Rape is a primary source of fear in Richard Wright's Native Son. Through the main character of the story, Bigger Thomas, Wright reveals the idea that black men in the 1940's feared the thought of being associated with "rape", which is a result of racism and white-superiority. But, even though Bigger is afraid of such a situation, he eventually does commit "rape", which brings about his downfall and, eventually, his death.

In Native Son, Richard Wright's protagonist, Bigger Thomas, is a young, fearful, and violent black man, through which he shows the struggles that a black man must endure to support his family and get by in life. Bigger's fears are the results of living in a racist, white-dominated society. Bigger, as well as the other blacks, live in the "black belt" of town, in poorly conditioned buildings and small apartments owned by the whites. They often have low-paying jobs and are the victims of white abuse. To emphasize the economic and social crisis between the blacks and the whites, Wright often uses reoccurring metaphors. Throughout the story, he often repeats Bigger's fear of being accused of rape or even being molested himself. This is first seen when he goes to

Bigger stared. He had entirely forgotten the moment when he had carried Mary up the stairs... They would say he had raped her and there would be no way to prove that he had not. That fact had not assumed importance in his eyes until now... Had he raped her? Yes, he had raped her. Every time he felt as he had felt that night, he raped. But rape was not what one did to women. Rape was what one felt when one's back was against a wall and one had to strike out, whether one wanted to or not, to keep the pack from killing one. He committed rape every time he looked into a white face. (262-263)

"They'll.... They'll say you raped her," [Bessie said.]

the Daltons' to interview for the job and decides to take the gun with him:

This feeling of powerlessness takes Bigger even further: he has to kill Bessie to prevent himself from being caught. After the raping, Bessie is sound asleep and Bigger decides to kill her because she is now a liability: "He could not leave her here and he could not take her with him. If he took her along she would be crying all the time; she would be blaming him for all that had happened; she would be wanting whiskey to help her forget and there would be times when he could not get it for her" (272). Bigger knows that the only way he could keep Bessie satisfied and quiet is through alcohol, which is her way of escaping the world of racism and hopelessness that the white-dominated society created. And because of that, Bigger is forced to kill her, beating her head in with a brick and dumping the body down a shaft to hide the evidence. With the raping and killing of Bessie, Wright is indirectly emphasizing that the superior whites can make the inferior blacks commit "rape" on their own society and turn them against each other. Wright also added into the novel that as soon as word that Bigger had killed Mary and burned the body went out, the newspapers reported this as a "sex crime" (282) and entitled Bigger as a "rapist and murderer" (282).

Inside his shirt he felt the cold metal of the gun resting against his naked skin; he ought to put it back between the mattresses. No! He would keep it... He was going among white people, so he would take his knife and his gun... Then he thought of a good reason why he should take it; in order to get to the Dalton place, he had to go through a white neighborhood. He had not heard of any Negroes being molested recently, but he felt that i

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1625
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)