At the beginning of Wright’s work, protagonist Bigger, and his family are startled by an unwelcome black rat. The rat is seen skittering all over the one room apartment by the family, searching for a place to hide.
In many ways Bigger is symbolic of the rat. He is described as black by his mother in a negative way after causing his sister Vera to faint: “Just plain dumb black crazy” (Wright). Bigger is described as deranged and unintelligent by his own mother. His behavior is similar to the behavior of the rat while it was being chased. Bigger is also quarantined like the rat, and acts out because of the isolation in his own community. When the rat is trying to hide, it fails every time because 4 pairs of eyes are watching it. This heavy radar makes it impossible for the rat to escape. The same is with Bigger, as he wants to escape his fate of being a poor and worthless black man who cannot provide. He tries to hide his fears by being cruel to his family and shutting down everything they have to say, but they continue to ask him questions about his job offer and keep a close eye on his daily activities. Constant interrogation carried out by Bigger’s family causes him to get anxious. He feels that he has no way out because if he takes the job, he knows that he will still be unhappy and fail to support his family as the man of the house.
Bigger starts to have suicidal thoughts, believing that he has no other options but to work a poor paying job where he is treated poorly, or to steal with his gang. When the rat is described after being killed, he is described as black, big, and flat. Not only is Bigger dark skinned and tall- being the eldest son, but the way he expresses himself to others is flat. He does not care about anyone but himself, and his flat personality is simply a defense mechanism to block out his fears of being worthless. Although visibly dead Bigger used a shoe to squash the rats head down even more, cursing wildly while doing so. With low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts, Bigger thinks of himself as the rat. He loathes himself, and because of this self-hatred he is unafraid to hurt others because he feels that has nothing to lose.
Bigger sees his life as that of a rats life; worthless, and often taken with traps carefully set.
