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Native Son, Boris Max's Defense
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“Innocent until proven guilty” was the basis for the defense that Boris Max provided for Bigger. Richard Wright went into great detail on the defense of Bigger in his book Native Son. He showed how much this one trial meant to Boris Max. Boris Max stayed up many nights and could not sleep at all. Why did Boris Max want to defend Bigger, who was obviously guilty of murder though he had tried to blame it on the Communist Party? Max thought that Bigger’s environment caused him to commit the murder and it was done as an act of self-realization. Also, Max thought that this trial was a step not only for Bigger, but for the whole African-American race and other minority groups. Although Max went into the trial with a handicap, his defense was very powerful. First, Boris Max thought Bigger’s environment led him to his murder. Bigger lived in the Black Belt of Chicago and had very poor living conditions. Bigger, Buddy, Vera, and Ma all lived in a house together and when they woke up, the two boys had to avert their eyes while the other two got dressed. Also, the story opened with a rat entering into the room. Buddy and Bigger captured the rat and Bigger then killed it. Richard Wright described the sensation that Bigger got when he killed the rat. It says that he felt powerful after he had killed the rat. Also, Max points out that Mr. Dalton was to blame for the environment in which Bigger lived. Bigger lived in one of the houses that Mr. Dalton rented out. Max points out that Mr. Dalton would not let any of the black families rent in the other parts of the besides the small, run down Black Belt. Since Bigger was forced to live in this neighborhood, he had never interacted with a person of another race. Naturally, Bigger grew up to be scared of the white race because he had never related with them. When Bigger was in the room with Mary Dalton, he feared for his life. He did not realize what he was doing. He was just acting out of fear of the white race. The last point Max makes in the defense of Bigger concerning his environment is how the law handled the previous crimes of Bigger.
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