Describe the role of alienation in the novel.

In the novel, Bigger is representative of the stereotypical young alienated African-American male in America during the 1930s, and the author maintains that his helplessness, vengefulness, and impotance is a direct result of white oppression. Wright notes in the Introduction that Bigger's characters is representative of the many young African-American males, who experience alienation, and as a result, become antisocial, angry, and volatile.