From Peggy asking Bigger to clean the furnace through
Bigger’s capture at the end of Book Two
Summary
In all of his life these two murders
were the most meaningful things that had ever happened to him.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
As the reporters stand around in the basement discussing
the story, Peggy asks Bigger to clean the ashes out of the furnace.
Bigger sifts some of the ashes into the lower bin and adds more
coal, hoping that he will not have to take the ashes out until the
reporters leave. However, the ashes still block the airflow, causing
thick smoke to fill the basement. A reporter grabs a shovel and
clears the ashes. When the smoke dissipates, several pieces of bone
and an earring are visible on the floor. As Bigger looks
at these remnants of his gruesome killing, all of his old feelings
return: he is black and he has done wrong. He once again longs for
a weapon so he can strike out at someone. While the reporters marvel
over the glowing hatchet head in the furnace, Bigger sneaks up to
his room and jumps out the window. It is snowing heavily and he
lands hard, the snow filling his mouth, eyes, and ears.
Bigger rushes to Bessie’s house to keep her from going
to the drop-off site for the money. When Bigger explains that he
accidentally killed Mary, Bessie tells him the authorities will
think he has raped Mary and has murdered her to cover up the evidence.
Bigger thinks back to the shame, anger, and hatred he felt that
night. He thinks that he has committed rape, but to him, “rape”
means feeling as if his back is against a wall and being forced
to strike out to protect himself, whether he wants to or not. Bigger
thinks that he commits a form of “rape” every time he looks at a
white face.
Bessie packs some clothes and blankets before she and
Bigger flee to an empty building to hide. She tells Bigger that
she sees her life clearly and resents how much trouble he has caused
her. After they make a bed out of the blankets, Bigger rapes Bessie.
He realizes he cannot take her with him but cannot leave her behind
either. After she falls asleep, he kneels over her with a brick.
He hesitates for a moment, but, seeing images of Mrs. Dalton, of
Mary burning, of Britten, and of the law chasing him, he brings
the brick down on Bessie’s skull. He realizes that Bessie, with
her crying and her insistence for liquor, would only slow him down
in his flight. Bigger then dumps her body down an airshaft, realizing
too late that he has forgotten to remove the big wad of money from
her clothing.
Bigger sleeps uneasily during the night. Though he senses
his impending doom, he still feels powerful. Like Mary’s death,
Bessie’s death gives Bigger a newfound vigor, and he feels a sense
of wholeness he has never felt before. In the morning, he awakes
to a city covered in snow. He slips out to a street corner to steal
a newspaper and reads the front-page news about his escape. The
press reports that Bigger probably sexually assaulted Mary
before killing her. The authorities have a warrant to search any
and every building on the South Side, including private homes. Not
believing that a black man could have formulated such a complex
plan, they are also searching for a communist accomplice. White
anger is turning on blacks and there are reports of smashed windows
and beatings throughout the city.
Fighting hunger and cold, Bigger looks for a vacant apartment
in which to hide. Due to the overcrowding caused by an alleged housing
shortage on the South Side, he has to search for a long while before
he finally finds a suitable place. From a window, Bigger marvels
at the dilapidated buildings where black tenants live. He thinks back
on his own life as he sees three naked black children watching their
parents have sex in a bed nearby. He remembers how his family was
once driven out of an apartment just two days before the building
collapsed. Next door, Bigger hears two people debating his situation.
One man declares that he would turn Bigger in to the police, while
the other argues that Bigger may not be guilty, since whites automatically
view all black men with suspicion when a white girl is killed. Still,
the first man blames people like Bigger for bringing white wrath
down on the whole black community.
The next morning, Bigger uses his last few pennies to
purchase a newspaper. The police have searched over 1,000 black
homes. Only a tiny square on the map—the place Bigger is hiding—remains untouched.
The police have questioned or arrested numerous communists. A siren
shrieks as the police arrive. Bigger escapes to the roof just as
they burst into the building. A dramatic shoot-out ensues and the
authorities finally capture Bigger, who is half-frozen from the
cold and snow. The men carry Bigger down as a crowd of furious whites
demands that they kill “that black ape.”
