause a tragedy. Just as Bigger said when he meet Mary and Jan for the first time, “They shoved me too hard, and did not leave me any room.” On one hand, he admires all of the things owned by the white men, and he thinks those things never belong to him. On the other hand, he always worries about that he would be humiliated by the white people at any time and he was always anxious when he was faced with them. This kind of morbid mental activity and the oppressed id got off his chest eventually through the death of Mary.

Therefore, after killing Mary, Bigger had a feeling of freedom or excitement, but he could not describe. He just felt the liberation that he had never had, and there rise a kind of proud feeling. Because he did what the white people never thought he would do. He poured out all his restricted hatred and pressure all the time, and even threw Mary’s dead body into the furnace. We could not imagine that this was what a black

young man did under the condition without any planning. It was obvious that the principle of morality according to Bigger’s superego was gradually disappearing in his personality structure.

At that moment, Bigger’s ego and superego almost weaken to disappear, and his id occupied Bigger’s whole mind. The whole body was lost in an imbalance.

After killing Mary and burning her body in the furnace, Bigger did not stop to realize his crime. He even planned to blackmail Mr. Dalton for a large sum of money. Of course, he could not accomplish this only by himself, so he wanted his girl friend Bessie to help him. After telling his mistaking to Bessie, the girl was astonished greatly. She was scared to death when thinking of the situation. “But, Bigger, honey... Let’s don’t do that. We getting along all right like we is now...” Bigger’s distorted superego made him more and more morbid in his personality. And with the constraint of superego, he became wilder. Wright portrays that, “He began to doubt her; he had never heard this tone in her voice before.... To stop Bessie who knew too much would be easy. He could take the butcher knife and cut her throat.” What a brutish natur e Bigger has!

To prevent his girl friend Bessie from revealing his killing of Miss. Dalton, he even killed Bessie! In an empty room of a spared building, he thought about that the gun would make too much noise so he could not use it, and then he thought of the brick. When Bessie was in a deep sleeping, he began.

“Then he took a deep breath and his hand gripped the brick and shot

upward and paused a second and then plunged downward through the

darkness to the accompaniment ... He lifted the brick again and again...”

Then he did not stop. He was worrying about that Bessie would be his obstacle to flee. He made another decision---threw Bessie down from the building’s window. In the end, Bessie was cold to death. Until that time, Bigger’s superego totally shru nk and then disappeared.

At that time Bigger’s id, ego and superego were totally losing balance. Id occupied the dominates space. And he thought himself finally did something, and could make his own decision. However, his so called freedom cost him so much, and

his tragedy came into being because of the imbalance of his triple personality.

3.4 The rational regression of Bigger Thomas

Finally, Bigger’s flight did not keep a long time, and he was caught by the police in the top of the empty building. Although he struggled and rebelled, he was after all a black man and under the control of the white people. “Two men stretched his arms out, as though about to crucify him; they placed a foot on each of his wrists, making them sink deep down in the snow. His eyes closed, slowly, and he was swallowed in darkness.” This is the author’s depict about Bigger when he was caught, and this is also the beginning of Bigger’s realization of his own tragedy. From then on, Bigger began to get mature and think about his life, as well as the significance of living and death. Eventually, Bigger broke through the chains of blindly rebellion and he was called a tragic hero.

Bigger calmed down and thought about many things after he was arrested and then sent to the jail. He set off a spiritual journey to all the things that happened to him. This was a transition for Bigger. In the prison, Bigger realized that his wrong actions of killing two women had caused a disaster to his whole family, they could be homeless, his sister’s class wo uld be stopped and they might be trapped into a more difficult dilemma. “His mother and brother and sister had come to see him and he had told them to stay home, not to come again, to forget him.” From these words, we can see that Bigger still cared for his family. At that moment, Bigger realized the intimate relationship between his family and him, and the close connection between him and the black community.

During the detection and lawsuit of Bigger’s case, we could find clearly that the American law was so hypocritical. It did not think about the black people or protect the black people at all. It only helped the white people to emphasize the bad influence made by a black young man, and they wanted to try their best to execute Bigger in order to give a caution to the black world. So they only cared about the white people’s profit rather than the black. As to the death of two women, the one was a white girl, and the other was a black. The law only cared about Mary and the Dalton’s, but nobody payed attention to Bessie. So in the jail, Bigger made many things clear, and gradually,

he became more and more rational.

Many people made Bigger change his original mind about the white people, like his lawyer Max, a white old man and Mary’s boyfriend Jan, a member of the Communist Party, as well as Max’s sincere guidance and help to Bigger and the care from Jan who did not blame Bigger’s morbid mind to him. Bigger began to change his opinion about the white people, at least about a few people. He was moved by the sincerity of old Max and Jan. Although it may be very slight, the effect cannot be ignored. Bigger put down the precautions and hostility about Jan, this means that Bigger became more and more rational. Maybe it was what the author wants to tell us—Bigger was kind and simple in essence. In his last period of life, he realized that not all the white people were foe to him, and not all of them keep prejudice against the black people. So what had caused Bigger’s tragedy were the horrible racial discrimination and the distorted social system. They turned a lively young man into a distorted killer.

The rational regression also could be manifested by Bigger’s meditation about what he had done. He began to think about what the series of things he had done could bring to him on earth, or what these things had changed. He wanted to get rid of poverty and be treated with the way white people was treated. His dream was to get freedom, gain a job and live in a better way, but now the dream was disillusioned. In his mediation in the calmness, he realized his being in the end, therefore in the prison, Bigger appeared abnormally calm down. And in the end, he expressed a sense of regret of killing Mary and Bessie, which shows Bigger’s regression in morality and consciousness.

All in all, Bigger experienced a complex process in his mentality and personality. We can see that he has gradually become mature from a naive young man. At first, he only showed his id and acted irrationally, and his id even expanded quickly. With the constraint of his ego and superego, Bigger made so many crimes and his personality became totally distorted. Then after his being caught, his mind and reason were formed again, and we found the rational regression of him. However, he came to the end of his life.

Ⅳ. The causes of the imbalance of Bigger’s personality

In the novel Native Son, Bigger’s ending is undoubtedly a tragedy, which is not only a tragedy of his own personality, but also a tragedy of society. This is mainly because of his morbid personality. B ut what caused Bigger’s morbid personality? I think the reasons are as follows: firstly, Bigger’s fear of his own identity—an African American; secondly, Bigger’s psychological distortion and suppression; thirdly, the oppression from society the prejudice from the white and the blindness of the powerful people.

4.1 The fear of self-identity—an African American

For Richard Wright’s age, being a black man was unfortunate. Bigger was an example of them, and he could only live in a small rented room together with all his family. The environment was disgusting but they had no choice because of poverty. When he was a child, he had already begun to realize that he was a Negro, and he was different from the white people. He always thought that they were white, and I was black; they could get what they want to get, and do what they like; but I cannot, and I have nothing. Being an African American, Bigger hated the white people, as well as the black people, and he even hated himself. The self identity made him dare not to talk with the white man, and he feared to do the illegal thing at the beginning, such as robbing Blum’s store. And the fear of being an African American made him regard the “black skin” as a symbol of humiliation. He was very sensible about his black s kin, especially being contrasted with the white people.

Therefore, when he met Mary for the first time, he began to hate her because of Mary’s mighty words to him. Actually that was because of Mary’s character, but Bigger thought that it was Mary who wanted to make difficulties for him on purpose. So in the end of the novel, Bigger said the following words to Max, “As long as she said something to me, and I give her a glimpse, I must hate her. Maybe I began to hate her before meeting her.” And before Jan a nd Mary, Bigger felt so uncomfortable, and he thought that he was naked and was an object that they were dallying with at will.

As what has mentioned before, Bigger accepted little education and only acted

according to his desire of instinct and impulse of emotion. Here, fear was also an instinct and in order to cover this kind of fear, Bigger began to commit a crime. Although he killed Mary by accident, the fundamental reason was his fear. He feared to be discovered by Mrs. Dalton, feared to be accused of the crime that he stayed with a white girl in her room at midnight, and he feared to die.

Because of the fear, Bigger needed “security”, and the security he needed came out of his fear of all things. So when the police found Mary’s bone in the furnace, B igger chose to flee from Dalton’s. When Bessie knew all the process of Bigger’s killing, he wanted to make Bessie bear responsibility of the crime together with him and let her flee with him. When realized Bessie may reveal his crime, he killed Bessie after the furious conflict in his inner heart. The two killing from Bigger, no matter he did it on purpose or not, both show Bigger’s fear and his searching safety for himself.

Being a black person in a very poor family, Bigger knew clearly that what he could do and what he could not. He realized the unfairness from the society deeply, and he even despaired of his life. On one hand, he was an African American, he could not achieve his dream in the same way like the white man; on the other, because he could not change the situation of poverty by his own hands, he was fear of his endless difficult life. So the feeling of despair was filled in his mind, he had to let them off through his distorted personality. For a long period, in order to cover the feeling of despair, he lived in a state of imbalance of personality.

4.2 Bigger’s psychological distortion and suppression

With the identity of being an African American, Bigger gradually became a person of the morbid psychology. His disposition became irritable, and when together with his family, he was always furious. When accompanying his girlfriend Bessie, he did not express a sense of care, but search his own satisfaction of sexual desire. When staying with his friends, he even treated them with violence. As to the white people, the only emotion in Bigger’s mind was hatred. All of this irregular situations show that it was the result of Bigger’s psychological distortion and suppression.

Because Bigger’s psychological distortion and suppression, he was always easy t o be furious. When his mother blamed him about something, he always contradicted

his mother. One day Bigger caught the big rat and beat it to death, instead of throwing it outside, “Bigger laughed and approached the bed with the dangling rat, swinging it to and fro like a pendulum, enjoying his sister’s fear.” The author depicted Bigger’s indifference to his family. His mother often reprimanded him, “Bigger, honest, you the most no-contest man I ever seen in all my life!” “You done told me that a thousand times.” said Bigger, not looking round. We found that Bigger’s attitude towards his family was so indifferent. Because he had the distorted personality, his inner state could not be balanced in any time. He always shut their voices out of his mind. He even hated them because he knew that they were suffering and that he was powerless to help them.

Bigger chose a cold attitude towards his family. He knew that once he totally realize what terrible life he was suffering, he would commit suicide, or he would kill others. Therefore, he must control himself, and pretended to be very cold. Such as the following description, after his mother reminding him several times of going to Dalton’s at five in afternoon, he shouted to his mother, “You have said one thousand t imes. I have told you that I planned to accept it.” Then he slung the door with great force and went out.

At first it was Bigger’s idea to rob Blum’s store together with his other three friends. But they all fear to make this robbery, because this was the first time for them to rob a white man. If they failed, the result could not be forecast. When his plan was supported by G.H. and Jack, only without Gus’s supporting, Bigger still feared to that action. Filled with hatred and fear, he turned all of his fear to Gus. But he was also worried about Gus’s supporting. As long as Gus said “Yes”, he must do it. So he abused Gus at first, then he beat and kicked him. Finally, the time to rob was delayed and the plan was in vain because of the fear, especially to the white man.

As for his girlfriend Bessie, Bigger totally regarded her as his tool of the sex desire. He did not care about her at all. Under the psychological distortion and suppression, Bigger could only search some transitory happiness from Bessie. No wonder later, when he worried about that Bessie would reveal his secret, he killed her without hesitation.

Bigger’s psychological distortion and suppression also were show by his hatred of the white people. He deepened the hatred every time he thought of that the white people could do whatever they want, but being a black man, he could not; the white could go to any place wherever they want, but being a black man, he had no way. He wanted to give his family a better life, but he was helpless. He had so many dreams, being rich, being a pilot and being educated more, but they could not achieve only by himself. Therefore his mental process was distorted, his personality was in imbalance and his life was under suppression.

4.3 The oppression from society

Bigger’s personality became distorted and lost the balance among the id, ego and superego. Expect the internal reasons, the fear of his identity as a black man and his psychological distortion and suppression, the oppression from society in Wright’s age was the m ajor reason of the imbalance of Bigger’s personality.

4.3.1 The prejudice from the white

In Chicago, as a result of the racial discrimination and the social system, the white people and the black people were divided into two totally different worlds. In the divided world, the white people could enjoy the supreme rights, could do any honorable jobs and could come in and go out of the luxurious places. In the contrary, the black people had no freedom to do anything. They were restricted tightly in one fixed area, and the works they did were those things being done as the slavery of the white people. At that time, the law of America was only appropriate for the white people, and the so called democracy was not a meaning of right or profit at all for the black people. The white people in themselves discriminated against the black people extremely, and all the black people lived in the area controlled by the white man. In such a world without the law, without the economy, but only had robbery and killing, the bla ck people’s living environment became worse and worse, especially for the protagonist Bigger in the novel, whose inward world was filled with haze and endless despair. It was not very difficult to be understood that realizing this level of the society, Bigger was so despair and he wanted to fight against this unfair situation between the white people and the black people, but he had no strength.

Bigger was extremely unsatisfied with this kind of unfairness about the black people, because in his mind, an idea had already formed—it was different forever between the white people and the black people. However, Bigger was filled with the sense of fear about the white people’s world. So Bigger became abnormally violent and indifferent because of the contrived poverty and the unchangeable fate. But these violence and indifference could not be eliminated in that of the fear of the white people’s world, it could only be eliminated through the wrath and violence to Bigger’s family and his friends.

4.3.2 The “blindness” of the powerful people

In the novel Native Son, the protagonist Thomas Bigger was lost in imbalance of his personality. The reason must have something to do with the blindness of the powerful people in American government, and the best examples were Mrs. Dalton and Mr. Dalton.

In Wright’s description, we found the word “blind” over and over again. In such a big and wealthy family, Mrs. Dalton was a blind lady. Here Wright used a perfect symbolism. Mrs. Dalton’s blindness was a symbolism of all the Americ an political people, as well as her husband Mr. Dalton. It was obvious that the Dalton’s family was an epitome of all the white people in American society. Mrs. Dalton only cared about the educational situation of the workers in her family. As it was depicted, they had already sent the last worker in this family to the night school. Then she asked Bigger about his educational situation, and planned to let Bigger accept more education. But what Mrs. Dalton did not know was that she could not change the whole situation of the black people.

In addition to Mrs. Dalton, Mr. Dalton was also a typical example of the blindness. In his appearance, it seemed that he was an extremely kind person for the black people. He always hired black people to work and paid them salary, he gave large sums of money to the black people’s educational institution and he was a supporter of the organizations that benefited for the colored people. However, actually he charged too much money of the black people renting his houses. He never knew that how difficult that a four-people family lived together in one small room but paid too much fee.

So the powerful people like Mr. Dalton could never see the restriction they made to the black people, or they actually knew it but still wanted to oppress them. Their oppression let thousands of black people like Bigger lose their personal balance and made some tragedy of their life in the end. Just as Wright said in his novel, this book expressed one Bigger Thomas, and twelve billion of “Bigger Thomas” consisted of the mind of the black nation.

Ⅴ. The influence of Bigger’s personal imbalance on his fate

Bigger was regarded as an example of thousands of the black people who have the same fate eventually. The suffering life environment and the self-definition of being an African American caused Bigger to lose his balance of personality. Although it is the result about his dissatisfaction’s on the unfair situation, he brought himself the doomed tragedy. It caused many great influences about Bigger and the black nation. First of all, Bigger’s morality became gradually degraded. Secondly, what he had done did not change the miserable life of the black people. Thirdly, it brought him the doomed tragic fate—death. All of the influence came from the imbalan ce of Bigger’s id, ego and superego.

5.1 The degradation of Bigger’s morality

According to the depiction in book three, we can see that Wright might want to tell the readers that Bigger originally was a kind man, a man with the conscience. However, what he had done before show that he was immoral, and even with barbarity because his personality became distorted.

As is known to all, Mary’s death was totally an accident by Bigger, but may be because of fear and dread, his following action show the degradation of his morality. When he found Mary was dead after his forced covering with the pillow, he decided to put her body into the suitcase. Then when carrying the suitcase went through the basement, he saw the furnace. He trembled with another idea---he could put her into the furnace. He could burn her!

“He had all but her shoulder in.” Furthermore, “He gripped her shoulders and pushed hard, but the body would not go any farther. He tried again, but her head still

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