Society is definitely culpable for the murder of Mary Dalton. In the very beginning of Book One, Bigger talks about all the privalleges that whites have above blacks, and his desire to fly airplanes. Mary Dalton intimidates Bigger because he knows from the beginning that she will get him into trouble. She deliberately takes advantage of him by going against her fathers will and taking her to see her Communist boyfriend, instead of school. She knows that Bigger can't say no to a rich, white girl and is completely aware that she can get away with saying or asking anything. Does she care that Bigger could get in trouble for being seen in a car inbetween two whites? Not at all. Society doesn't want Bigger to be in that situation, or for him to be in Mary's bedroom. By placing the pillow over Mary's mouth to keep her from making any noise, Bigger is protecting himself. Bigger knows that his actions are bad, but if he was able to say no the white people the situation he is in would never have occurred. Society causes all the rage that Bigger has inside of him, which leads to the actions he takes.
- Jackie Krukowski