React to the preacher’s attempts to bring Bigger to God. Why does he fail? (325-)

Reverend Hammond offers Bigger a wooden cross but Bigger throws it away, fearing it as a trick when he sees the larger, flaming cross of the KKK. Hammond plays the role of a "holy fool," and his syrupy sermons, told in a southern drawl, fail to win Bigger's soul and repulse him.