A preacher enters the cell of a young man condemned by all before the trial even begins, and begins to powerfully exhort the young man to give himself to the Lord Jesus and be redeemed. And yet, this young man, on the verge of death, cannot bring himself to find salvation in the religion offered to him, cannot find hope in the cross placed around his neck. Bigger Thomas, the fallen protagonist of Richard Wright's Native Son, has spent his entire life in the spiritually deafening climate of 1930s Chicago, and for him religion offers very little. The nihilism pervasive in black life and which has so encrusted its soul has been an ever-increasing force over the years, first noted in the writings of WEB DuBois and, several decades later, forcefully defended in Race Matters by Cornel West. All three authors are aware of the power that black religious life once held; to uplift the spirit, to enable the individual to find love, self-esteem and personal dignity in a world that sought to rob them of each. All three authors are also aware of the increasing spiritual impoverishment plaguing the lives of black Americans, contributing in large part to the conditions described so poignantly in Native Son. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayThe importance of spiritual fulfillment as a method of social and cultural salvation among black Americans cannot be emphasized clearly enough. In the era of slavery, DuBois writes in The Souls of Black Folk, "[the Negro preacher] appeared very early on the plantation and found his function as healer of the sick, interpreter of the Unknown, comforter of the afflicted, supernatural avenger of evil, and one who expressed in a crude but picturesque manner the desire, disappointment and resentment of a robbed and oppressed people” (p. 159). The preacher fulfilled a crucial function: to uplift the people, to offer them alternatives to despair in a life that seemed to offer nothing else, and to provide them with a crucial structure, the Church, on which to build morality, to strengthen the life of family and find a future. point of cultural coherence on which to rely. West describes the importance that such institutions held for black Americans under such oppressive conditions: “The traditions by which blacks survived and thrived in the generally unfavorable conditions of the New World constituted major barriers against the nihilistic threat. These traditions consisted primarily of black religious and civic institutions that supported family and community support networks” (p. 24). It is important to emphasize the value that these institutions had for Black Americans, the crucial role they played in providing an outlet for faith, culture, pride, and a sense of history and tradition to to understand why the result of the The gradual degradation of these institutions was so tragic. As DuBois wrote, at the turn of the century, he described a subtle change occurring in black religious life. Although the black church was still clearly the center of black social life (p. 157), Du Bois writes that another "type" of black American was emerging, unable to find hope in religion and observing with bitterness that his rights were compromised. trampled and his hopes shattered. “One type of Negro is almost ready to curse God and die...the other is attached to distant and fanciful ideals” (p. 165). Even in this early era, the harsh reality of post-slavery life for blacks in Americawas beginning to take its toll, and the value of religion as salvation was beginning to wane. Cornel West, in Race Matters, speaks from a perspective several decades after DuBois: and firmly argues that the spiritual impoverishment discussed in The Souls of Black Folk has developed to its present state, where nihilism is so pervasive that it has led many black people to a lulling of the soul and a self-destructive disposition that easily turns against others. » A generalized spiritual impoverishment is developing. The collapse of the meaning of life – the eclipse of hope and the absence of love of self and others, the breakdown of family and neighborhood ties – leads to the… [creation] of rootless people. , people unconnected to the support networks – family, friends, school – that support a certain meaning in life. We have witnessed the breakdown of spiritual communities that in the past helped Americans cope with despair, illness, and death. transmit across generations dignity and decency, excellence and elegance” (p. 9-10). West writes that the ancestors of black Americans were able to prevent this growing nihilism through the creation of "buffers": religious and civic institutions that served, through the provision of a social outlet and the maintenance of community and family ties, to containing the sense of worthlessness that easily could have, and according to West seems to have permeated black life. West writes: “The genius of our black forefathers and ancestors was to create powerful buffers to ward off the nihilistic threat, to equip black people with cultural armor to repel the demons of despair, absurdity and lack of purpose. love” (p. 23). Today, as these institutions collapse, spiritual deprivation results, with disastrous consequences. Criminal behavior among young black men “is a threat that feeds on poverty and broken cultural institutions and becomes increasingly powerful as the armor to guard against it weakens” (p. 25). . Poverty, discrimination, educational inadequacies, and other forces that, combined, seem almost inevitably to produce criminal tendencies, are amplified as the social institutions that once protected them gradually wear away. It seems beyond dispute that the conditions under which Bigger Thomas exists are exactly the same. which West describes as causing spiritual impoverishment. Nihilism, West writes, is “the lived experience of facing a life of horrifying meaninglessness, despair, and (most importantly) lack of love.” The frightening result is a numbing detachment from others and a self-destructive disposition toward the world” (pp. 22-23). Native Son opens with a scene in which Bigger experiences these three key elements which combine to produce a nihilistic vision. “Biggest, honest,” his mother shouts at him, “you are the most inconsiderate man I have ever seen in my entire life!” (p. 9). “We wouldn’t have to live in this dump if you had any manhood in you” (p. 8). Bigger's mother cannot offer him any clear evidence of her love, but she makes her disappointment in his ability to care for the family and lift them out of their impoverished situation very clear. The lack of love and despair that Bigger feels in his family combine to produce in him a feeling of utter absurdity: "He knew that the moment he allowed himself to fully feel how they lived, the shame and the misery of their lives, it would be swept away. beside himself with fear and despair... He knew that the moment he allowed what his life meant to enter fully into his consciousness, he would kill himself or someone else” (p. 10 ). THEThe conditions of his life are exactly those that Cornel West describes as breeding criminal behavior in the absence of a spiritual outlet that could give him hope and meaning. Although Bigger was introduced to religion on some level as a child, remembering "familiar [religious] pictures his mother had given him when he was a child on his knees" (p. 283), religion does not never played a major role in his life and his influence did not extend beyond early childhood. Bigger recalls that any religious impulses he once felt "he suppressed and sought to dismiss from his life" (p. 283). He remembers going to church as a child, but as he grew up, he realized that the reality of his life was such that it was impossible for him to find comfort in God. It seemed unimportant and served almost a ridiculously futile purpose in a life in which other things – from survival to the ability to acquire material objects – took on primary importance. When asked why he stopped going to church, Bigger replied, "I didn't like it. There was nothing in it. Oh, all they did was sing, screaming and praying all the time and it didn't do anything for them." “All colored people do this, but it doesn’t make them any money. White people have everything” (p. 355). West attributes much of the spiritual impoverishment he perceives among young black men to the result of a market society in which the acquisition of material goods is of the utmost importance. “The result [of spiritual impoverishment] is a life of what we might call 'random moments,' chance and fleeting moments preoccupied with 'getting over it' - with the acquisition of pleasure, property and power by any means necessary...Postmodern culture is increasingly a market culture dominated by gangster mentalities and self-destructive gratuity” (p. 10). Bigger's life goal was not religion or spiritual salvation, but the acquisition of material things, a natural desire given the American tendency toward pleasure and power and his own disadvantaged condition. According to West, pervasive spiritual degradation translates directly into criminal behavior among young black men, because there are no realistic and effective forces to stem the desire for pleasure and power endorsed by American society. In such a poor environment, without a church to serve as the center of his social and spiritual life, Bigger has no real outlet other than the pool hall he frequents with his friends - certainly no spiritual panacea, in fact, little more than a breeding ground for criminal schemes. With no refuge, no spiritual outlet set up in Bigger's life to serve as an interlude in his day, protecting him from the negative influences of his poor and emotionally inadequate life, Bigger feels that a life of crime was almost inevitable. When his lawyer asks him if he ever thought he would one day end up in prison for murder, Bigger responds: "To tell you the truth, Mr. Max, it seems quite natural that I should be here facing this chair of death." . . Now I think about it, it seems to me that something like that just had to happen” (p. 358). Even Bigger's own mother felt the inevitability of his journey through life: “[T]he gallows is at the end of the road you travel, my boy. Remember that” (p. 9). Every day of his life, every day spent wandering the streets, loitering in movie theaters, hanging around the pool hall, with not much else to do and nowhere to escape poverty and the misery that was his life, led Bigger towards what he considered to be an endinevitable. For Bigger, there was no escape from the life he was destined to lead from the moment of his conception. When the preacher enters Bigger's cell, through a moving sermon on Creation imploring him to turn to God for salvation, Bigger is momentarily gripped. with an understanding of the place religion could fill in his soul. As the preacher begins to speak, the images “[spread] before his eyes and [capture] his emotions in an enchantment of awe and wonder” (p. 283). Here we see the potential of religion as a saving force in Bigger's life, if only it had been more accessible to him. However, he rejects this offer of hope, “killing in himself the haunting image of the preacher's life even before he killed Mary; it had been his first murder” (p. 284). It was his rejection of religion that was the first step on the path that ultimately led him to the death chamber. He is aware of the potential of religion to fill a spiritual void, but he also recognizes that religion disappeared from his life many years ago for a multitude of reasons and therefore no longer has the power to do so. save, even if he would accept it. Although Bigger tries to find salvation in the preacher's words, he is ultimately unable to accept religion, even in the final days of his life. The preacher is unable to reach the Great One because, although he wishes to accept the gift of religion, his soul has been so numbed by the conditions of his life that he is incapable of doing so. Wright writes: “To those who wanted to kill him, he was not human, he was not included in this picture of Creation; and that's why he killed him. To live, he had created a new world for himself, and for that he had to die” (p. 285). After a lifetime of witnessing the poverty, degradation, and inadequacy of his life, Bigger had come to believe that religion was for a different kind of person, the kind of person included in the image of Creation, and not to those like him. A traumatic experience with photographers sparks in Bigger a recognition of how he is perceived by many white people: the photo depicts Bigger as an animal, "back against a wall, teeth bared in a snarl" (p. 336). . Bigger knew that for many, he was seen as less than human and excluded from the religion in which they found comfort. Wright explains, "He feared and hated the preacher because the preacher told him to bow down...but his pride would not let him do that" (p. 311). In order to retain a vestige of pride, he turned away from religion, condemning himself to a life of both spiritual and physical poverty, and ultimately leading him to his tragic fate. The cross that Bigger left the priest hanging around his neck symbolized acquiescence, a small acceptance of the possibility of spiritual salvation, but even this small hope was destroyed by Bigger's final understanding of his total exclusion from the spiritual life from which enjoyed the others. Shortly after his experience with the photographer, he sees a burning cross on top of a building and realizes that the cross is for him a symbol of white disgust: "This cross was not the cross of Christ, but the Klu Klux Klan cross.” (p. 338). The cross around his neck, he realizes, allies him to a religion that seeks only to reject him, a religion that views him as an outsider. Wright says, “He had a salvation cross around his neck and they burned one to tell him they hated him!” (p. 338). The burning cross, for Bigger, is a symbol of white supremacy and, beyond that, a symbol of his exclusion from religion. Not only did Bigger realize that religion was for him.