Bigger does not consider Bessie to be a major part of his life, just someone to keep him company and satisfy his needs. Though he cared for her, he did not love her as can be seen in the quote, "I wasn't in love with Bessie. She was my girl. I don't reckon I was ever in love with nobody. I killed Bessie to save myself. You have to have a girl, so I had Bessie. And I killed her." Essentially Bessie was an attempt to have a life like everyone else, but Bigger could not love due to his lack of understanding of himself, and therefore inability to truly connect with anyone prior to his awakening.

Max was the first person in general to have asked questions about his life and recognize the fact that he too, had goals, feelings, and dreams as all others had as can be seen in the quote, "But in Max's asking of those questions he had felt a recognition of his life, of his feelings, of his person that he had never encountered before." It is apparent that being asked about these things, a moment of self-reflection and understanding for Bigger which leads him to his second awakening, which is absolutely crucial to the character development of Bigger. Though he did not know Max for long, I would say he had the most significant impact on Bigger's life.

Jan was the first person to have acknowledged Bigger as a person and empathized for him, leading him to the conclusion that not all white people were ignorant and full of hate towards black people. The very moment in which Bigger realizes that Jan too, was a person who felt and had dreams, he realized he had , as can be seen in the quote, "For the first time in his life a white man became a human being to him; and the reality of Jan's humanity came in a stab of remorse: he had killed what this man loved and had hurt him." This made Bigger slightly less defensive of white individuals; therefore making him more trusting of Mr. Max who was the spark of inspiration towards Bigger's understanding of himself.

In the novel, Bessie mentions how she has done nothing wrong in her life and never got to experience happiness. Living in the South Side was hard for Bessie because she "worked like a dog" just to survive and pay rent.

This form of slur was used on the black community during this time period. This offensive name-calling dehumanizes Bigger and other black individuals.

In Bigger learning about himself and his motives while talking to Jan, his second and true awakening takes place in which he accepts that though what he did was wrong, it was motivated by a sense of freedom for himself and from society because he killed the embodiment of what was to him, white ignorance. Despite him being in prison, he never felt so acknowledged and finally had an identity, which he had never had before.

Biggers murders explains that he was simply a victim of a community that faulted black folks. Simply the power one had over other

To Bigger, Mr. Dalton was worse than Mary and that became apparent as he began to see patterns in white behavior. Mr. Dalton already felt like he was saving Black people because he donated money and pool tables to Black communities, but was actively taking their money and robbing them of adequate housing as can be seen in the quote, "Even though Mr. Dalton gave millions of dollars for Negro education, he would rent houses to Negroes only in this prescribed area, this corner of the city tumbling down from rot." Mr. Dalton indirectly fueled the anger that brought Bigger to murder because he kept him poor and segregated from the world, which were two of Bigger's largest sources of anger.

Mary also played a crucial role in both of Bigger's awakenings because she was so caught up in being the savior of minorities and an advocate for justice that she was ignorant to the fact that she alone could not make a difference. In fact, she was adding to the issue by isolating Bigger's experiences and making him feel out of place by victimizing herself and pitying him rather than trying to understand as can be seen in the quote, "But they made him feel his black skin just by standing there looking at him... He felt he had no physical existence at all right then; he was something he hated, the badge of shame which he knew was attached to a black skin." In killing her, Bigger confronted the very thing that caused him years of suffering and fear, which put him on a path of his awakening.

In all of his life these two murders were the most meaningful things that had ever happened to him.

In the novel Bigger Thomas biggest weakness is hate. Bigger growing up always lived in hate, the hate of his own skin color, the way he lived, being poor, and simply anyone who made him feel uncomftable, and simply made him weak.

The murder of Mary Dalton was Bigger's first and false awakening. He thought his life had amounted to his murders, especially Mary's because he feels like he finally overpowered a white person and made them an equal in his eyes. He feels a sudden sense of meaning to his life because he did something big and important that people would recognize as can be seen in the quote, "In all his life these two murders were the most meaningful things that had ever happened to him. He was living, truly and deeply, no matter what the others might think, looking at him with their blind eyes." He does not realize however, that he is yet to understand the issue or his motives.

The murder of Bessie was very different from the murder of Mary for Bigger. Killing Mary was an accident that stemmed from hatred, Bessie was more of a power high, but both were stemmed in fear of getting caught. Bessie's murder served as "proof" that he could rape and kill and has murdered multiple women. This was used against him in court and Bessie's murder was used as a piece of evidence and justification for Mary's murder which bothers Bigger, as can be seen in the quote, "He knew that Bessie, too, though dead, though killed by him, would resent her dead body being used in this way.” This plays a part in Bigger's second awakening because he sees the way in which Black people are dehumanized and viewed as worthless by the justice system and society as a whole.

The trail and going to prison as a whole I would say was the most significant trigger for Bigger's second awakening. Because Bigger was put in trail against a wealthy white family, he was able to see a lot of the racism that fueled the hefty punishment. It helped Bigger that Jan and Max were out there helping him understand why he did what he did and that though murder was not something to be proud of, he had strong motive. This is when Bigger realizes that white people are people too, not any better or worse than Black people as can be seen in the quote by Bigger, "his mind clothed it in an image of a strong blinding sun sending hot rays down and he was standing in the midst of a vast crowd of men, white men and black men and all men, and the sun's rays melted away the many differences, the colors, the clothes, and drew what was common and good upward toward the sun." Despite this indifference, the Black community was still oppressed and kept at the bottom. He did not realize how much his life was different and how much he had suffered needlessly due to racism.

Racial Devision connect to setting because it represent a significant time period where racism and poverty between white and black folk's was significantly present

This quote helps represent not only black folk's being less than white premises but the idea of the division between one other. It is understood that during the Bigger trial social and racial inequality is not there. To be black people are inferior label them as less or second hand of everything. For white people to enforce social and racial inequality makes them lose a lot. So for Bigger the color of skins make him shame his people and himself because they will never have anything as long as there is no division between white and black.

Destiny Gamez-Andrea Hernandez-Paulina Trevino