st society he has experienced. In other words, it has been his fate to be taught to hate and fear by the white racist society which shaped him, but his fate extends beyond that manipulation to a consciousness of liberation, even in the face of imprisonment and execution:
There was no day for him now, and there was no night; there was but a long stretch of time, a long stretch of time that was very short; and then---the end. Toward no one in the world did he feel any fear now, for he knew that fear was useless; and toward no one in the world did he feel any hate now, for he knew that hate would not help him (315).
Of course, this attitude prevails only temporarily, but it is a glimmer of the permanent victory over fear and hatred which Bigger's imprisonment and pending execution will bring him. By his tormentors, he is treated as an animal, as a "boy" who is less than an animal:
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