Thursday, February 4, 2010
Society deserves no blame for Bigger's murder of Mary. Yes, white society had pushed Bigger towards violent tendencies with its relentless racism, but does that mean Bigger is not responsible for his actions? He did not murder Mary out of the rage or uncontrollable aggression that he had been driven towards by society, but rather it was an unintended mistake he made out of fear of loosing his job. Had he lived in a world free of racism, wouldn't he have made the same mistake? Although it was unintended, and he did not intentionally kill Mary, that doesn't mean he does not deserve punishment for his actions. Bigger should receive the entire blame, because there were no other parties in what seems to be a tragic case of manslaughter. Society did not push Bigger to kill, and we cannot shift blame away from him solely based on the fact that he was a black man living in a society where blacks were trapped beneath their white counterparts.
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2 comments:
Matt, you ask some compelling questions that deserve consideration. I also think you need to figure out your own answers to some of the questions you ask because people in Monday's debate will probably push you on some of the points your questions bring up.--Mrs. Holst
You were right Mrs. Holst. The other side did push me on some of these points. There were some ideas that I thought were clean-cut and undebatable, but the other side just seemed to think diffrently. They were set on their belief that Bigger killed Mary out of fear of the legal charges that would be brought upon him because he was black, even though the only fear he mentioned was that he'd loose his job, and that was the worst they could do to him.
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