1. BOOK 1 p3—Wake-up call The first book is called fear
First word is an onomatopoeia
It is literally a wake up, much like the book
Let me know how as you read along
The first book is called fear
P6—notice the fear stricken rat
Diction—fear

2. Notice that the setting so far is hostile and with much anxiety
The novel opens w/ a man anxiously beating a rat to death
Does this set the stage of what is to come in Bigger’s life?
Yes!

3. P9, 2nd para.—BT’s mom berates him
Notice that his mom treats him essentially the same as the rest of society does
The racism has penetrated their home and the people themselves to the point that they treat each other as cruelly as the world does.

4. P10—”Vera went behind the curtain…”
Diction—notice ‘powerless’ and “behind a wall, a curtain.”
BT is powerless to feel as though he can control anything—not his family, himself, his feelings, his life b/c of how he is treated and perceived
The wall is a barrier that prevents him from achieving.

5. P13--BT has the urge, the dream
Lack of $$ frustrates him
P14, 2nd para—He is stymied b/c this is not his world
Notice social division— “…alien white world…”
Robbing other blacks easier than robbing whites
This prospect causes fear
Frustration illustrates white barrier

6. P16-17—thwarted careers in aviation
They discuss wanting to be pilots
Whites “get a chance to do everything” (16)
“If you wasn’t black…and if they LET you…” (17)
This suggests the power the white social structure has
This account for their frustration
It suggests they ore outsiders looking in

7. P20, first para—extent of frustration penetrates his entire body.
He refers to life as jail=barrier
“…a red-hot iron down my throat.”
We will see diction that describes physiological impact repeatedly.
Middle—”I feel like something awful’s…”
Foreshadowment

8. P21—sense of hope for a pigeon, but not BT
Notice contrast of bird with BT and his friends
The bird is free and BT is not
This suggests an absence of hope

9. P24, middle, “If old Blum…”
Notice that white provokes fear
P25, last paragraph, middle—Discussion of the robbery is steeped in fear
Diction—notice fear, hot hate (physiology), feared, hate
Notice the deep impact this robbery has on BT

10. P29, first 8 lines—Circumstances inform his life
“..the rhythms of his life: indifference and violence.”
Notice both similes—like water, like a strange plant—both suggest he has not control

11. P43, first para—Environment informs his feelings.
“He was going among white people, so he…”
He is going to the white neighborhood.
Notice how his confidence and bravado dissipate

12. P45, last para—BT’s encounter with White America
He is instantly uneasy
Is afraid to look at the paintings
P46, 2nd half—Meet Mrs. Dalton
She is blind in two ways--Symbolism

13. P47, last 4 lines—BT sits like an ape
Notice mental stress
He doesn’t know why is responding this way
We see his inner violent desire “to wave his hand and blot out the white man…”
We will see this motif repeated throughout the novel when BT feels environmental stress

14. P48, first 7 lines—Involuntary submission
No one asks BT to act this way
It is an understood response
Imagery of BT as an ape
P59, below middle, “…except that girl. She worried him.”
Foreshadowment

15. P66-67—Car ride with Jan and Mary
P66, last 2 lines, “He flushed warm with anger.”
Notice is frustration with Jan
His reactions are instinctual, and their impact is physiological

16. He feels he is in “a shadowy region, a No Man’s Land.”
P67, rest of para
He hates his black skin
He is embarrassed to be seen w/ them
He has no idea how he should respond
So he feels bewildered
He feels he is in “a shadowy region, a No Man’s Land.”

17. P68—Jan is characterized as sincere yet naïve
He believes in unity and the betterment of mankind
But he fails to understand how this is impossible for BT
P69, bottom—Mary, too, is naïve
She seems foolish
Is she?

18. P70, 1st full para--BT feels tense and trapped
Again we see BT’s feelings urge him “to seize some heavy object…and blot it out.”
P73, 1st 3 lines—What’s the answer to that question??

19. P85-93—Drunk Mary, dead Mary
In this scene, we see BT fully seized in every way
The experience consumes him fully to the point he is almost in a dream-like state
P85, 1st full para, 1st sentence
Diction—terror, seized, dream

20. P85—Notice words that describe his experience
Words w/ physiological and psychological tension
Fear, tensely, afraid, frantically

21. P86, 1st full para 2nd full para, last sent
Clenched teeth, intimidated to the core, etc
Suggests fear is so powerful that it is consuming him fully
2nd full para, last sent
Mary releases he last breath— “it seemed final, irrevocable.”
This suggests the finality of his fate
Recall p20

22. P87, first full para, 1st 4 liens—the white people’s influence on BT
Thee people made him feel a way he did not like or want
He hates this

23. The experience is bizzare
P89, 1st full para, middle
“It was unreal. Like a nightmare”
“he had been dreaming of something like this for a long time”
The experience is bizzare
He is fighting to preserve his life
This is also suggesting a sense of empowerment.

24. P89, 2nd to last full para
“…body was instantly wrapped in a sheet of BLAZING terror…”
Diction—connotation of heat and fear
Physiologically consumed

25. P91—He cuts her head off
P93—It’s naptime