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Curtain and Walls All throughout life Bigger Thomas had led life behind a curtain. Fear, shame and hate are what spawned Bigger to isolate himself from other, and even separate him from himself. There are only certain times where Bigger steps in front of the curtain, and even then he is aching to return to his hermitage. Bigger is the manifestation of Richard Wright’s envisionment of a Negro in the 1930’s: poor, black, and without a chance from the start. Native Son shows how African-Americans (especially Bigger) hid behind curtains (walls) to help them cope with the cruel and unjust world in which they had to live. Bigger and his gang of friends had always gotten into petty trouble for the small crimes that they had committed, however never anything too serious. This was all going to change when Bigger decided that he was going to rob Blum, a white storekeeper. They had previously only robbed other African-Americans because they knew that the police would not diligently try and help black people who had crimes committed against them. Bigger was fascinated but also frightened at the idea, and because he knew that his friend Gus also had a strong sense of trepidation about the robbery, he exploited Gus’ fear so the gang wouldn’t see the fear Bigger had himself.
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