Analysis Of The Book ' Native Son '

In “Notes of a Native Son”, James Baldwin exceptionally conveys the burdens associated with being African American in New Jersey after the departure of his father. The relationship of father and son was negatively impacted by racial discrimination. Baldwin, for example, resisted frequent interactions with his father due to his hatred of the White American Society. However, after the loss of the father, Baldwin explored locations where a waitress denied him service due to the color of his skin, forcing him to convey his exasperation by throwing water on her. Consequently, sparking the same hatred he once despised in his father. As Baldwin matured, he was able to comprehend that his father's spiteful behavior sprung from the limitations blacks

James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" demonstrates his complex and unique relationship with his father. Baldwin's relationship with his father is very similar to most father-son relationships but the effect of racial discrimination on the lives of both, (the father and the son) makes it distinctive. At the outset, Baldwin accepts the fact that his father was only trying to look out for him, but deep down, he cannot help but feel that his father was imposing his thoughts and experiences on him. Baldwin's depiction of his relationship with his father while he was alive is full of loathing and detest for him and his ideologies, but as he matures, he discovers his father in himself. His father's hatred in relation to the white American

The violent clash of patriarchal Europe with the Americas and other parts of the world during the colonial period directly caused a degree of cross cultural diffusion that is evident within art. During this period of immense change, european artists sought to innovate and take a modern approach to their work, breaking away from the established mold. Abigail Solomon-Godeau write of one such artist from this period, Paul Gauguin, not only for his experimentation into expressionism but for the relation to which he viewed the native people of Tahiti, regarding them from a primitivist lens, appropriating much of their culture, and the sexualization of women.

In every culture, there are the strong and there are the weak, the oppressor and the oppressed. Sometimes they are of the same race and sometimes not, but they all rely on a difference in power. Socrates, Frederick Douglass, and WEB Du Bois each experience this power differential through the course of their lives. Socrates experiences this through his experience with the jury of Athens and his trial; Douglass through his life as a slave and his eventual escape. Du Bois experiences it through being a black man in the time of Reconstruction and being well of in comparison to other African-Americans at the time. Each man’s unique perspective on equality can illuminate why authority is so instrumental in the development of equality.

James Baldwin is known to be one of the best essay writers in the twentieth century who wrote on a few topics including race, discrimination, sexuality and most of all his personal experiences. In “Notes of a Native Son”, he uses two main strategies to get his point across. First, he likes to tell a story in a narrative view. Following is normally his analysis of the event. He describes the event and then gives his theory on the matter. By doing this, he grants the reader a chance to decipher the meaning. His interpretation may not be what the reader’s is. He likes to argue and provides the basis for his argument in “Notes of a Native Son”. Throughout the essay he talks about himself and his father,

“If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons.” This quotation by James Arthur Baldwin helps to bring about one of the main points of his essay, “Notes of a Native Son.” Baldwin’s composition was published in 1955, and based mostly around the World War II era. This essay was written about a decade after his father’s death, and it reflected back on his relationship with his father. At points in the essay, Baldwin expressed hatred, love, contempt, and pride for his father, and Baldwin broke down this truly complex relationship in his analysis. In order to do this, he wrote the essay as if he were in the past, still with his father,

The events in life are ways of growth and development in a person’s life, family or a society. Over time, humans will know the mental, physical and spiritual changes as a result of experiences. These changes can make some broad similarities in life or make a difference to develop independence and make a lifestyle. In these essays: "Notes of a Native Son" by James Baldwin and "Three Spheres" by Lauren Slater are essays that give examples of events that are similar and different in characteristics that can occur in a person’s life in the growth stage.

The book The Ugly American clearly demonstrates several of the established Special Operations Force (SOF) imperatives outlined in ADRP 6-22. As a Special Forces soldier I can relate these imperatives to stories illustrated in the book and apply them to real life situations that I have experienced in the field. The Ugly American is a goldmine of wisdom and a handbook for special warfare. All Special Operations soldiers should read it.

James Baldwin in “Notes of a Native Son” writes about the death of his father and his struggle in America during segregation. He also reveals that he didn’t have a very good relationship with his ill father. Throughout the essay there is a repetition of bitterness. Also, Baldwin’s experiences reveal his purpose for writing the essay. One passage that is especially revealing is on page 222 which says, “When he died I had been away from home for a little over a year. In that year I had had time to become aware of the meaning of all my father’s bitter warnings, had discovered the secret of his proudly pursed lips and rigid carriage: I had discovered the weight of white people in the world. I saw that this had been for my ancestors and now would be for me an awful thing to live with and that the bitterness which had helped to kill my father could also kill me.” This passage reveals how Baldwin’s relationship with his father, and his father’s warnings help demonstrate how hatred can cause negative effects on African Americans.

Bigger, a protagonist and controversial character in The Native Son, made a number of mistakes and he was indeed very much responsible for his actions. Bigger Thomas, a 20 year old who lives in poverty in a one-bedroom apartment with his mother and two siblings, has experienced racism has whole life. Bigger grew up to believe that white people were better than the blacks and were to be treated better than the whites also; in result, Bigger became angry and when in fear he turned to violence.

The title of Philip Roth’s novel, Goodbye, Columbus, is symbolic of the journey one must take to define one’s individuality or discover one’s life purpose. Superficially, the title is a reference to the ending lyrics of Ron’s senior yearbook album as well as the physical location of Ohio State University in which Ron Patimkin graduated from. With closer analysis, it becomes evident that the title extends to a much deeper meaning of the overall theme of self-examination and self-identity for the protagonist, Neil Klugman. The title, Goodbye, Columbus, primarily acts as an essential metaphor between the expedition Christopher Columbus takes in search of a westward route to India and the life journey Neil embarks upon to discover his identity both in terms of his socioeconomic status and Jewish heritage. The title both clarifies and foreshadows the fate Neil ultimately realizes as he pursues a relationship with Brenda Patimkin.

Between 1890 and 1906, Black people were rejected from the area of politics, as southern states amended their constitutions to deny Black American citizens their voting rights that had been ratified by the Fifteenth Amendment. The beliefs of racial uplift, was an idea that placed responsibility on educated Black people for the well-being of the majority of their race. This was a reaction to the assault on African American civil and political rights, also known as “the Negro problem (Washington 8).” During this era, there were opportunities for Black people to become leaders of Black communities everywhere. African American leaders combated stereotypes by highlighting class differences among Blacks that believed in the stereotypes themselves. In 1903, W. E. B. Du Bois published the book, The Souls of Black Folk. He criticized "the old attitude of adjustment and submission" that had been expressed by Booker T. Washington in the Atlanta Compromise Address (Hill 734). Washington addressed that Southern Black people should work and submit to White political rule, while Southern White people guaranteed Black people the reception of basic educational and economic opportunities. Du Bois believed that full civil rights and increased political representation, would uplift the Black community during this time. African Americans needed the opportunities for advanced education to develop this sore of leadership, titled the “Talented Tenth”, an African-American intellectual elite

Analysis of Setting, Major, and Minor Themes of Native Son                           The major themes of Native Son are environment, racism,  black rage, religion, Communism, determinism and freedom.   A minor theme is the relationship between men and women.      One of the major themes of Native Son is the effect of environment on behavior and personality.

After reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster and Native Son by Richard Wright, I believe that Native Son is definitely worthy of literary merit and I know that Foster would agree with me. In his novel, Native Son, Wright employs the use of symbolism, blindness, season, a Christ figure, and communion to add richness and depth to his work.

Throughout my study of racism as it presents itself in America, violence, gender, class, and more have all been brought to the forefront of discussions of racial oppression. Human sexuality is often subverted in these conversations, although it intersects with all of these forms of racism. African Americans are often subject to sexual stereotyping and objectification which causes them to become rigidly policed by both society and themselves (Gonzales and Rolison 715). Since sexuality presents itself as a significant way in which African Americans are oppressed, sexual persecution presents itself as a theme in many prominent pieces of African American literature. Particularly this themes present themselves in Iceberg Slim’s autobiography Pimp and Richard Wright’s novel Native Son. Despite the fact that Iceberg Slim’s popular underground autobiography and Richard Wright’s fictional sociological commentary appear to on separate ends of the African American literary spectrum, both works demonstrate how Black sexuality is policed, objectified and commodified in mid 20th century America. Studies performed by Alicia M. Gonzales and Gary Rolison for their article Social Oppression and Attitudes towards Sexual Practices prove that African American receive less sexual freedom in contemporary American, and analysis of Native Son and Pimp will exhibit they ways in which this sexual oppression presents itself in societal experiences, and how African Americans are blocked from any