Native Son pg.77

3/24/09

"I want to know these people. Never in my life have i been inside of a Negro home. Yet they must live like we live. They're human...There are twelve million of them...They live in our country...In the same city with us..."(70).

This quote is important because it resembles how Mary is blind to the social standing of blacks and whites in the society she lives in. She makes a connection that whites and blacks live in the same houses and the same lifestyle because they are both humans, they both live in the same city, and the same country. Obviously this is not the truth. This represents how Mary is different from "normal" whites. Also I think that Mary and Jan's kind attitude toward Bigger is abnormal and mentally confuses Bigger, because normally a white person would disrespect someone like Bigger. She is sort of like her mother, she cant really tell the difference between a white and black person. I think that because Mary and Jan are different than most whites that they unintentionally cause Bigger discomfort because he is not used to this sort of treatment by whites.

Knowing Biggers unstable personality, how might Mary and Jan's kindness turn into madness?

If they know that this might make Bigger uncomfortable, why do Jan and Mary continue to make him feel that way?