1. After Book 1, I held a lot of sympathy for Bigger. I felt that after Mary's death for the first time in his life he had actually tried to do the right thing. He had the best intentions for himself to keep away from punishment and I feel like Mary immediatly set up for a poor fate. The second that Mary contradicted what Mr. Dalton had told him he was automatically stuck in a corner. If he denied Mary, she could tell Mr. Dalton a lie about Bigger to get him fired. If he listened to Mary, whether he killed her or not he would automatically be fired for disobeying Mr. Dalton. In the white supremecist society disobeying any white person is automatic punishment for a black man regardless of if the decision of the black man was morally right or wrong. So after Book 1, I felt that it was the color of Bigger's skin, that put him in that awful position leading up to the death of Mary.

2. At first glance, I easily lose a lot of sympathy for Bigger while reading the second Book. He moves on to make Mary's death a way for him to receive money, he talks about the how killing Mary gives him a sense of empowerment, he drags innocent Bessie into the situation putting her in a place of danger, and he manipulates everyone around him. Then when I step back and try to see the story through Bigger's eyes, I realize how sad it is that he acts and feels this way. It is truly sad that the only way he feels empowered is by killing another human being. At one point Bigger thinks to himself , " There was something he knew and something he felt; something the world gave him and something he himself had. . . . Never in all his life, with this black skin of his, had the two worlds, thought and feeling, will and mind, aspiration and satisfaction, been together; never had he felt a sense of wholeness." How sad it is that society is so corrupted, that all a black man can have to himself is a murder? On another note, How sad is it that Bigger can play the role of dumb Black man and everyone will follow along like it is only right? At one point Britten after questioning Bigger says, "aww he's a dumb cluck, he doesn't know anything." It really is sad that Bigger can use these stereotypes to his own advantage. I really do think that by getting money from the Dalton's (aside from keeping the pressure off him) is really another desperate act to less inferior to white society. In a less dramatic sense, I keep seeing a connection between Bigger and drowned out celebrities that make bad decisions to feel that empowerment of attention again. They will do anything just to be noticed. Though Bigger's situation and that of a washed up celebrity is completely different, they both show humanities desperation to feel a sense of power and ownership. Although I do not approve of anything Bigger is doing, I can see that his reactions are just deep down coming from a place desperation and lifetime of living in a corrupt, extremely divided society.
-Liz Kleisner.