Society is almost completely culpable for the murder of Mary Dalton. Within the first twenty pages of the text Bigger talks about his want to fly an airplane, but realizes he cannot because white people will not let him. Richard Wright makes it very clear that Bigger is a poor, barely educated black person during the Great Depression. His opportunities are basically non-existent and his ability to combat the opression put on him by white people is non-existent. Mary Dalton intimidates him because he realizes she is a wild, white girl, and that she'll get him into trouble. When Mary tells Bigger to look her in the eye and shake hands with Jan, she is completely oblivious to the needs of Bigger and the pressures the black community will hang over him if he makes friends with the white people. This intimidation and hate would be enough to scare anyone, but the fact the Bigger is black and Mary is white makes it worse than fear, it makes it deadly. Society caused all of this rage and curiosity. I strongly believe that if Bigger were born a white boy none of this would have ever happened.

-Jamie Davenport