One character in Native Son that we didn’t get to talk about
much in class was Buddy so I wanted to explore the relationship between Bigger
and Buddy more.
In the opening scene, the narrator refers to Bigger and
Buddy multiple times as “the two boys” (3 and 4). They then work together to
kill the rat. From just this interaction, it would seem that Bigger and Buddy
are allied against the rest of the family. But when Bigger starts taunting Vera,
Buddy avoids the conflict so it seems that he is less confrontational than
Bigger and doesn’t just follow his older brother’s lead blindly.
Other times though, Buddy enters a conflict on Bigger’s
behalf. When Bigger is fighting with his mom about taking the Dalton job, Buddy
tells her “Aw, lay off Bigger […] He told you he was going to take the job.”
(11). When the family is eating breakfast the next day and Bigger is fighting
with Vera, Buddy again takes Bigger’s side, asking “What’s wrong with you,
Vera?” (109).
When Buddy returns the money Bigger dropped in the apartment,
readers can tell how much he cares about Bigger: “I—I just thought you was kind
of nervous. I wanted to help you, that’s all. I—I just thought…” (110). But
from the difficulty he’s having speaking, we know how scared Buddy is of how
Bigger will react so I’d say at that point the relationship consists more one
of Buddy admiring his older brother and hoping to be closer to him than a close
mutual bond.
Bigger is aware of how much Buddy wants to be close to him: “He
knew that Buddy was yearning to be with him, aching to share his confidence”
(110). At first Bigger responds somewhat affectionately by giving Buddy some of
the money but then he changes his mind and responds with violence: “He caught
Buddy’s arm again and squeezed it until Buddy flinched with pain” (110). But while
hurting Buddy, I think Bigger is restraining himself for Buddy’s sake. The
narrator compares Bigger’s feelings in the moment to his feelings before he
killed Mary but Bigger reassures himself that he can trust Buddy and then moves
on. I think this shows that Bigger really cares about Buddy but because Bigger
doesn’t have any models of really caring relationships and because he’s
intensely afraid of being caught, Bigger lashes out.
In “Fate,” we see Buddy and Bigger’s last interaction when
Bigger’s family comes to visit him. While Bigger’s mother is sobbing, Buddy
tells Bigger: “if you didn’t do it, just tell me and I’ll fix ‘em. I’ll get a
gun and kill four or five of ‘em” (296). Buddy is still trying to look out for
Bigger but out of lack of other options, he responds to the situation with
Bigger-like violence that we haven’t seen from him before.
We talked about how Bigger didn’t have any male role models
and now Buddy’s role model will soon be killed. Buddy is in the same conditions Bigger was in
before the start of the novel with the addition of having an infamous brother.
I can’t help wondering how his life plays out after the novel and whether he
will have any opportunities or fulfilling relationship that Bigger never had.
I like that you decided to talk about Buddy because we didn't really discuss Bigger's family much except the first day. What you talk about is very interesting and makes so much sense to me. Bigger is the only male figure that Buddy sees and most younger kids look up to their older sibling, which explains a lot. Although Buddy looks up to his older brother, we don't see him resembling Bigger's character too much until the end, so that does bring up the question of what is Buddy's life like after Bigger dies? Although Buddy might not remember his father, he has lost two adult males in his life so how is that going to affect him? Great post :)
ReplyDeleteI think you make a very interesting main point in this post, being that Buddy is now in the same conditions as Bigger was at the time, and how that could effect his actions. I agree that Buddy seems to have become more violent, or at least think more aggressively by the end of the book, as his only role model is about to be killed. I also believe that Wright might have intentionally made Buddy's character more sympathetic at the beginning of the book, so that we can see how a "Bigger Thomas" is "created". Before the rat scene, we really don't know much about Bigger's life, but now we have caught a glimpse into Buddy's, and see that there might be terrible consequences that arise from his given environment. Very interesting post!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't even thought about the consequences Bigger's actions may have had on Buddy, but everything you say here makes a lot of sense. Like Sarah said, by doing this, Wright sort of perpetuates and re-emphasizes the idea of naturalism, and how it especially affects black people in our society. But it also adds an even more tragic aspect to the book, because we actually got to see Buddy transform, and it's implied that the same thing that happened to Bigger will happen again to Buddy.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that Wright seems to re-emphasizing the idea of naturalism because he's showing that potentially Buddy will follow in the footsteps of Bigger. He is a product of the same world, and his only role model is Bigger, and given his end what kind of future are we intended to expect for Buddy? It seems like a perpetuous cycle, just continued by generational relationships.
DeleteIt's nice to see an analysis of a minor character. Buddy seems to be fighting with himself as he looks up to Bigger while Bigger grows into a more violent person. He's still looking up to Bigger in the final scene in Fate.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting post. As we discussed in class, Bigger mostly grew up without a father figure in his life. As such he had to assume the role of father figure for the family, so looking at the relationship between the brothers is interesting.
ReplyDelete