What Is The Theme Of My Dungeon Shook By James Baldwin

592 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: James Baldwin writing style

James Baldwin’s “My Dungeon Shook” is a significant letter written to his nephew also named James, to warn him of the discrimination he will encounter living in America. Although he has written this letter to his nephew, it’s for a greater audience, it is for whites that do not see the expense of their selfishness and deem themselves innocent although causing pain to millions of lives. Although it is not completely their fault because they have grown up to believe their superiority towards blacks, they must realize their horrid ways and confront their “innocence”. Baldwin, an African American writer, composes this letter on the one-hundredth anniversary of the emancipation, making it obvious he is looking to leave more than just a warning to his nephew. This letter seeks to warn a young African American child of the struggles he will deal solely because he is black and no other reason, and must not allow the hate of the “innocent” to phase him. Baldwin starts his letter by illustrating the struggles that his nephew’s father went through and how terrible his life was. He wants readers to comprehend what this country has done to his brother and because …show more content…

He then compares the entire situation and conditions to ones that Charles Dickens described more than 100 years ago in the London. The text continues with Baldwin warning his nephew about the struggle he’s going to endure for just being born black and nothing else. Warning him that this country will set him up for failure and will control where he can go, what he can do, and how he can do it through the powers of oppression. He supports that with advice stating, “We have not stopped trembling yet, but if we had not loved each other none of us would have survived.” Meaning that the only way he will survive is with loving and supporting ones that are facing the same

Show More
Related

  • Suffering and Struggle in Sonny´s Blues by James Baldwin

    1195 Words  | 3 Pages

    The transition of being a black man in a time just after slavery was a hard one. A black man had to prove himself at the same time had to come to terms with the fact that he would never amount to much in a white dominated country. Some young black men did actually make it but it was a long and bitter road. Most young men fell into the same trappings as the narrator’s brother. Times were hard and most young boys growing up in Harlem were swept off their feet by the onslaught of change. For American blacks in the middle of the twentieth century, racism is another of the dark forces of destruction and meaninglessness which must be endured. Beauty, joy, triumph, security, suffering, and sorrow are all creations of community, especially of family and family-like groups. They are temporary havens from the world''s trouble, and they are also the meanings of human life.

    Read More

  • Hiram Hillburn Character Analysis

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    African-Americans aged 12 and up are the most victimized group in America. 41.7 over 1,000 of them are victims of violent crimes, compared with whites (36.3 over 1,000). This does not include murder. Back then during the era of the Jim Crow laws, it was even worse. However, during that time period when there were many oppressed blacks, there were many whites who courageously defied against the acts of racism, and proved that the color of your skin should not matter. This essay will compare and contrast two Caucasian characters by the names of Hiram Hillburn (The Mississippi Trial, 1955) and Celia Foote (The Help), who also went against the acts of prejudice.

    Read More

  • Notes of a Native Son

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • African American History in A Red Record

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ida B. Wells-Barnett is an investigative journalist who wrote in honesty and bluntness about the tragedies and continued struggles of the Negro man. She was still very much involved with the issue even after being granted freedom and the right to vote. Statistics have shown that death and disparity continued to befall the Negro people in the South where the white man was “educated so long in that school of practice” (Pg. 677 Par. 2). Yet in all the countless murders of Negroes by the white man only three had been convicted. The white man of the South, although opposed to the freedom of Negroes would eventually have to face the fact of the changing times. However, they took every opportunity and excuse to justify their continued horrors. There were three main excuses that the white man of the South came up w...

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of W. E. B. Du Bois And James Baldwin

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    From slavery being legal, to its abolishment and the Civil Rights Movement, to where we are now in today’s integrated society, it would seem only obvious that this country has made big steps in the adoption of African Americans into American society. However, writers W.E.B. Du Bois and James Baldwin who have lived and documented in between this timeline of events bringing different perspectives to the surface. Du Bois first introduced an idea that Baldwin would later expand, but both authors’ works provide insight to the underlying problem: even though the law has made African Americans equal, the people still have not.

    Read More

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

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Baldwin's Father in Notes of a Native Son

    1668 Words  | 4 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

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

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to James Baldwin’s “My Dungeon Shook: A Letter to My Nephew” African Americans cannot obtain their piece of the American Dream. Baldwin wrote a letter to his nephew in hope of guiding him through life. Baldwin had many words of wisdom to share, mostly words provoked by pain and anger. Baldwin wanted to teach his nephew about the cruelty of society. His main point was to teach his nephew not to believe the white man and his words. He wanted to encourage his nephew to succeed in life but not to expect the unassailable. By believing the white man one can not succeed but by knowing where one comes from will lead to success was the foundation of Baldwin’s message (243-246).

    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 Notes of a Native Son

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Baldwin's mind seems to be saturated with anger towards his father; there is a cluster of gloomy and heartbreaking memories of his father in his mind. Baldwin confesses that "I could see him, sitting at the window, locked up in his terrors; hating and fearing every living soul including his children who had betrayed him" (223). Baldwin's father felt let down by his children, who wanted to be a part of that white world, which had once rejected him. Baldwin had no hope in his relationship with his father. He barely recalls the pleasurable time he spent with his father and points out, "I had forgotten, in the rage of my growing up, how proud my father had been of me when I was little" (234). The cloud of anger in Baldwin's mind scarcely lets him accept the fact that his father was not always the cold and distant person that he perceived him to be. It is as if Baldwin has for...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Price Of The Ticket

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eventually, although he was being torn somewhat from his natural talents for writing, he was preaching about the human rights of all people to enjoy equal treatment. A speaker in the film called it the “Gospel of revolution”, which relates to the hope that his father originally wanted for his life. Baldwin wrote a book he called “The Fire Next Time” which intended to communicate to white Americans what it is to be Black. This book tells the story of how Black people needed to teach white people who were willing to learn about the Black experience so that they would understand what it meant to live as a Black person in the United States. Baldwin talked about the ways in which White organizations had a tendency to keep out Black Americans, making his point that the experience of being Black was very different than that of being White. Because they did not have access to unions, houses and neighborhoods, and a variety of different points of access that Whites had, it was clear that they were constantly being told that they were unwanted and would not have

    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

  • Similarities Between Shooting An Elephant And George Orwell

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Essay on Flashbacks, Thrid Person Narration, and Harsh Language in Another Country

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    This passage expresses great rage when it is placed in context. Rufus is talking to his one true friend. His words are abrasive and at times abusive. Baldwin's diction represents the anger of his characters and his time.

    Read More

  • James Baldwin's Stranger in the Village

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...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.?

    Read More

More about What Is The Theme Of My Dungeon Shook By James Baldwin

Open Document