Response Paper #2

Matt Altstiel
Instructor Lauren Curtright
EngL 1201, Intro to Am Lit
Response paper #2
6/27/05

Just Ahead of Bigger

In the modern American novel, the author has three choices of narrative voice which he/she can use to tell the story: first person, third person, and third person omniscient. In his novel, Native Son, Richard Wright employs the Limited Third Person Omniscient. Such a distinction in narrative voice allows the novel to unfold in a particular way that serves the author’s intent and keeps the reader only slightly ahead of the thoughts the novel’s protagonist. What is more, use of the Limited Third Person Omniscient allows the novel to retain focus on its main character as the emotions and thoughts of other characters, black and white are channeled through analysis of the main character. The book itself is a journey of self discovery and realization of his place in the world for the young black male protagonist Bigger Thomas, who lives in Depression Era Chicago. The use of the limited Third Person Omniscient narrative voice allows the reader to know the thoughts and emotions of Bigger Thomas that he himself cannot understand as well the growing level of self awareness that emerges throughout the novel.

The emotions and actions that the third person limited narrative reveal the most inate and primal emotions and feelings in Bigger Thomas. Giving a depiction like this takes us into Bigger world and shows the nature of his responses and the social conditioning that has produced them. Therefore, the Limited Third Person Omniscient allows the reader to empathize and understand Bigger’s behavior without necessarily condoning it. Passages like, “the moment he allowed what his life meant to fully enter into his consciousness, he would either kill himself or someone else. So he denied himself and acted tough,” explain Bigger’s early behavior, (Wright 13). Frustrated interjections such as “Goddamn!” transcend the words and actions of Bigger Thomas and represent the hopelessness and violence he feels. Unaware of his feelings, his surroundings, or the thoughts of other, Bigger is powerless to assert control over his emotions and his environment. Likewise, the reader at this point, does not know the avenue Wright suggests for changing the system and replacing the hate and fear that drives so many young men.

The Limited Third Person Omniscient narrator gradually begins using phrases like: he knew, he thought, he felt; to alert the reader to Bigger’s growing level of self consciousness. As Bigger’s self understanding grows, he learns to understand the thoughts and feelings of others and use this knowledge to his advantage. Likewise, the narrator broadens its scope to include newspapers, which as a part of society influence the actions of Bigger Thomas. The narrator reveals Bigger’s thoughts regarding his girlfriend Bessie, “he was looking at her now and seeing how blind she was. He felt the narrow orbit of her life: from the room to the kitchen of the white folks was the furthest she ever moved,” (Wright 139). Understanding the emotions and thoughts of other allows Bigger to manipulate weaker characters for his own benefit, something Bigger tries later in the novel. This new way of observing the world by Bigger leaked to the reader by the narrator advances the story and hints at events to come.

The use of the Limited Third Person Omniscient narrator allows the reader to understand the thoughts and actions of the novels protagonist, as well as to gain as Bigger does a social consciousness and an understanding of the conditions that drive the main character into action.