Bigger Thomas

"[5] University of California at Los Angeles associate English professor Richard Yarborough stated that "Wright didn't want him to be sympathetic, so he made him very brutal.

[7] Victor Love, who portrayed Bigger in the 1986 film, stated that his appearance and voice not being "street" meant that he did not feel he was initially seriously considered for the role.

[6] Filmmaker Rashid Johnson explained that he removed Bessie's death from the film because having her survive would "give Bigger an opportunity to be both complicated and (empathetic) simultaneously, and that was just a step off of a cliff that didn't allow us to tell the story in a (contemporary) way that we thought would facilitate conversation.

"[10] Shechtman wrote that the character "was a disgrace" to middle class African-Americans, adding that liberal white Americans saw Bigger more positively as "a black antihero, claiming their interest and testing their sympathy".

"[7] Ellison wrote that "Bigger Thomas had none of the finer qualities of Richard Wright, none of the imagination, none of the sense of poetry, none of the gaiety.

An African-American newspaper review described the edited film as "leaving the audience with no choice but to condemn" Bigger, due to omission of key characteristics.

[11] However, upon reading an edition of the book with an introduction, Bradley stated that "Suddenly I realized that many readers of Native Son had seen Bigger Thomas as a symbol".

[11] Owen Glieberman of Variety wrote that the character, "a badass before his time", "embodied a drive, a violence, that made him the link between Stagger Lee and Sweetback", and that this was the "power" of the original work.