A preacher enters the cell of a young man condemned by all before the trial even begins, and begins to forcefully exhort the young man to give himself to the Lord Jesus and redeem himself. Yet this young man, on the brink of death, cannot find salvation in the religion that is offered to him, he cannot find hope in the cross that is placed around his neck. Bigger Thomas, the fallen protagonist of Richard Wright's Native Son, has spent his entire life in the spiritually oppressive climate of 1930s Chicago, and for him religion offers little. The nihilism pervasive in black life and thus encrusting its soul has been an ever-increasing force over the years, first noted in the writings of W. E. B. DuBois and, many decades later, forcefully argued in Cornel's Race Matters West. All three authors are aware of the power that black religious life once held; to uplift the spirit, to enable the individual to find love, self-esteem and personal dignity in a world that sought to deprive each of them. All three authors are also aware of the growing spiritual impoverishment that has affected the lives of black Americans, contributing in no small part to the conditions described so poignantly in Native Son. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The importance of spiritual realization as a method of social and cultural salvation for Black Americans cannot be emphasized clearly enough. In the days of slavery, DuBois writes in The Souls of Black Folk, "[the Negro preacher] soon appeared on the plantation and discovered his function as healer of the sick, interpreter of the Unknown, consoler of the afflicted, supernatural avenger of wrong, and he which crudely but picturesquely expressed the longing, disappointment, and resentment of a robbed and oppressed people" (p. 159). The preacher served a crucial function: uplifting people, offering them alternatives to despair in a life that seemed to offer little else, and providing them with a crucial structure, the church, on which to build morals, strengthen family life, and find resolution. of cultural coherence on which to rely. West describes the importance such institutions had for black Americans under such conditions of oppression: "The traditions by which blacks survived and thrived in the usually adverse conditions of the New World were the main barriers against the nihilistic threat. These traditions consist primarily of black religious and civic institutions that supported family and community networks of support” (p. 24). It is important to highlight the value that these institutions had for black Americans, the crucial role they played in providing an outlet in which to find faith, culture, pride and sense of history and tradition to understand why the outcome of the war The gradual decay of these institutions was so tragic At the time he wrote, DuBois, at the turn of the century, described a subtle change that occurred in black religious life. Although the black church was still clearly the center of black social life (p. 157), Du Bois writes that another "type" of black American was emerging, one who was unable to find hope in religion, seeing bitterly how his rights came weakened. trampled upon and his hopes dashed. “One kind of Negro is almost ready to curse God and die…the [other] is wedded to remote, extravagant ideals” (p. 165). Even in those early days the harsh realities of post-slavery black life were creeping in and the value of religion as salvation was beginning to falter. Cornel West, in Race Matters, speaks from one point of viewadvantageous many decades after DuBois, and argues forcefully that the spiritual impoverishment hinted at in The Souls of Black Folk has grown to its present state, where nihilism is so pervasive that it has led many blacks to a weakening of the soul and to a self-destructive disposition easily turned against others." A pervasive spiritual impoverishment grows. The collapse of the meaning of life - the eclipse of hope and the absence of love for oneself and others, the breaking of family and neighborhood ties - leads to... [creation] of rootless people, people who hang with little connection to the support networks - family, friends, school - that sustain some sense of purpose in life who once helped Americans deal with despair, illness, death, and everything else pass on dignity and decency, excellence and elegance through the generations" (p. 9-10). West writes that the ancestors of Black Americans were able to prevent this growing nihilism through the creation of "buffers": religious and civic institutions that served, through the provision of a social outlet and the maintenance of community and family ties, to curb the sense of worthlessness that could easily have, and according to West seems to have, pervaded black life. West writes, “The genius of our black mothers and forefathers was to create powerful buffers to ward off the nihilistic threat, to equip blacks with cultural armor to repel the demons of despair, meaninglessness, and lovelessness.” (p. 23). Now, as those institutions gradually fade away, spiritual deprivation results, with disastrous consequences. The criminal behavior of black youth "is a threat that feeds on poverty and shattered cultural institutions and grows more potent as the armor to defend against it weakens" (p. 25). Poverty, discrimination, educational inadequacies, and other forces that in combination seem almost inevitably to produce criminal tendencies are amplified as the social institutions that once protected against them are gradually worn away. It seems indisputable that the conditions in which Bigger Thomas lives are exactly the kind that West describes as a source of spiritual impoverishment. Nihilism, West writes, is "the lived experience of facing a life of horrible meaninglessness, despair, and (above all) lovelessness. The frightening result is a paralyzing detachment from others and a self-destructive disposition toward the world" (pp. 22 -23). Native Son opens with a scene in which Bigger experiences all three of these key components which combine to produce a nihilistic perspective. “Greater, honest,” his mother yells at him, “you are the most unquestionable man I have ever seen in my entire life!” (page 9). “We wouldn't have to live in this dump if you had any manhood in you” (p. 8). Bigger's mother cannot offer him any clear evidence of her love, but she makes very clear her disappointment in his ability to care for the family and lift them out of their impoverished situation. The lack of love and desperation that Bigger feels from his family combine to produce in him a sense of utter meaninglessness: "He knew that the moment he allowed himself to fully feel how they lived, the shame and misery of their lives, would have been swept away." beside himself with fear and despair... He knew that the moment he allowed what his life meant to enter fully into his consciousness, he would kill himself or someone else" (p. 10). The conditions of his life are exactly what Cornel West describes as criminal behavior in the absence of a spiritual outlet that gives himprovides hope and meaning. Although Bigger was introduced to religion on some level as a child, recalling, "familiar [religious] images that his mother had given him when he was a baby on her lap" (p. 283), religion never played a major role in his life, and its influence did not extend beyond early childhood. Bigger recalls that whatever religious impulses he once felt he "repressed and tried to push out of his life" (p. 283). attended church as a child, but as he grew up he realized that the reality of his life was such that he found it impossible to find comfort in God. It seemed unimportant and served a ridiculously futile quasi-purpose in a life where other things - from survival to ability to acquire material objects – were of primary importance. When asked why he stopped going to church, Bigger replies, “I didn't like it. There was nothing inside. Aw, all they did was sing and shout and pray the whole time. And they got nothing." . All the colored people do it, but they get nothing. White people got it all" (p. 355). West attributes much of the spiritual impoverishment he perceives among young black men as the result of a market society in which the acquisition of material goods has assumed the utmost importance. "The result [of spiritual impoverishment] is lives of what we might call 'random nows,' of fortuitous and fleeting moments concerned with 'overcoming' - with acquiring pleasure, ownership and power by any means necessary... Postmodern culture is always plus a market culture dominated by gangster mentality and self-destructive wantonness" (p. 10). Bigger's life goal was not religion or spiritual salvation, but the acquisition of material goods, a natural desire given America's penchant for pleasure and power and his own disadvantaged status. From West's perspective, pervasive spiritual degradation translates directly into criminal behavior in young black men, as no realistic and effective force is present to stem the desire for pleasure and power championed by American society. without a church to serve as the center of his social and spiritual life, Bigger has no real outlet except the pool hall he frequents with his friends - certainly no spiritual panacea, indeed, little more than a breeding ground for criminal schemes. Without a safe haven, without a spiritual outlet in Bigger's life to serve as an interlude in his times, protecting him from the negative influences of his impoverished and emotionally inadequate life, Bigger believes that a life of crime was almost inevitable. When his lawyer asks him if he ever thought that one day he would find himself locked up in prison for murder, Bigger replies: "To tell you the truth, Mr. Max, it almost seems natural that I'm here in front of that chair of death." . Now that I think about it, it seems like something like this just had to happen" (p. 358). Bigger's mother also felt the inevitability of his course in life: "[T]he gallows is at the end of the road you're on, boy . Just remember that" (p. 9). Every day of his life, every day spent wandering the streets, lounging in movie theaters, hanging around the pool hall, with little else to do and nowhere to escape the poverty and misery that were his life, led Bigger to what he saw as an inevitable end. For Bigger, there was no escape from the life he had been destined to lead from the moment of his conception. When the preacher enters Bigger's cell, with a moving sermon on Creation pleading with him to look to God for salvation, Bigger is momentarily seized with an understanding of the place religion could occupy hissoul. When the preacher begins to speak, the images "[spread] before his eyes and [capture] his emotions in a spell of awe and wonder" (p. 283). Here we see the potential that religion would have had as a saving force in Bigger's life, if only it had been more accessible to him. However, he rejects her offer of hope, "killing within himself the disturbing image of the preacher's life even before he killed Mary; that had been his first murder" (p. 284). It was his rejection of religion that was the first step along the path that ultimately led him to the death chamber. He is aware of the potential that religion has to fill a spiritual void, but he also recognizes that religion was something that had disappeared from his life many years ago for a multitude of reasons, and therefore he no longer has the power to save it, even if accepted it. Although Bigger tries to find salvation in the preacher's words, he ultimately cannot accept religion, even in his final days of life. The preacher is unable to reach Bigger because, although he wants to accept the gift of religion, his soul has been so weakened by the conditions of his life that he is unable to do so. Wright writes: "For those who wanted to kill him he was not human, he was not included in that picture of Creation; and for this they had killed him. To live, he had created a new world for himself, and for this he was to die" (p. 285 ) After bearing witness throughout his life to the poverty, degradation, and inadequacy that constituted his life, Bigger had come to believe that religion was for a different kind of person, the kind of person included in the picture of Creation, not for the likes of him. A traumatic experience with photographers causes Bigger to recognize the way he is seen by many whites: the photo depicts Bigger as an animal, "with his back against a wall, his teeth bared in a snarl." " (p. 336). Bigger knew that to many he was considered less than human and was excluded from the religion in which they took comfort. Wright explains, "He feared and hated the preacher because the preacher told him to bow...but his pride would not allow him" (p. 311). To keep some trace of pride alive, he turned away from religion, condemning himself to a life of spiritual as well as physical poverty, ultimately leading to his tragic fate. The cross that Bigger allowed the priest to hang around his neck symbolized an acquiescence, a small acceptance of the possibility of spiritual salvation, but even that small hope was destroyed by Bigger's eventual realization of his total exclusion from the spiritual life enjoyed by others. Shortly after the experience with the photographer, he sees a burning cross on top of a building, and realizes that the cross is for him a symbol of white disgust: "That cross was not the cross of Christ, but the cross of the Klu Klux Klan" (p. 338). The cross around his neck, he realizes, allies him with a religion that seeks only to reject him, a religion that sees him as an outsider. Wright states, “He had a salvation cross around his neck and they were burning one to tell him they hated him!” (p. 338). The burning cross, for Bigger, is a symbol of white supremacy and, beyond that, a symbol of his exclusion from religion. Not only did Bigger realize that religion was forbidden to him, but furthermore, that it served as a method by which whites could try to control him. When Mr. Max asks him why he didn't turn to the church, Bigger responds that he "didn't want that kind of happiness. White people like us to be religious, so they can do whatever they want with us" (p. 356). Bigger believes that religion is a mere tool through which whites try to pacify blacks, averting their gaze from the truth of the conditions in which they live..