Sunday, June 8, 2008

Bigger v. Jesus

May21, 2008 Atiya Groomes
Grade 10
English 2
Jesus v. Bigger Thomas

Jesus Christ is a savior believed to be both God incarnate and a human being. Was Jesus the only person of his kind? Could there be a replica of Jesus or someone who is comparable to Jesus but not quite, identical? Bigger Thomas a character from Richard Wright’s Native Son is parallel to Jesus, but you can still distinguish the two. Just like Jesus, Bigger Thomas spent time alone in the wilderness, was in agony, and most importantly Bigger sacrificed his self for others.

After being baptized, Jesus immediately went into the desert for 40 days, where he was tempted by the devil. After birth, Bigger Thomas lived in an environment where few forms of life could exist, the BLACK BELT of Chicago, Illinois. Living in the BLACK BELT meant that Bigger had to live in dilapidated housing, was excluded from industrial jobs and most unions, had no positive role models, and was around all the wrong people who at times would tempt him. The BLACK BELT of Chicago was Bigger’s desert.

"And being in agony Jesus was praying very fervently; and His sweat became drops of blood, falling down upon the ground." Similarly “Bigger Thomas sank to his knees and sobbed: I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die.” Bigger and Jesus were both in agony. There are so many times where Jesus and Bigger suffered agony in their lives. Both Jesus and Bigger were arrested, beat and ridiculed. Jesus was crowned with thorns Bigger was crowned with wires from the electric chair.

Before Jesus was crucified he said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” Correspondingly, before Bigger was sent to the chair he said “and when I’m dead and gone they’ll be saying like I’m saying now that they didn’t mean to hurt nobody”. Bigger and Jesus both had clear understanding that they would be executed; they also had a clear understanding that their killers did not mean to kill them. Bigger believed “th-that they was t-trying to get something”, Jesus believed, that they did not know what they were doing. Both Jesus and Bigger died for their society’s corrupting behaviors. Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins and Bigger was sacrificed for the way society molded him.

Ultimately, Jesus is the only one of his kind. But I must agree that Bigger Thomas is a Jesus like figure, he dwelled alone in the “wildered” parts of Chicago, was in agony and crowned, and he was sacrificed for society’s wrong doings, just like Jesus. So even though it is evident that they are not the same they are still very much alike.

Dear Mr. Romero,
I better get an A. Primarily, I worked my a** off. Secondly, this is an college essay and I did research (I never remember you assigning a research paper). Finally, those other two essays on Goodreads will be taken care of asap.
Thank you

1 comment:

riveraeric14 said...

this is a great essay and it is so real im reading it right now and i can see that it is simaler thanks to your writhings i hope i can meat you