Native Sons

Like Bigger, Max feels a deep sense of exclusion from American society. As a Jew and a Communist, he suffers in myriad ways because American society is dictated by the prejudices of the majority. Perhaps because of his own experiences living on the fringes of society, Max is willing and able to understand Bigger’s life story. He sympathizes with the idea that factors outside of Bigger’s control created the conditions that caused Mary’s death. He makes a compelling argument for the judge that life inside prison would allow Bigger to live as a man among equals for the first time in his life. Max concludes his argument for Bigger's life with a speech in a final attempt to persuade people to see the greater good in letting him live. His purpose is to convince that public as well as the judge that Bigger's violent nature is spawned from the oppressive society that keeps him and other African Americans in constant fear and poverty.  "The complex forces of society have isolated here for us a symbol, a test symbol. The prejudices of men have stained this symbol, like a germ stained for examination under the microscope." This simile shows how the white public looks down upon the African American population as a "germ" or plague of society, under constant interrogation and examination. Max extends this simile by relating society to a "sick social organism". He describes the "new form of life", the African American oppressed as "like a weed growing from under a stone", which expresses the immense burden of the white public. Max also illustrates the African American lifestyle as "gliding through our complex civilization like wailing ghosts; they spin like fiery planets lost from their orbits; they wither and die like trees ripped from native soil." This shows the aura of distress and hardship of the African Americans. Despite Max’s sense of failure when he couldn't grant a stay of execution, he does connect with Bigger and is ultimately the one who helps Bigger see his worth as a human being, no matter what he’s done or not done in the short time of his life.