The Fire Next Time Analysis

Being one of the only Mexican families in my neighborhood with my father definitely standing out, we received a lot of egregious comments and hateful eyes. Day after day we made sure to strive through this no matter what, and I had an epiphany which eventually led to a want to change the political stance in the world, and the idea that racism doesn't exist. Instead of hate, I decided to try to change the ideas of those around me, and realize that through their harsh words were teachings I could use to further improve my knowledge of the human brain and society as a whole. As years went by, more and more minorities began to inhabit my neighborhood, and as I began to befriend them, I heard their stories, the injustices done unto them, and the importance of motivation and perseverance.  Just like my father, their success stories were lined with failure, racism, and eventually the ability to overcome the problems that faced them. With this, I understood failure as a gift to the human race, and I became a scholar in historic teachings. I became the president of World Quest, leading my team in Junior year to a top 10 finish and Senior year to another top 10 finish, being both the captain and

Jonathan Kozol’s Fire in the Ashes is an honest depiction of the hardships and triumphs of families in the South Bronx, New York. In this book, Kozol introduces us to several Hispanic and Black families that he originally met in the Mott Haven/Martinique Hotel in the 1980’s and allows us to view their trajectory in the proceeding 25 years. By allowing the reader a look into the lives of these families, he provides us with a realistic depiction of the disadvantages families living in poverty encounter despite interventions from charity organizations and philanthropic donors. Kozol identifies that without “systematic justice and systematic equity in public education” (Kozol, 2013, pg 304) students in these impoverished neighborhoods will continue to lack the same economic opportunities that may potentially lead them out of the welfare system. Kozol emphasizes lack of stable housing, and unequal educational opportunities, as primarily conditions to perpetuating poverty. Despite the challenges that the families endure, Kozol is able to show that they are resilient.

If you went out one day and out of nowhere you find yourself in a life-or-death situation would it be your fault? People in a life-or-death situation should be held accountable for their actions because most of the time people know that if they do something that can put them in a life-or-death situation then something bad will happen but they still do it willingly. Another person might not agree with this claim and say that people should not be held accountable for their actions. The reason he or she might think this is because if when a person does face a life-or-death situation it might not be entirely their fault. The following reasons are examples of why my claim is stronger.

of life. However, a major issue which arises with this increasing diversity is race, a topic which

“When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.”

In James Baldwin’s essay “Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation” in The Fire Next Time, Baldwin advises his black, adolescent nephew living in the 1960’s during the African-American Civil Rights Movement on what living a free life means based on Baldwin’s own experience as an adult. As an existential thinker, Baldwin attributes a person’s identity to the collection of accomplishments and failures in his or her entire lifetime, as opposed to accepting a person as determinately good or bad. In order to be truly free of oppression, according to Baldwin, African Americans must seek to be authentic by not conceding to the expectations and restrictions of racist white Americans. A person’s authenticity lies in

The Fire This Time, by Jesmyn Ward, describes and explains the struggles that many African Americans face on a daily basis. In her introduction, Ward wants to address the ongoing racial injustices in the United States. Being an African American woman who grew up in the United States, she has dealt first hand with the “limiting, airtight closet” she describes as living in the American South. Jesmyn Ward gives the readers a glimpse of what the book, The Fire This Time, will be about. Touching on the interwoven past and present of African American lives, the many victims of racial injustice in the United States, and the image White people have of African Americans.

Everyone wants to be accepted by their peers, especially if there are key differences between them. That acceptance can only be achieved in one of two ways; either the person has to change for their peers or their peers have to change for that person. Since James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is set in a tumultuous time of racism, the Ex-Colored Man only has one option and that is to change himself. However, Johnson’s novel forces the reader to question if changing who you are will actually make you happier.

“[T]oo many people find themselves living amid a great period of social change, and yet they fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental responses, that the new situation demands” (King, “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution,” 112). In the last sermon of his life, Martin Luther King Jr. shared this piece of insightful information. The atmosphere of King’s time contained ignorance and oblivion. Today, the atmosphere looks similar, and more than ever before, people must start engaging in the major revolution taking place. Many people continue through life, unaware of the happenings around them. When they choose to sleep through the revolution, their chance to make a difference dissipates, and lasting consequences arise.

This book is an empowering and heart wrenching memoir about the differences between the world of black people and white people. This book mainly hits the point of race, but there are also some aspects of socioeconomic status to this book. Gregory Williams (the author) grew up believing he was white, but soon after he turned ten (10) he discovered he was a mixed race. This boy grew up in a time when desegregation was new to the country, and no white person was truly willing to accept this new reality. As a boy of neither just white nor just black heritage, Williams recalls the moments of hostility he encountered from white and black people.

In the reflective essay “Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie recounts the inspiring story of a young boy of minority who came to trump stereotypes through education. From an excerpt of another reflective essay, “The Hunger of Memory,” the elaboration of another man of minority who escaped his past through education is found. While some believe education can only help to succeed in life, another perspective can be found where education is seen to come with both positive and negative effects. It can help one to escape from the poverty of their past, but with it many other aspects of life are often abandoned. In this way, education can aid one in becoming a better person; however, this change could possibly separate them from their true self.

In the book “The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin there are two essays “My Dungeon Shook, Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation” and "Down At The Cross, Letter from a Region of My Mind" in which the reader learns about the characters and throughout the book themes of authority and oppression, history and religion, fear, and love can be significant to add to the importance of the message of the book. To begin, the book is written from the author’s perspective, which is James Baldwin. He is an African American who was born into poverty in Harlem. The Fire Next Time is a clear view of race relations in the United States, it also brings up topics on Baldwin’s experiences. In “My Dungeon Shook,” he addresses to his nephew, whose name is also James. In “Down At The Cross,” James Baldwin explains the difficult relationship with his stepfather who is the Baptist preacher David Baldwin and his own struggles. James, Baldwin's nephew is fourteen-year-old. James is said to have a strong resemblance to his father who is the author’s brother, and portrays a similarity in the personality in which he describes it a usually acting aggressive to not be seen as weak. James Baldwin tells James about not becoming like his grandfather. Although there are a few similarities between James and his grandfather, Baldwin thinks that the James’s way of seeing things are likely to avoid the mistakes his grandfather made.

The following are my reflections on The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin’s (1963) two autobiographical essays, a compelling precursor to many of the components of the Civil Rights movement, with resounding motifs of power/politics, religion/morality, racial injustice, and freedom. Baldwin lived in Europe for a number of years and felt compelled to return to America to get involved in the Civil Rights movement ("James Baldwin Biography - life, children, name, school, son, old, information, born, movie, time," n.d.). The Fire Next Time was his plea for blacks and whites who profoundly need each other here if to really to develop a nation.

Just dive in. You can swim. It will clear all the burden you have endured throughout your life. It will be a fresh start. Trust yourself. The novel Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng, examines how failure stems from the fear to express ourselves, which is caused by sexism and racism, thus placing a burden on victims of this discrimination. Unfortunately, racism and sexism are constant forms of discrimination that have been holding individuals back from reaching their full potential for centuries. Discrimination is due to the tragic reality that people are fearful of others who are different from them. They fear that this different race or gender may upstage them in the competition of life. The Lee family unfortunately has to bear the burden of discrimination in their everyday life due to racism and sexism. This burden carries the Lee family down like an anchor billowing to the bottom of the sea in hopes of finding peace once it hits the sea floor.

The next morning I called home. That fall I would start school at a Historically Black University, as systematically different as I could get from my southern Missouri predominantly white university. I flourished, I was involved in numerous organizations, inducted into a national Greek lettered organization and soon after, elected President of my chapter. I developed essential study habits and found my sense of belonging. If you were to ask me what color my crayon was then; it would be the alluring brown or the rich black crayon in the box. My crayon was as brown as the dirt in mother Africa, and as black as the chains the “white man” used to put me into slavery. Yet, I still had not found my true identity I had merely assimilated to the culture around me. It would not be until I stepped into the working world that my true colors would show.