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He had done this. He had brought all this about. In all of his life these two murders were the most meaningful things that had ever happened to him.

This quotation from Book Two is the first expression of an idea that Max later echoes in his courtroom defense of Bigger—that Bigger’s murders make him as exultant as they make him guilty, as they provide his life with a new sense of purpose and expression. Bigger’s possibilities have always been stunted by racism, but after these murderous acts, he is “free” to act—and to live with the consequences of these actions—for the first time. Even though these consequences ultimately mean flight and imprisonment, this feeling of self-assertion and personal control nonetheless remains liberating and intoxicating for Bigger.

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