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James Baldwin's Film, A Question Of Identity

Decent Essays

“A Question of Identity” by James Baldwin discusses about the experience of American students in Paris. These students share only one commonality and that is they all have military experiences. Even though they have served in the war, each of them has their unique and “private” experience. After the war, instead of going back home to America, the students decided stay in Europe. James Baldwin tries to analyze and figure out the reasons for these students to stay back and live in Paris. They apparently came to learn. However, Baldwin questions the reasoning. He asserts that the materials they are learning can be studied back home as well, that even with great comfort. Washington Square has incredulous artwork just like Paris does. What was the reason then? Baldwin suspects that it is neither about learning nor about the love of French culture and history, but it is rather an escape from reality, at first. Media, as always, tends to depict places and objects by idealizing them and giving the audience the wrong idea about them. Similarly, films of Paris show that it is the city “where everyone loses …show more content…

Similar to a celebrity wanting double lives, famous and simple, the American student wants to be treated just as a regular person without any labels tied to his back. However, it was nearly impossible to blend in with the natives there. Parisians do not seem to enjoy the freedom as much as Americans do, which basically distinguishes the American as “American”. Eventually, some of them begins to miss their home becoming overwhelmed by too much freedom. This can be related to the saying about how one only realizes the importance of something when it’s gone or in this case, when it has been away from one. These Americans probably have taken America for granted and this separation makes them realize how attached they are to

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