Baldwin's Stepfather in Notes to a Native Son

1506 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: James baldwin notes of a native son father

The Effects on a Narrative Son From His Stepfather

In order to effectively analyze something, it is necessary to thoroughly examine and discuss the subject. James Baldwin does this in his essay “Notes of a Native Son” by describing his experiences growing up with his stepfather while weaving in discussion. Baldwin’s comments during these breaks in his stories draw conclusions and generalizations about himself, his relationship with his father, and its influence on James Baldwin. He uses this analysis to discover and help the audience understand how he was and is affected by his stepfather.

Baldwin’s stepfather was very quiet and remote in his relationships with his children. In his essay, Baldwin presents many stories portraying examples of this which all appear early on in the essay. One of the most important stories about his childhood with his stepfather is when they walk back home from church and have their only meaningful conversation together. Baldwin writes that the opportunities in America are “thicker” than any other place and as a result of this “the generation has no time to talk to the first”(63). Unlike this observation by Baldwin, his stepfather didn’t avoid contact with the world because of the available opportunities. Instead, Baldwin’s stepfather kept himself away from his children and the world because of his immense anger and hatred. Baldwin remembers his father “sitting at the window, locked up in his terrors; hating and fearing every living soul including his children who had betrayed him, too, by reaching towards the world which had despised him”(66). James Baldwin’s stepfather feels extremely rejected by the world and as a result hates everything in it and in contact with it. He feels betra...

... middle of paper ...

...s to be hatred, as described in earlier passages but in this case Baldwin shows that they are ultimately caused by pride.

Baldwin uses his narration and analysis to realize that although he ignored his father during his childhood, he could have benefitted by learning something from his warnings. In the final sentence of the essay Baldwin writes, “I wished that he had been beside me so that I could have searched his face for the answers which only the future would give me now” (84). Baldwin realizes that through similar experiences he and his stepfather have learned much about the world. He wishes that he could still learn from his stepfather but knows that he must now rely on his future experiences.

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. “Notes of a Native Son.” 1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.

Show More
Related

  • James Baldwin versus Malcolm X

    2599 Words  | 6 Pages

    Baldwin, James. “Down at the Cross.” 1963. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998: 296-347.

    Read More

  • The Discovery Of What It Means To Be An American By James Baldwin Summary

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “The Discovery of What It Means to Be an American” by James Baldwin, written in 1961, he tells us he grew up in the United States but moved to Paris, France. He description of the differences of bring an American writer in Europe and the feeling of being released from American social norms and adjusting to European way of life through his experiences. Baldwin goes to describe his personal experiences as a writer, talking to people from all classes and parts of Paris. He tells us of how these experiences make him a better writer and how it changed his views on the “American Dream”. Baldwin goes on to tell us of the difference of his profession being seen as less suspicious and lack of a “fixed” society in Europe

    Read More

  • Baldwin's My Dungeon Shook: A Letter to my Nephew

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    When reading “My Dungeon Shook: A Letter to my Nephew”, it was clear that Baldwin was not just writing a letter to his nephew but to society by interacting personal thoughts with public awareness.

    Read More

  • Style of The Fire Next Time

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    James Baldwin is one of the premier essayists of his time. He draws on his experiences in a straightforward, unapologetic manner, which helps achieve his purpose in The Fire Next Time. His style elucidates his arguments for racial harmony and for the understanding of other religions.

    Read More

  • Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son

    2257 Words  | 5 Pages

    The key themes of Baldwin’s essay are love, hatred, rage, and anger. These themes quickly transform into recurring strands that Baldwin applies throughout his essay. These ...

    Read More

  • James Baldwin's Fifth Avenue, Uptown

    492 Words  | 1 Pages

    Baldwin gives a vivid sketch of the depressing conditions he grew up on in Fifth Avenue, Uptown by using strong descriptive words. He makes use of such word choices in his beginning sentences when he reflects back to his house which is now replaced by housing projects and “one of those stunted city trees is snarling where our [his] doorway used to be” (Baldwin...

    Read More

  • Identity in James Baldwin’s Stranger in the Village and Zora Neale Hurston’s How it Feels to be Colored Me

    1733 Words  | 4 Pages

    reach self establishment. As demonstrated in “Stranger in the Village,” Baldwin is simply just a black man who “was motivated by the need to establish an identity” (196). Through his desire of recognition as a human being rather than as an object, Baldwin is willing to look past the ignorance of the Swiss villagers and focus on defining himself. Greeted by the children’s calls of “Neger! Neger!,” Baldwin unintentionally finds himself reminiscing (191). Although the children’s label is not meant in a derogatory fashion, it causes Baldwin to surrender to the racial indifference of his past. Baldwin attempts to disregard his unpleasant reflection and justify the fact that change has been made. ...

    Read More

  • John F. Kennedy and the Civil Rights Movement

    2936 Words  | 6 Pages

    Baldwin, James. “Down at the Cross.” 1995. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998:296-347.

    Read More

  • Chicago Race Riot of 1919

    3035 Words  | 7 Pages

    ...on.” 1956. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998: 606-613.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Sonny's Blues And Going To Meet The Man

    1531 Words  | 4 Pages

    When identifying the common theme of Baldwin’s short stories “Sonny’s Blues” and “Going to Meet the Man”, it is clever to first distinguish the writing style of this creative author. Baldwin was a famous writer of his period because of the way he interpreted reality into a story. Around this point in America, racial tension and self-identity between cultures were at a peak and sparked many different ideas towards Baldwin’s writings. Baldwin intentionally expresses himself through his writings to create a realistic voice to his audience, making the story easy to capture a visual of. In one story in particular, “Go Tell It on the Mountain” Baldwin creates a novel

    Read More

  • James Baldwin

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    “In 1963, Attorney General Robert Kennedy invited Baldwin and other prominent blacks to discuss the nation's racial situation” (Magill 103). The meeting only reminded Baldwin on how far the nation still had to come (Magill 103). Baldwin continued to write. “During the last 10 years of his life, he produced a number of important works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry” (PBS 4). For awhile he taught and lectured, but soon it became more and more difficult for him to write (Magill 103). The years of drinking, smoking and traveling finally took their toll (Magill 103). “In 1987, James developed stomach cancer, and it took his life at the age of 63 on December 1, in his home in France” (PBS 4). Being a successful black man in the 1900s shows how smart and gifted James Baldwin

    Read More

  • A Review on the Works of James Baldwin

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Baldwin was three years of age his mother married David Baldwin, a Southerner who had made the journey to New York as part of the large stream of black migration north during the times following the First World War. James, t...

    Read More

  • Baldwin's Writing Style in Notes of a Native Son

    1676 Words  | 4 Pages

    James Baldwin was born in Harlem in a time where his African American decent was enough to put more challenges in front of him than the average (white) American boy faced. His father was a part of the first generation of free black men. He was a bitter, overbearing, paranoid preacher who refused change and hated the white man. Despite of his father, his color, and his lack of education, James Baldwin grew up to be a respected author of essays, plays, and novels. While claiming that he was one of the best writers of the era could be argued either way, it is hard to argue the fact that he was indeed one of the most well-known authors of the time. One of his intriguing skills as a writer is his ability to intertwine narration and analysis in his essays. James Baldwin mixes narration and analysis in his essays so well that coherence is never broken, and the subconscious is so tempted to agree with and relate to what he says, that if you don’t pay close attention, one will find himself agreeing with Baldwin, when he wasn’t even aware Baldwin was making a point. Physical placement of analytical arguments and analytical transitions, frequency and size of analytical arguments, and the language used within the analytical arguments are the keys to Baldwin’s graceful persuasion. Throughout this essay, I will be using Baldwin’s “Notes of a Native Son” for examples. “Notes of a Native Son” is an essay that Baldwin wrote which focuses primarily on his life around the time his father died, which also happens to be the same time his youngest brother was born.

    Read More

  • Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin

    1304 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... the miserable life that African Americans had to withstand at the time. From the narrator’s life in Harlem that he loathed, to the drug problems and apprehensions that Sonny was suffering from, to the death of his own daughter Grace, each of these instances serve to show the wretchedness that the narrator and his family had to undergo. The story in relation to Baldwin possibly leads to the conclusion that he was trying to relate this to his own life. At the time before he moved away, he had tried to make a success of his writing career but to no avail. However, the reader can only be left with many more questions as to how Sonny and the narrator were able to overcome these miseries and whether they concluded in the same manner in the life of Baldwin.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between the Life of James Baldwin and Sonny’s Blues

    1675 Words  | 4 Pages

    Shortly after James Baldwin was born, his mother divorced his biological father. He was addicted to drugs and his mother did not want her children growing up around a man like that. Baldwin’s mom moved their family up to Harlem New York. There she married a preacher by the name of David Baldwin. Their family was very poor. For the majority of his childhood, James had the responsibility of taking care of his younger siblings while his mother and father tried to put food on the table. Baldwin’s stepfather was known to have been abusive to James and his other siblings, but he especially harshest on James. While James was a teen he had a self-realization that he was in fact gay. Being an African American was difficult enough in the 1940’s but to add to that he was a writer and a homos...

    Read More

More about Baldwin's Stepfather in Notes to a Native Son

Open Document