It is my belief that Bigger Thomas would not have felt threatened by the presence of Mrs. Dalton, and therefore led to smother her daughter for securities sake, had society not forced unwritten rules of oppression upon him. Bigger's actions were out of fear for his own life, not of malicious intent, with a premeditated plan to kill Mary Dalton. Society had taught Bigger to place white people above himself, by using back doors, words such as Mam and Sir, and living in dilapidated neighborhoods infested with rats. Bigger was expected to help Mary hide her drunken state from her mother, because he was the black employee, and she, the rich white employer. When it became clear that Mary could not navigate the route to her bedroom alone, it fell under Bigger's responsibility to assist her. But the nature of society can be paradoxal, and Bigger was trapped, forced to help Mary, but quite possibly at the risk of his own future. Had society allowed a margin for error, and the acceptance that at times, a black man might need to be alone in a room with a white woman, I belive Mary would have been saved, and Bigger could have also escaped the situation unharmed.
-Tarryn