Why does Bigger attack Reverend Hammond and discard the cross Hammond has given to him?
Bigger says that the preacher has “the old voice of his mother telling of suffering, of hope, of love beyond this world. And he loathed it because it made him feel as condemned and guilty as the voice of those who hated him.” I think Bigger has reflected on Mary’s murder and consequently feels so ashamed that he doesn’t want to face his end and meet the hope and love of heaven that devout Christians such as Reverend Hammond and his mother believe in. Later, Bigger slams his cell door in Hammond’s face and throws away the cross because he saw a burning cross, a symbol of the white people’s hatred for him. Because of this, Bigger associates crosses with hatred, oppression, and racism.
Bigger says that the preacher has “the old voice of his mother telling of suffering, of hope, of love beyond this world. And he loathed it because it made him feel as condemned and guilty as the voice of those who hated him.” I think Bigger has reflected on Mary’s murder and consequently feels so ashamed that he doesn’t want to face his end and meet the hope and love of heaven that devout Christians such as Reverend Hammond and his mother believe in. Later, Bigger slams his cell door in Hammond’s face and throws away the cross because he saw a burning cross, a symbol of the white people’s hatred for him. Because of this, Bigger associates crosses with hatred, oppression, and racism.
**What two incidents in the novel indicate that the author believes that the psychiatric profession (anything doing with the mind) has contributed to racism?
Bigger being put into a cell with a ranting black man believed to be insane is a clear example of how the psychiatric profession has contributed to racism. The man shouts, “You’re afraid of me! That’s why you put me in here,” (page 344). I believe that this alludes to how the white people are also afraid of Bigger; if he raped and killed two women, one of them even being African American like himself, then he is capable of committing more heinous. The white public views him as a dangerous beast devoid of feeling and thought.
That newspapers are publishing what psychologists are saying about Bigger and the African American race as a whole is an example of how the media tries to persuade the public. If many doctors are saying that all African American men cannot help but want to take advantage of white women, people are going to believe them. These psychologists have a higher rank than newspapermen and “ordinary” citizens, and the media knows that they command more respect from and is able to influence people.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Maria(:
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