Sympathy in Wright's Native Son In Native Son, Richard Wright introduces Bigger Thomas, a liar and a thief. Wright evokes sympathy for this man despite the fact that he commits two murders. Through the reactions of others to his actions and through his own reactions to what he has done, the author creates compassion in the reader towards Bigger to help convey the desperate state of Black Americans in the 1930’s. The simplest method Wright …showed first 75 words of 939 total…

…showed last 75 words of 939 total…immoral Bigger Thomas but is able to draw sympathy for what many white Americans see as the typical black miscreant by clearly defining his common human emotions. Bigger’s desperation to protect his own life in spite of the obstacles around him makes him a brilliant representative for Blacks in America. Wright wonders and asks the question he attributes to Bigger in the novel. "Why did he and his folks have to live like this?"