Murder Of An Heiress pp. 81-93

• Summary: After a long night of partying and drinking Bigger and Mary returned to the Dalton house. Mary was a bit drunk so bigger decided to walk her to her room when they arrived Mary started to kiss on bigger, not resisting bigger kissed her back. Shortly after Mrs. Dalton came into Mary’s room, afraid Mary would make noise bigger covered her face with a pillow. She was straining to for him to let her go so she started to scratch his wrist. Once Mrs. Dalton left the room he let the pillow go and realized Mary was not responding. Scared out of his mind bigger picked Mary up, put her in a trunk and took her to the furnace before he took her out, he placed a pile of news paper down on the floor and stuck her in. shoving Mary’s head in was a tough task so he took his knife out and tried to cut her head off, when that didn’t work he found a hatchet and with one swing her head rolled onto the blood filled newspaper pill. He quickly shoved her head in and got rid of the newspaper and hatchet. When bigger got home that night boy was he paranoid. What he doesn’t realize is it was an accident and he could have easily confessed.
• Analysis: I believe Richard Wright put this in the book because it is the part in the book where bigger finds a strength he never knew he had, he has the power to assert himself against whites. “Wright’s point is that Bigger becomes a brutal killer precisely because the dominant white culture fears that he will become a brutal killer”. (info from spark notes)