The Relationship Between Bigger Thomas and "The Narrator"

In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, "The Narrator" is often put in similar situations to those that Bigger Thomas found himself in in Native Son. He is forced to drive his charge outside of the university when he was instructed to drive them to the university, and he ends up taking Norton to a place that he is not comfortable being with Norton in (similar to when Bigger was forced to take Mary and Jan to the restaurant). However, when put in these situations he responds differently than Bigger Thomas. As such, "The Narrator" seems to represent the result of a thought experiment that many reader's of Richard Wright's Native Son will likely have tried out themselves: what would have been different if Bigger Thomas had had a better education?

Is this comparison valid? When exploring this interpretation of "The Narrator" an important question arises--does "The Narrator" complement or clash with the naturalist undertones of Native Son? If he does not complement them, then it is very difficult to argue that he is the product of such a thought experiment. This could easily go either way, but I think it is likely that he complements them. "The Narrator" shows very little agency in a way that is similar to Bigger's seeming lack of control over where a situation takes him. The horrible things that happen to and around him are totally out of his control. Due to his traditional education, he responds differently than Bigger to the situations he is placed in, but he still isn't in control, he just believes what is going on around him is okay.


Comments

  1. Nina GalvezSeptember 4, 2018 at 9:07 PM

    Good post! I liked your comparison with these two books. I agree that both these situations are very similar, even in the way the characters act and the outcome of the scenes. I would like to point out that with the narrators further education, it seems that he has become more like a pon in society. Bigger is also a product of society however he has very reactive attitudes and probably would have dealt with the situation differently with further education. That said, both characters are helpless in these scenes because they are fundamentally black.

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  2. IzzySeptember 7, 2018 at 10:36 AM

    I definitely agree that at least from what we've read, both main characters are pretty helpless. I also agree with you that the narrator is just more accepting than Bigger. I would also say that while they are both very helpless character's they follow completely different paths through their lives and are not at all the same character.

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  3. Peter ZhangSeptember 13, 2018 at 2:17 PM

    What's interesting is that Bigger seems to know about the racial dynamics between Blacks and Whites, while Invisible Man's narrator doesn't (at least not at first). Neither is able to control their lives, though. Bigger fights against the forces controlling his life, while the Narrator just "goes with the flow".

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  4. Aidan GarrettSeptember 13, 2018 at 9:20 PM

    I think that the comparison between the narrator and Bigger is very valid and important. As Mr. Mitchell mentioned, Ellison wrote Invisible Man as a sort of response to Native Son. As such it is important to look at the scenes that are mirrored between the books and look at the slight differences.

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  5. MitchellSeptember 17, 2018 at 2:06 PM

    And yet we get the paradoxical fact that the narrator's education, at this point, has not given him an independent critical consciousness but rather a simplistic rule-following concern that he's going to "get in trouble" for allowing Norton to see these things. His reactions are notably different from Bigger's inarticulate anxiety, shame, and fear, but he does share all these same feelings--he's more articulate about his anxiety, shame, and fear, but he has no real ability (at this point) to see the situation in any kind of privileged or analytical way. Like Bigger, he's mainly worried about getting in trouble with his boss for going "off script." As a "student" in his brief higher-education phase, we only see him serving as a chauffeur, worrying about staying "within the lines" (reiterated by the constant mention of the white line dividing the black highway). Of course, they "haven't gotten to" Emerson and self-reliance yet.

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