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Black American Struggles James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son, is the story of the struggles of a black man growing up in America. His in depth look into how the white man sees the black man is entwine, with his hate of his father. Baldwin gives a vivid account of how a young boy grew up, in Harlem, in the early 1940’s. While he tries to relate to his father’s treatment of him and his siblings, the more he seems to hate him. Whilst at the same time he sees how white Americans want to strip the very core of the Black- Americans away. Basically making them feel less than human. Baldwin’s attempt to show how racially charged things were. Brings this to the attention, of the reader by telling of some life events after he moved to New Jersey, and working, for the defense plants of that era. He’s able to tell how racial the society, he lived in. He …show more content…
This incident happens after his father’s funeral and his birthday celebration. This incident incited a violent response, between the blacks of the community, and the police. The ensuing violence resulted in damage being done to white businesses. Baldwin’s thoughts on this were simple it came down to making a choice. He gives an analogy of someone getting an amputation and gangrene. The choices here get the amputation and later find out that you don’t need it, or wait too long and gangrene sets in. The premise here is that man has to decide whether to live with hatred or not. For to live a life full of hate will eventually cause harm to one’s health in one form or another. Baldwin’s reflection of he and his father going to Sunday school brought the memory of him reciting what he called the golden text. The things that he learned from his father finally came to light after his death. From the course of things that came to Harlem, during that summer, his father would have said “this bitterness was folly” (James Baldwin
During the late 1950?s and early 1960?s, many African nations were struggling for their independence from Europe. In ?Down at the Cross,? James Baldwin relates this struggle to that of blacks in the United States during the same time period, and there are far more similarities than Baldwin mentions. Although this comparison offers hope, demonstrating the power of blacks over white oppressors, the ongoing European presence in Africa is a painful reminder that independence and freedom are not complete.
“Notes of a Native Son” is an essay that takes you deep into the history of James Baldwin. In the essay there is much to be said about than merely scratching the surface. Baldwin starts the essay by immediately throwing life and death into a strange coincidental twist. On the 29th of July, 1943 Baldwin’s youngest sibling was born and on the same day just hours earlier his father took his last breath of air from behind the white sheets of a hospital bed. It seems all too ironic and honestly overwhelming for Baldwin. From these events Baldwin creates a woven interplay of events that smother a conscience the and provide insight to a black struggle against life.
Reilly, John M. " 'Sonny's Blues': James Baldwin's Image of Black Community." James Baldwin: A Critical Evaluation. Ed.Therman B. O'Daniel. Howard University Press. Washington, D.C. 1977. 163-169.
Baldwin makes people see the flaws in our society by comparing it to Europe. Whether we decide to take it as an example to change to, or follow our American mindset and take this as the biased piece that it is and still claim that we are the best country in the world, disregard his words and continue with our strive for
Baldwin’s father died a broken and ruined man on July 29th, 1943. This only paralleled the chaos occurring around him at the time, such as the race riots of Detroit and Harlem which Baldwin describes to be as “spoils of injustice, anarchy, discontent, and hatred.” (63) His father was born in New Orleans, the first generation of “free men” in a land where “opportunities, real and fancied, are thicker than anywhere else.” (63) Although free from slavery, African-Americans still faced the hardships of racism and were still oppressed from any opportunities, which is a factor that led Baldwin’s father to going mad and eventually being committed. Baldwin would also later learn how “…white people would do anything to keep a Negro down.” (68) For a preacher, there was little trust and faith his father ...
Throughout Baldwin’s essay he strategically weaves narrative, analytical, and argumentative selections together. The effect that Baldwin has on the reader when using this technique is extremely powerful. Baldwin combines both private and public affairs in this essay, which accentuates the analysis and argument sections throughout the work. Baldwin’s ability to shift between narrative and argument so smoothly goes hand in hand with the ideas and events that Baldwin discusses in his essay. He includes many powerful and symbolic binaries throughout the essay that help to develop the key themes and principles pertaining to his life. The most powerful and important binaries that appear in this essay are Life and Death.
James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" demonstrates his complex and unique relationship with his father. Baldwin's relationship with his father is very similar to most father-son relationships but the effect of racial discrimination on the lives of both, (the father and the son) makes it distinctive. At the outset, Baldwin accepts the fact that his father was only trying to look out for him, but deep down, he cannot help but feel that his father was imposing his thoughts and experiences on him. Baldwin's depiction of his relationship with his father while he was alive is full of loathing and detest for him and his ideologies, but as he matures, he discovers his father in himself. His father's hatred in relation to the white American society had filled him with hatred towards his father. He realizes that the hatred inside both of them has disrupted their lives.
As a grown black male Baldwin had encompassed a range of experiences, both horrifying and gratuitous. Those occurrences most treacherous were a focal point when he adds that, “It doesn’t matter any longer what you do to me; you can put me in jail, you can kill me. By the time I was 17, you’d done everything that you could do to me” (“The Negro” 2). Reflecting back on “Down at the Cross” for a moment, Baldwin starts by explaining the metamorphosis of both the black girls and boys. Most of his friends became pimps and whores, and the b...
The works of James Baldwin are directly related to the issues of racism, religion and personal conflicts, and sexuality and masculinity during Baldwin's years.James Baldwin's works, both fiction and nonfiction were in some instance a direct reflection his life. Through close interpretation you can combine his work to give a "detailed" look into his actual life. However since most writings made by him are all considered true works of literature we can't consider them to be of autobiographical nature.
Baldwin, James. “Notes of a Native Son.” 1995. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.
Baldwin, James. ?Notes of a Native Son.? 1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.
... 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.
Baldwin being visits an unfamiliar place that was mostly populated by white people; they were very interested in the color of his skin. The villagers had never seen a black person before, which makes the villager
Baldwin’s mode of employing light and darkness as well as other aspects like jazz evident in his account has adequately unveiled awful experiences faced by Harlem residents as well as serious intricacies between Sonny and his brother. For instance, darkness denotes how numerous social predicaments haunt not only residents but also these two bothers to the extent narrator at one time revealing he does not understand Sonny well, hence lack of true brotherly friendship. This is tension besides other woes that include segregation. Conversely, light in the case despite signifying warm and optimism in the face of Sonny contradicts what he later ends up becoming; thus extended by Jazz career (Baldwin 137). Therefore,
...as a reader I must understand that his opinions are supported by his true, raw emotions. These negative feelings shared by all of his ancestors were too strong to just pass by as meaningless emotions. Baldwin created an outlook simply from his honest views on racial issues of his time, and ours. Baldwin?s essay puts the white American to shame simply by stating what he perceived as truth. Baldwin isn?t searching for sympathy by discussing his emotions, nor is he looking for an apology. I feel that he is pointing out the errors in Americans? thinking and probably saying, ?Look at what you people have to live with, if and when you come back to the reality of ?our? world.?