When I first started reading Native Son, I didn't really like Bigger. He was rude to his family and his friends. I didn't really relate with him at all. When he murdered Mary, I definitely didn't agree with what he did, but I can understand why he did it. Plus, it was an accident. During those moments I felt pretty sympathetic toward him because he did something bad on purpose, and now he was going to be sent to death for it.
When I first started reading Invisible Man, I did like the narrator. He was funny, at least in the prologue. He had a lot of weird, random thoughts and ideas, like stringing up 1,369 light bulbs just to steal electricity and spite the electric company. Throughout the beginning chapters, I could tell that the narrator is very different than Bigger Thomas. He is more of a rule-follower, who does whatever someone asks him to do, which isn't necessarily a good thing. Since we have yet to finish Invisible Man, I don't know if my opinions on the narrator will change or not.
Bigger Thomas and the narrator are similar but also very different people. Both of them are drivers for a rich white man, but Bigger ends up murdering the man's daughter and the narrator does everything he can to keep the rich white man safe and happy. Toward the middle of Native Son, Bigger is being chased down by police and hiding in old apartment buildings. The narrator's "secret room" somewhat reminds me of this environment, but I don't know how he came to live in this hidden room.
Overall, I like both the narrator and Bigger Thomas as main characters for these two novels. Both books are very good which makes it more fun to do the reading assignments. So far, I like Invisible Man more because it is more of a longer story on a longer timeline, while Native Son was almost too fast-paced for me.
