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Mary Dalton
A Communist active in Chicago, and Mary’s boyfriend, Jan meets up with Mary and Bigger the night of the murder, and does all he can to treat Bigger with kindness—although Bigger resents Jan’s attempts. Bigger then implicitly blames Jan for Mary’s murder, hoping that authorities will be fooled, and although some believe that Jan might have “made a pact” with Bigger in order for Mary to be killed, Jan’s name is later cleared. Jan has his friend Max, a lawyer for the Communists, represent Bigger at his trial, and Bigger’s last words to Max, at the novel’s end, are to tell Jan that he says goodbye.
Jan Quotes in Native Son
The Native Son quotes below are all either spoken by Jan or refer to Jan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 1 Quotes
First of all . . . don’t say sir to me. I’ll call you Bigger and you’ll call me Jan. That’s the way it’ll be between us.
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Book 2 Quotes
You are a Communist, you goddamn black sonofabitch! And you’re going to tell me about Miss Dalton and that Jan bastard!
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Book 3 Quotes
Bigger, I’ve never done anything against you and your people in my life. But I’m a white man and it would be asking too much to ask you not to hate me, when every white man you see hates you . . . .
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Get the entire Native Son LitChart as a printable PDF.
Jan Character Timeline in Native Son
The timeline below shows where the character Jan appears in Native Son. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 1
...is to interview later that day; and her friend, a known Communist sympathizer, is named Jan. The newsreel is a kind of “popular” or human-interest story about the “outrageous” young Ms....
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They arrive at an apartment in the outer Loop, and Jan, the man Mary was with in the news-reel Bigger saw earlier that day, comes out...
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Bigger is also confused and angry at Jan’s informality—paradoxically, Bigger feels even less comfortable in his skin, and with his blackness, since Jan...
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...amidst the poverty of the South Side. The car reaches Ernie’s, and Bigger believes that Jan and Mary will go inside to eat while Bigger remains in the Buick. But Jan...
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Jan asks Bigger what he likes to eat, and Jan offers, without listening to Bigger’s reply,...
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Jan then tells Bigger that he (Jan) is a member of the Communist party, with which...
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Bigger, Mary, and Jan are all fairly drunk from the significant amount of alcohol they’ve consumed while eating dinner....
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...trying to sing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” and asking Bigger to sing along, Mary and Jan decide that it’s probably time to call it a night—Mary has to get back to...
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At the edge of the park, Jan gets out of the car, shakes Bigger’s hand once again, and offers him some pamphlets...
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...frantically and decides that the best course of action is to blame the murder on Jan, whom he can say came back to the Daltons’ house (instead of being dropped off,...
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...wad of bills from Mary’s purse, and the purse itself, and begins concocting his plan—that Jan came back to the house with Bigger and Mary; that Bigger went to bed; that...
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Book 2
...has dried blood on it. Bigger realizes that he can take some of the pamphlets Jan gave him, which are still in his pockets, and put them in his drawer at...
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...his plans, believing that, when news of Mary’s death is revealed, everyone will immediately blame Jan and his “red” (Communist) companions.
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...in her room, that her bed appears not to have been slept in, and that Jan called that morning (as he promised to do, in Bigger’s presence, the night before), checking...
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...Dalton’s embarrassment about Mary’s disappearance—which she believes is a result of Mary’s sexual impropriety with Jan—will cause her not to grill him too harshly. Bigger makes it seem that Jan came...
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...half-true version of what has happened to Mary. He says that Mary has eloped with Jan, that no one can find the couple, and that he, Bigger, has taken some of...
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...what happened the night before, and Bigger, lying to keep his alibi straight, says that Jan returned to the house with Mary, that Mary told Bigger to take the trunk down...
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...straight in order to keep the authorities from figuring out that Bigger is lying about Jan’s presence in the house, and other details of the previous night. Bigger takes the trunk...
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...more detail with his story, in order to convince the Daltons and the authorities that Jan is responsible for Mary’s disappearance. Bigger tells the story of the night more or less...
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...Bigger, asking if he, too, is a Communist, and if Bigger is therefore in on Jan’s plot to kidnap or hurt Mary. But Bigger, genuinely frightened, says that he doesn’t know...
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...account of the previous night. Britten says that he will go about trying to contact Jan, to see if Bigger’s story stands up to scrutiny.
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...he is being called from below. When he arises, he answers the door to find Jan, Mr. Dalton, and Britten wanting to speak with him. The three come into Bigger’s room....
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Jan continues to describe the events of the previous evening—he does not lie, but instead says...
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On the way out of the house, Jan runs into Bigger, who has gone down the staircase (Britten and Mr. Dalton have already...
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...traced on the letter), and writes a ransom note, pretending to be a Communist from Jan’s group called “Red.” The note, scrawled quickly, asks for ten thousand dollars to be brought...
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...but with a renewed urgency: what Bigger did the night before, what Bigger saw, how Jan behaved with Mary, what Jan told him to do with the trunk. Bigger repeats his...
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...the day after the crime was committed). The reporters ask if Mary is missing, if Jan is responsible, if Jan has been arrested, and what Dalton plans to do about finding...
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...as being “ghost-like.” Henry tells the reporters that he has asked the police to release Jan and drop all charges against him; Henry goes on to apologize to Jan for the...
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...gone upstairs to use his phone to call the newsroom, comes back to say that Jan won’t leave police custody after all.
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Some of the reporters, and Britten, believe that Jan won’t leave the precinct because he is in fact guilty and afraid of what will...
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...newspaper, in which he reads more about the abduction, the ransom, and the holding of Jan in custody. Bigger fears that, with all the scrutiny of the police across the city,...
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Book 3
...by police to the Cook County Morgue, where he spots Mr. and Mrs. Dalton and Jan, though Bigger cannot speak to them—he is nearly in a daze, and has been eating...
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...neck does Bigger snap out of the reverie the preacher’s words have occasioned. Bigger sees Jan coming into the jail cell, where the preacher remains; a jolt of fear runs through...
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Jan begins speaking, though it is difficult for him to get the words out. Jan tells...
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Bigger wonders if Jan isn’t trying to trick him, but Bigger realizes that Jan wants to help; Jan asks...
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...Buckley immediately that Bigger will be signing no confessions; Buckley, who is contemptuous of Max, Jan, and all Communists, says that his office doesn’t need a confession to convict Bigger, since...
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...to do is to confess to everything, avoid trial, and receive his punishment. Max and Jan also leave the cell, with the preacher and the members of the gang. Only Buckley...
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...the trial of Bigger Thomas; they say they have no objections. The deputy coroner calls Jan to the stand, ostensibly in order to further clarify the events of the night in...
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The deputy coroner then launches into a series of leading questions against Jan, asking whether Jan would approve of Mary marrying an African American, whether Jan got Mary...
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...that black man want to rape white women. Bigger tells Max that, that evening with Jan and Mary, Bigger hated them; they made him feel inferior, ashamed of his blackness. Max...
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...gets his hat and leaves the cell, Bigger tells Max to say goodbye also to Jan. The cell door closes, and Bigger is left alone, awaiting his execution. The novel ends.
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