James Baldwin : Analysis Of Similar Values And Beliefs

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

Hatred for white society was a strong theme among the African American community during the 1950s. These emotions were conveyed through different platforms of the time, ranging from art and music, to articles and books. But James Baldwin, a popular African American writer during this time period, does not obsess over this subject that was so passionately conveyed by so many people like him. Instead of preaching about his hatred for white America, Baldwin utilizes his story of his childhood as well as his early adulthood to illustrate the destructive nature of the African Americans society’s hatred for white society in the very well known essay, “Notes of a Native Son.”

In the letter My Dungeon Shook by James Baldwin, written to Baldwin's nephew, he addresses his audiences' of both black and white Americans to achieve his purpose of exposing the societal structure of America and its effect on its citizens. This, in turn, promotes the advancement of equality for black Americans. Consequently, Baldwin aims to enlighten white Americans of their blindness to racism and entrapment in the established American hierarchy, bringing to light how engagement in this ignorance perpetuates black Americans' disadvantage in society. As a source of societal change for black Americans, Baldwin advocates love and acceptance toward white Americans. Moreover, he demonstrates the threat of adopting white Americans'

Whether past or present, there is no denying the fact that we humans have created an existence in which it is not uncommon to subject other breathing human beings to conditions of separateness and extreme oppression. The societies we create aid in participation of these conditions in a way that some deem acceptable, even if threatening to the moral norm. “Going to Meet The Man,” a melancholy story written by James Baldwin, sheds light on the tragic problem of racism that has afflicted our world and how this racism came to be. By examining the past and present life of a racist sheriff in a southern town, this tragic story epitomizes the terrible truth of reality and exemplifies the tragedy and problem of moral knowledge, alienation from others, and the tragedy of morally conflicting demands.

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, 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.

James Baldwin’s short story gruesomely paints the picture of how racism and sexuality are linked. The story takes place during the civil rights movement in the United States (Gorman 119). During this time, African Americans were still being oppressed, and white people were angry that they were making progress in society. This often lead to brutal attacks and sometimes death. In the story, the narrator, Jesse, is having difficulty having sex with his wife and compares her to the black women that he has sex with. As the story progresses, the problem emerges with the killing of a black man who is dismembered by a white man right before young Jesse’s eyes. Instead of seeing this as a horrible experience, Jesse takes on the attitude of those around him. Through characterization, point of view, and symbolism, James Baldwin’s story, “Going to Meet the Man,” demonstrates the connection between sexuality, particularly masculinity, and racism.

Another Country and Go Tell it on the Mountain are two of James Baldwin's most analyzed novels. Some see both novels as great additions to American literature, while others criticize Baldwin's unique writing style used in both works.

Thus, Peter is forced to be cognizant of his race and the implications in either softening his black identity or embracing it in all its callousness. This is starkly different to Bambara’s short story, as the women emphasise their blackness as a way of finding solidarity and look for a positive outlook in the space of their violent history. Thus, through this, the two authors present the differences in connecting the history of African Americans in literature as a means of movement. As Bambara’s characters move towards a better future as a collective, Baldwin’s Peter is stagnant within epistemic hatred and is forced to revert back to his previous condition.

In paragraph three of James Baldwin's 'Stranger in the Village' (1955), he alludes to emotions that are significant, dealing with conflicts that arise in the Swiss village. Of these emotions are two, astonishment and outrage, which represent the relevant feelings of Baldwin, an American black man. These two emotions, for Baldwin's ancestors, create arguments about the 'Negro' and their rights to be considered 'human beings' (Baldwin 131). Baldwin, an American Negro, feels undeniable rage toward the village because of the misconception of his complexion, a misconception that denies Baldwin human credibility and allows him to be perceived as a 'living wonder' (129).

Baldwin opens his argument acknowledging the distortion of segregation for the segregationists. According to Baldwin, people who, since birth, have been taught to think a certain way towards the African American race. “The white South African or Mississippi sharecropper or Alabama sheriff has at bottom a system of reality which compels them really to believe when they face the Negro that this

“When, beneath the black mask, a human being begins to make himself felt one cannot escape a certain awful wonder as to what kind of human being it is.”(4). In his essay, “Stranger in the Village”, James Baldwin writes about the major differences that African Americans experience in Europe and America. Throughout the essay, Baldwin describes how the Europeans are naive about the black man. The outrage and amusement that Baldwin feels throughout his visit causes the overwhelming realization of the history of the African American.

In James Baldwin’s collection of essays in The Fire Next Time he expresses a call to action for Americans to abandon the belief that skin color separates people from one another and to unite together as a whole country. In the essays, he identifies religion as the source for this disillusioned belief that the whites’ skin makes them inherently better than African Americans merely because of their skin color. In participating in the Christian religion, he learns that the teachings to love one another go unpracticed towards those with a different skin color or of another religion. While religion benefits its members by preventing people from falling into the life of crime that prevails in the ghetto, its influence causes the members to develop

James Baldwin’s “Notes of a Native Son” interweaves his own racial experiences with the ongoing chaos and claustrophobia in Harlem. Following the death of his father, a man “eaten up by paranoia,” the author embarks on an introspective journey, realizing how his identity is shaped by both the traits he inherits from his father and the experiences he has with racist attitudes and violence. Baldwin’s prose is as complex as the concepts he deals with, as he comes to the conclusion that hatred is a choice, not a fact of life.

Jensen (2005), argues how people have a discriminating inclination on how they see history. When history is being used to make an ostentatious gesture of the past, it becomes vital. Jensen, (2005) also refers to the “new White People’s Burden,” (p. 93) as they understand that they are the problem and need to face what reality really means, and act based on that understanding. In essence, Baldwin wanted to help his nephew survive as a black man in America, with a more sympathetic concept of racial tautness.