Native Son, Boris Max's Defense

“Innocent until proven guilty” was the basis for the defense that Boris Max provided for Bigger. Richard Wright went into great detail on the defense of Bigger in his book Native Son. He showed how much this one trial meant to Boris Max. Boris Max stayed up many nights and could not sleep at all. Why did Boris Max want to defend Bigger, who was obviously guilty of murder though he had tried to blame it on the Communist Party? Max thought that Bigger’s environment caused him to commit the murder and it was done as an act of self-realization. Also, Max thought that this trial was a step not only for Bigger, but for the whole African-American race and other minority groups. Although Max went into the trial with a handicap, his defense was very powerful.
First, Boris Max thought Bigger’s environment led him to his murder. Bigger lived in the Black Belt of Chicago and had very poor living conditions. Bigger, Buddy, Vera, and Ma all lived in a house together and when they w...