Psychological Perspective of the Inferiority Complex of Bigger Thomas in Native Son

Abstract

Bigger Thomas is featured as one figure of rebellion with the nature of inferiority in Richard Wright’s Native Son (1908-1960). There are relatively few studies investigating this nature from psychological perspective. This paper aims to explore the inner nature of Bigger Thomas from anthropological cognitive perspective of his inferiority complex. Beginning with the introduction of the relationship between the inferiority complex and masculinity, the paper articulates the inferiority complex of Bigger Thomas in the prevalent racial and anthropological discriminative background, along with his inner cognition within a white dominant society, and analytic behavior of the inner essence of the loss of masculinity of anthropological identity as well as its corresponding effect. Following this, the paper argues that, as a result of unequal racial oppression of the unfair society, Thomas developed a unique alienated and aggressive nature of complex inferiority from his inner identification of anthropological cognition, causing him to commit malicious acts to release himself in the unfair intolerable society. Meanwhile, the nature of this inferiority complex reflects human endurance together with the realities of an unfair anthropological psychological racial-hierarchy, featuring with inner disability and the loss of masculinity with brutal rebellion in social behavior.