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Is Bigger's dream of flying planes symbolic in Native Son?
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Bigger's dream of flying planes in Native Son is symbolic of freedom and escape from the racial and economic constraints imposed on him as an African American in 1930s Chicago. His unattainable aspiration to become a pilot highlights the systemic barriers due to racial discrimination and poverty. The plane symbolizes the opportunities available to white individuals but denied to blacks, illustrating the broader theme of racial inequality and oppression in American society.
Richard Wright’s novel Native Son tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a 20-year-old African American young man born into extreme poverty in Chicago’s South Side. The narrative occurs in the 1930s, which allows Wright to present the de facto inequality that is so prevalent in Bigger’s life and in American society as a whole.
Bigger dreams of becoming a pilot and flying the planes he observes cruising the sky above Chicago. During one of Bigger’s reveries about becoming a pilot, his friend Gus responds:
If you wasn't black and if you had some money and if they'd let you go to that aviation school, you could fly a plane.
In this single response, Gus identifies multiple ways in which Bigger will not realize his dream: the color of his skin and the discrimination associated with getting jobs and matriculation as well as his lack of money to pay for...
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school. At this point, flying becomes ametaphor and symbol for freedom.
In 1930s America, there was de jure racial equality but de facto racial inequality. The plane is a tangible object, which can be seen by all people on the ground. When a white young man looks at the plane above, he can envision himself one day flying it. When a black young man looks at the same plane, he cannot envision himself one day flying it, regardless of his passion and intellect for flight.
The overall point of this symbolism is to depict the lack of opportunities afforded to African Americans while those opportunities exist everywhere for white Americans.
Good question. The act of flying has been used for centuries as a symbol for freedom. Since humans cannot fly under their own power, the symbolism of flight is associated with superheros, angelic beings and other methods of overcoming the physical laws of the universe. One of the most memorable stories of flying dates back to Greek times in the tale of Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus invented wings to help he and his son escape from a tyrant, only to be sent into grief and remorse when Icaraus, his son, flies too close to the sun. In "Native Son" Bigger is prevented from even learning how to fly because he is African-American. As he watches a plane fly over Chicago, he is reminded this is just another thing he cannot do simply because of the color of his skin. Bigger cannot be a pilot and lead people into the sky in the same way he cannot escape the ghettos of Chicago. His dreams of flying and freedom are denied him because of his race. Like Daedalus, his attempt at flight will only lead to grief and remorse.
Does Wright use Bigger's dream of flying planes symbolically in Native Son?
A recurring theme in African American literature is one of flight or escape. African folk tales often chronicle this flight theme with characters turning into birds to escape their plight. Flight means freedom, and for the African American who has been enslaved and discriminated against, it is seen as a symbolic theme in their literature. Bigger’s desire to leave his circumstances and to escape is symbolized by the plane he dreams about.
Bigger Thomas has lived a horrible life without opportunity and feels powerless as a black man. Wright tells us about Bigger’s feelings when he writes,
"Well, they own everything. They choke you off the face of the earth. They like God..." he swallowed, closed his eyes and sighed. "They don’t even let you feel what you want to feel. They after you so hot and hard you can only feel what they doing to you. They kill you before you die."
The lack of opportunity and the feeling that he can never achieve because of the oppression he feels, Bigger Thomas dreams of escaping where he will have control over his own life. The plane symbolizes Bigger’s desire to control his own destiny.