RICHARD WRIGHT: Native Son
Examine Mrs Dalton’s Blindness as a metaphor for race relations in the novel
Explanation
Mrs Dalton, the wealthy mother of Mary Dalton, is both literally and metaphorically blind: she and her husband are blind to Bigger's social reality. Bigger is not left outside the circle of blindness, however. He is blinded by hatred and fear. It is this blindness that constitutes a big wall of an overgeneralized and pre-conceived idea of race that makes the characters unable to see one another as individual human beings.
To bigger, the Daltons represent the overbearing, hos-tile and controlling force that has pigeon-holed him in a world of few choices. To the Daltons on the other hand, Bigger is a specimen of the teaming, needy black populace which can be exploited at will and used as convenient targets of charitable acts. Mr. Dalton, it is who robs Bigger and his family through charging unfair rent. He tries to mitigate the guilt of such robbery by donating towards black causes. Mary Dalton underestimates the extent of the social boundary be-tween white women and black men through her actions and overtures. Little does she realize that these impact negatively on Bigger. Jan is equally blind to this social reality, and inadvertently provokes terror, anger and shame in Bigger.
Their attempt to forge a relationship bordering on equality with Bigger serves to deepen his consciousness of blackness and all that it stands for. Their 'good' reason for ignoring rules of conduct is as good as Bigger's 'good' reason for distrusting their motives. It appears that Mary and Jan's attempt to breaking the social barrier, however well intentioned, manifests their blindness to the social reality. Though Mary and Jan want to experience black life, they do not come close to understanding its most horrific aspects of frustration and hopelessness that Bigger and his black brothers fell every day.
Their enjoying an odd, yet short-lived, satisfaction from eating at a black restaurant with Bigger confirms this view. Britten, the private investigator, is blinded by racism in his dealing with Bigger, and investigation of Mary's disappearance. So also is Buckley, the state's Attorney, who is running for re-election. He is viciously racist and anticommunist without foreseeing the consequences of his attitude. It is appropriate to conclude that in spite of Bigger's deserved sentence for murder, the social blindness, epitomized by Mrs. Dalton's blindness, prevails. The very differences that separate the races are not resolved.
Points to Note:
1. Identity of Mrs. Dalton
2. Literal and metaphorical blindness of Mrs. Dalton
3. Metaphorical blindness of other characters.
4. The Daltons' generosity to the blacks'.
5. Jan and the communists' attitude to the blacks .
6. Bigger's blindness emanating from anger and fear.