In Native Son, there are many examples of excess that lead to the self-destruction of individuals. The first form of excess comes in the form of oppression against blacks by white who have an excess of power reinforced by social institutions (law enforcement, education, religion) designed to grant it to them. The second form of excess is the level of self-destruction that is engendered in the oppressed because of their inferior position in the face of excessive power in the hands of their oppressors. Thus, there is a boomerang effect created by excess. The whites who have an excess of power are able to oppress blacks until they have an excessive need for self-destruction because of their inferior position to whites—a position reinforced by excessive white power. Wright uses characterization and symbolism to underscore his theme of how American institutionalized oppression of blacks creates, through its excess, human tragedy for those oppressed. However, the novel is not an attempt to merit our sympathy or empathy for the condition of repressed blacks, on the contrary it is an illustration of how the nihilistic attitude (an “excess” of self-defeatism) of blacks like Bigger Thomas is the direct result of white repression of non-white cultures and identities. In other words, Bigger’s only option is death (an excessive reaction) because the society which has created him has left him nothing to care about that he may call his own. The excess of oppression creates diminishment of potential (to an excess in Bigger’s case). Thus, Bigger turns to violence as an expression of his identity, and excessive reaction to the excessive oppression he has known. When he reads the article in the newspaper to his mother, he exclaims, “No! Jan didn’t help me! He didn’t have a damned thing to do with it! I-I did it!” (Wright 283). His act of violence is an excessive reaction to affirm himself in a society that excessively rep...