Analysis Of The New Mestiza And James Baldwin 's The Fire Next Time

This is a very important part of the book because it shows the reader that the

There is a very thin line between love and hate in James Baldwin’s essay “Notes of a Native Son.” Throughout this essay James Baldwin continually makes references to life and death, blacks and whites, and love and hate. He uses his small experiences to explain a much larger, more complicated picture of life. From the first paragraph of the essay to the last paragraph, Baldwin continually makes connections on his point of view on life; beginning with the day his father died, to the time that his father was buried. James Baldwin is an outstanding author, who creatively displays his ability to weave narration and analysis throughout his essays.

James Baldwin argues that “such Frustrations, so long endured, is driving many strong, admirable men and women whose only crime is color

There are some things to what Baldwin said that aren't very accurate. By this I mean that some of the thought he expressed aren't relevant to our society today. This essay was written in the fifty's, a lot of chaos and anarchy was prevalent. This being said, it makes sense that Baldwin wrote: "American white men still nourish the illusion that there is some means of recovering the European innocence, of returning to the state in which black men do not exist…people who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction." (pg 101). The point I'm trying to make is that Baldwin was in a more violent mind state toward American life at this time. The Civil Right Movement slowly started in 1955 then gained speed with Rosa parks and what really sparked the movement came from one speech. Martin Luther King gave his I Have a Dream speech in

Here Baldwin connected the death and violence of the civil rights riots and his father’s death, to the destruction of pride in his father and himself. Baldwin admitted throughout the essay that he had hatred for his father. The ideas of hatred and apocalypse are repeated in this paragraph. The repetition of these evil words showed the relationship between the end of two worlds that affected Baldwin. Baldwin felt that his father left him with the world around him crumbling and his own world as well. Baldwin used the central idea of death to tie together the two ideas of the riots and his father’s death.

The text continues with Baldwin warning his nephew about the struggle he is going to endure for just being born black and nothing else. Also telling him that he must survive for his children and his children’s children. He warns him, telling him that this country will set him up for failure and that they will try to control where he could go, what he could do, and how he could do it. He continues to articulate that he must stay true to himself because no matter how much he tries to resemble white people they will never accept him. He later states how corrupt the white mind is, for example, he says, “They are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it. They have had to believe for so many years, and for innumerable reasons, that black men are inferior to white men. Many of them, indeed, know better, as you will discover, people find it very difficult to act on what they

Baldwin determines that violence and racial separatism are not acceptable solutions for achieving “power”. Baldwin believes that black people will only be able to achieve lasting influence in America if they love and accept white people. In contrast, writing 52 years after Baldwin, Coats tells his own son to “struggle” but not

The main argument that both Anzaldua and Baldwin makes are very similar, and in these aspects, both are as equally strong. Both authors have experienced cultural and language discrimination throughout their lives, and wish to make a change. Anzaldua argues that Chicano English should not be considered an inferior language, while Baldwin claims that Black English should not be considered an inferior form of English. Anzaldua and Baldwin address the oppressors of their language and condemns them for marginalizing Chicano English and Black English, respectively. They also empower those who can relate to their situation, and encourage them to step up to be equal to that of speakers of other languages. While the main message and purpose of each author is clear, their delivery differs vastly.

Baldwin, however, describes his father as being a very black-like “African tribal chieftain” (64) who was proud of his heritage despite the chains it locked upon him. He is shown to be one with good intentions, but one who never achieved the positive outcome intended. His ultimate downfall was his paranoia such that “the disease of his mind allowed the disease of his body to destroy him” (66). Baldwin relates the story of a white teacher with good intentions and his father’s objection to her involvement in their lives because of his lack of trust for any white woman. His father’s paranoia even extended to Baldwin’s white high school friends. These friends, although they could be kind, “would do anything to keep a Negro down” (68), and they believed that the “best thing to do was to have as little to do with them as possible” (68). Thus, Baldwin leaves the reader with the image of his father as an unreasonable man who struggled to blockade white America from his life and the lives of his children to the greatest extent of his power. Baldwin then turns his story to focus on his own experience in the world his father loathed and on his realization that he was very much like his father.

In paragraph 10, Baldwin describes the feeling of rage explicitly. He explains that ?rage? is unavoidable and that one cannot ignore it. The rage of people caught in situations, as Baldwin puts it in the epigraph that frames this essay, causes ?rage? on an everyday basis but still cannot be fully comprehended. The rage of the American Negro can only partially be rationalized by the white people with complications and ?never entirely? subdued by the American Negro. This powerful anger cannot be concealed or disguised because it would become deceitful and invigorate ?rage? and add to its unpleasantness (130-131). Additionally, rage is by far the strongest emotion one can experience, especially if repressed. For instance, Baldwin had a lot of anger and hostility built inside of him because of his troubled past and agitated feelings. These feelings grow inside of Baldwin because he cannot fit into a society that accepts him as an ?exotic rarity? (131), not a human being.

An article in the New York Times newspaper depicted this problem in which it talked about the merged labor movement, which is a part of NAACP, not stopping widespread segregation and discrimination in unions. (Union Aides Rebut) The method of using the American legal system also has much irony within it based on the fact that it is partially at fault for separating the races, and is controlled by people who did it. The NAACP even with flaws seen by Baldwin, do not believe that all Whites are evil and this can be seen in how they’re a part of NAACP’s infrastructure. This point is were Baldwin confers with them on the fact that they should be creating a nation where Blacks and Whites are equal because “[Baldwin] did not care if White and Black people married” (Baldwin 327). From this point one can interpret the fact that Baldwin agrees with the overall goal of the NAACP to unify the two races. This future they look for is what he wants and sits well with Baldwin even though their methods are slow.

Baldwin continues on and says that blacks were being oppressed everywhere. “…Negro girls who set upon a white girl in the subway because…she was stepping on their toes. Indeed she was, all over the nation” (73). Not only does this portray the ever growing tension felt among African Americans in a certain area, it expresses the tension felt across the nation. African Americans everywhere were still continuously looked down upon, causing agitation, which was the current social condition blacks and whites faced.

Many African-Americans were shot dead in an armed robbery by a white police officer. Terrorism in different areas because of religion: 9/11, Brussels bombing, London bombing, Madrid train bombing, and so on. These terrorist acts and groups are formed because of discrimination. Many of these terrorist group like ISIS and Al-Qaeda are formed around religion. “The society in which we live is desperately menaced, not by Khrushchev, but from within.” Khrushchev was lead the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Although he didn’t start the war because of discrimination, Baldwin is trying to prove a point. Citizens look at leaders of different groups such as ISIS, drug cartels in Mexico, and the KKK and only hate the leader of that group. But, society needs to see the group as one. The whole group started the bombing, the raids, the massacres, not just the leader. Khrushchev might have planned the attacks, but none of his followers told him no. This was why he was so successful and some points during the way. Saying no to society leads you to their path of corruption. In addition, opinions become the concrete of laws of

There is a harsh reality of racism, no matter what some choose to believe. James Baldwin says, " when you try and stand up, and look the world in the face, like you had a right to be here, when you do that without knowing the result of it, you have attacked the entire power structure of the western world.(Blay,2017)" His writing is raw, honest and truthful ideas of topics that make people feel uncomfortable,such as Going to Meet the Man. A memorable yet disturbing short story that spoke volumes because, of the horror shown in human nature. But most importantly, this story's’ highlighted moment is the lynching , and this is where it is nearly jaw dropping to readers because of the graphic details Baldwin included.

Baldwin stated “I’ve never hated whites but I wanted to kill one. Not because they were white, but because of