struggle for life in "Native Son"

The controversy in Native Son is over the book's "message"; however, few agree exactly what this message is. It is not, as misinterpreted by many critics, a struggle between the races. Refusing to accept passively society's definition of himself as a non-person, Bigger fights for the right to be and for a reason for being. Discarded as human garbage, Bigger rebels. His consequent actions become the justification for his existence. He kills Mary Dalton because he is "scared and mad," reacting instinctively in the manner he is forced to live his life. Wright delves into Bigger's motives in order to explain the archetypal "bad nigger," not to gain sympathy from whites nor to be cruel to blacks, rather to build a foundation for communication between the races in order to expose the ongoing American tragedy.