In killing the white character Mary, Bigger “force[s] his oppressors to see the fruit of that oppression.” Yet
Wright does not explore Bigger’s subjectivity to a sufficient degree, and when Bigger dies he is not shown to be a martyr-like symbol for his community, but rather as an isolated individual who acted out of “his hatred and his self-hatred.”
Baldwin argues that
Native Son is doomed by its replication of the (false) American understanding of black life. In the end, Bigger is redeemed by progressive white people, who end up confirming that black life is just as “debased and impoverished” as racist ideology teaches people to believe. White readers are easily convinced that such conditions could produce the “monstrosity” of Bigger’s life. Furthermore, Bigger becomes a warning sign of the possibility of black people seeking vengeance for the injustices they have suffered. Baldwin argues that such a warning misses the point that such vengeance is unlikely, in part because white and black Americans exist in a “blood relation.”