Reading Notes W14: Baldwin, Part A

James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son” (735-750)

James Baldwin:

·         1924-1987

·         A leading African American novelist

·         He is one of the greatest prose stylists of the twentieth century

·         “He is best known for his remarkable essays that, in poetic rhetoric drawing on both the classics of English literature and the tones of biblical prophecy, combine personal reflection with a wider view of social justice” (735).

·         He is an icon of the civil rights movement.

·         He affirmed his American identity as a “Native Son”. By just looking at this and comparing it to the title, you can tell this is going to play an important role in the story line.

·         He experienced racial discrimination first hand

·         “…unhappy with the radicalization of movements with which he had been associated.” (735-736).

·         He typically had optimistic and liberal views that often helped him exhort his readers into change and such.

Behind the story:

·         Personal life: includes death of his father and birth of his father’s youngest child.

·         Social and political event: race riots that took over Detroit in June 1943. Importance=three dozen people died.

·         African Americans were leaving the south in search of better freedom and welcoming cities to them.

Quotes:

·         “I declined to believe  in that apocalypse which had been central to my father’s vision; very well, life seemed to be saying, here is something that will certainly pass for an apocalypse until the real thing comes along” (737). This could be a representation of how bad the race riots felt to people. It also a way to show the feelings of the author where all these events are just crashing down on him.

·         “The only white people who came to our house were welfare workers and bill collectors. It was almost always my mother who dealt with them, for my father’s temper, which was at the mercy of his pride, was never to be trusted. It was clear that he felt their presence in his home to be a violation” (739).  This shows the impact racial discrimination had and is an example of the hostility of this time.

·         “I knew about the south, of course, and about how southerners treated Negroes and how they expected them to behave but it had never crossed my mind that anyone would look at me and expect me to behave that way. I learned in New Jersey that to be a Negro meant, precisely, that one was never looked at but was simply at the mercy of the reflexes  the color of one’s skin caused in other people” (740). This is a good example of how bad the south was and how people acted/reacted.