ENG 3403: One Major Writer Spring 2015
A City Tech OpenLab Course Site
The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.
Ioannis Adamidis
ENGL 3403
Dr. J. Williams
05/20/2015
Baldwin’s Existentialism
Introduction
James Arthur Baldwin (1924-1987) is one of America’s most acclaimed writers and social activists of the twentieth century. Baldwin wrote novels, essays, plays and poems. He was mainly known as an active social critic that explored and struggled with the issues of the civil rights movement and wrote of sexual, racial and class distinctions in the mid-twentieth century Western societies. While Baldwin in his works posed questions and openly wrote about the troubles of inequality and integration of African Americans and the fight for the Gay rights movement he also talked about the complexities of human nature.
In this paper I will depict how Baldwin referred to the timeless questions of the human condition and psychological factors that make us who we are and how we picture the world we live in. Individualism is prominent and the struggle to learn who we are and our place in the world sought by existentialists will be blend in the study of his works and life philosophy.
Through Baldwin’s works in American societal and race relations we can get a better understanding of his life philosophy. In “Giovanni’s Room” we see the protagonist, David leading a life of fear and disconnection with his true nature. David has drawn everybody away, he has lost all he ever loved because he did not commit and never admitted his real intentions and feeling to either Giovanni or Hella. “People can’t, unhappily; invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the great difficulty is to say Yes to life.” (Baldwin 5) David understands but doesn’t have the strength to choose to change his destiny. Baldwin goes on in the next paragraphs and tells the ending by explaining that Hella is gone and Giovanni is on his way to the guillotine. David admits his wrong doings and the lying first of all to himself. Baldwin shows us that we are ultimately responsible of our fate and no matter how far away we run from our problems we carry them with us. David did not want to accept his homosexuality and rejected his true feelings because of social norms of American society he was violating and thought they were more important than his own life. David is a slave of his own convictions and idea that it is expected of him to be a Man despite losing love was his slippery slope. Emerson describes being “whole” as a state of believing in yourself and your trusting your own ideas not being a conformist that follows societies rules. “To believe our own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost.” (“Self-Reliance – Understanding the Essay.”)
According to Bruce Lapenson we can also look at these issues also in an existentialist’s point of view. David is not only afraid of the stigma of homosexuality and confused about his feelings but also horrified of the idea of permanency and commitment that loving someone brings to your life. He says: “Love makes most evident those existential dilemmas of our inescapable connectedness and fear of ineluctable choosing, our responsibility to choose well. Moreover, love makes manifest the ways in which the choices we make in turn make us.” (Lapenson 199-209) He continues furthermore explaining that the fear of making a selection that seems irrevocable is a burden too heavy for David to choose. When Jacques tells David “not to play it safe” and love Giovanni because in the end that is the most important thing in life Baldwin is telling us that life is making decisions and choices. The connection here is because existentialist believe that making choices is an unavoidable fact of life. David is an American that has been molded by his society that being homosexual is illegal and unholy. He is a single person against a whole society, but nonetheless a free individual that has to make a choice which he will be responsible and live with. David has to ‘swim against the tide’ and make decisive life changing decisions and he is afraid. Lapenson says: “It is a primal fear that attests to its being a primary need.” (Lapenson 199-209)
Baldwin in “Nobody Knows My Name” and “The Fire Next Time” tries to elevate himself from being characterized as a Negro writer and be trapped in the role of a protest novelist. Baldwin takes on social perceptions and issues by infusing his works with Emersonian concepts. He is telling to the reader to be true and honest with himself and authentic. “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members” (“Self-Reliance – Understanding the Essay”) Society wants you to conform, they think they know better how you should lead your life. Listen to them and you will lose your soul. In order to be truly alive you should listen to your higher instincts, be original and creative. Nobody is truly innocent. We all have a destiny and play a part in the world and societies we construct and live in. Baldwin’s “Nobody Knows My Name” is a collection of essays where he struggles with the concept of self-identity and individualism. In an existentialist view individualism is the basis of moral practices one must attain. Generally Existentialism is a philosophy that believes and concentrates in the single separate individual whom has control whether he wants it or not and has to make decisions and choices. You are free and have the main responsibility of your life. As Sartre put it: “At first [Man] is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be.” (“Existentialism – By Branch / Doctrine – The Basics of Philosophy.”) As with Emerson’s ideas this is the only way to transform society and your life. (“Individualism in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” – America in Class – Primary Sources for History & Literature Teachers.”) In Baldwin’s “Go Tell it on the Mountain” Gabriel and John are the two main characters who come to battle these questions. Gabriel lives a life of secrecy and hate because he never was happy and contempt with the choices that he took and the twists of fate life brought upon his life. John in the other hand is a young boy that is struggling to find his place and does not understand why his father doesn’t show him love and acceptance. They are African American’s living in Harlem and the only way “out of the gutter” seems to be Church and school for John. John has an opportunity to free himself and follow his genius. John wants to escape from the strictness of the Church and whatever his father represents. In the end he finds his way to salvation and a friend to substitute as his role model and paternal figure which shows that there is hope for him.
Thomas Paine in “The Age of Reason” shows what he saw as the social degrade of the institutions of organized religions and Churches. Instead of championing minorities and protecting them the institution of organized Church assisted and promoted segregation and inequality. The civil rights movement in mid-1950 to late 1960 was the fight by African Americans to achieve equal rights with those of whites for equal opportunities free from racial discrimination as stated in the Fourteenth (1868) & Fifteenth (1870) amendments giving equal citizenship and protection of the law to all regardless of race and the right for men to vote. Today the civil rights movement it is also referred and used to protect all people’s rights despite differences in race, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or other characteristics. (Civil Rights Movement, 2008.) Although these laws were in act and written in the constitution, segregationist’s mainly in the South who opposed them created the “Jim Crow Laws” and were able to by-pass the constitution creating frictions among government and state. From the late 1870’s laws were passed in Southern states requiring the separation of whites and “people of color” in public places as schools, cemeteries, transportation, restaurants, theaters, etc. By a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) it was an effort to prevent contact between blacks and whites as equals and was described by the court as the “separate but equal” decision. (Jim Crow Law, 2015.)
Baldwin took it personally upon himself to go back to the U.S and take up the fight for his people and tackle the struggles of sexual inequality as well. If the government did not make rules to prevent the abuse of Black people the whole structure of America’s society would fall. Minorities were becoming stronger and stronger and many African Americans of importance were being actively involved in society. America was built on the ideas of freedom and equality and although there are many that object that all living Men and Women despite race, religion and sexual orientation must have equal rights. (Pinckney). The Civil Rights movement is still at large and the struggle for LGBTQ equality is in the forefront
Conclusion
Baldwin’s work and life’s legacy can be also seen in the perspective of existential philosophical concepts and the ideas of individualism. Although one might first think that this might be opposite suggesting that individualism makes you concentrate solely to yourself and your personal needs. In reality in order for, You, to be fulfilled and happy, We, must also be the same because we are all part of an active interconnected and ever-changing world. It is not just a subject of free choices and one’s idea of looking for his personal interests. Baldwin reminds us that we have responsibility in making these choices. Existentialism reminds us that choices along with their results are unavoidable and part of life and you must choose wisely and have I mind all aspects micro and macro. You are responsible to cherish all life and promote general good because we all play a part in the world. Existential viewpoints are practical and pose logical questions without factoring in religious or metaphysical traditions even if you are a believer. Who am I? What is my purpose that I have selected for my life? Not a role society gave to you or representatives of an institution like the Church. There is a crucial commitment to ‘trust thy self’ and help elevate society.
Works Cited
Baldwin, James. Giovanni’s Room; a Novel. New York: Dial, 1956. N. pag. Print.
“Civil Rights Movement – FindLaw.” Findlaw. N.p., 10 May 2015. Web. 19 May 2015. .
“Existentialism – By Branch / Doctrine – The Basics of Philosophy.” Existentialism – By Branch / Doctrine – The Basics of Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2015. .
“Individualism in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” – America in Class – Primary Sources for History & Literature Teachers.” America in Class. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2015. .
Lapenson, Bruce. “Race and Existential Commitment in James Baldwin.” Philosophy and Literature 37.1 (2013): 199-209. Web. 10 May 2015.
Pinckney, Darryl. “The Magic of James Baldwin by Darryl Pinckney.” The Magic of James Baldwin by Darryl Pinckney. N.p., 19 Nov. 1998. Web. 19 May 2015. .
“Self-Reliance – Understanding the Essay.” Self-Reliance – Understanding the Essay. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015. .
Urofsky, Melvin I. “Jim Crow Law | United States [1877-1954].” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 May 2015. Web. 19 May 2015. .
Edler Elie 5/19/15
Baldwin Research Paper
Everyday we live we are faced with a lot of decisions that we have to make. Some decisions include what am I going to wear, what am I going to eat, what am I going to do today, what am I not going to do today. These are all decisions we have to make every single day. Making decisions can affect your life positively and negatively which is obvious to everyone. But what happens when you are in a situation where you have to make a decision, and you do not make one? This is a question most people do not think about. Not making a decision can be one of the worst decisions a person can make because what will end up happening is that a decision will be made for you, and most of the time it will not be in that persons favor. You can lose opportunities, you will become a procrastinator, you will probably lose important people in your life. These can all come into play when a person chooses not to make a decision. Disregarding decisions you are faces making can help you become a confused person. When you make a decision, it is what you want, however you want it to go will be up to you and no one else. But you do not make a decision, then it will be made for you. You will not have any say about it because once the decision is made for you, it is set in stone. James Baldwin was an African American author who was born in August 2, 1924 in Harlem, New York and died December 1, 1987 in Saint-Paul de Vence, France. He has written many novels and essays, in which we will get into in this paper and you will begin to see how not making a decision can negatively affect your life.
The ending of Giovanni’s Room, one might say is tragic. This novel ended with Hella finding out that David cheated on her, she leaves him and he is left by himself. At the end of this novel we also see that Giovanni was convicted and found guilty for the murder of Guillaume resulting in him being sentenced to death. At the end of this story David is left alone in a room, his life all messed up, and he has no place to go. Making decisions can affect one’s course in life, and throughout this novel we see how David decision making led him to the tragic ending of this book. Poor decision making is a factor proven to resulting in an undesirable fate. In this novel , David is struggles with wanting to be accepted by society. One might argue that David violated several historically imposed American social standards; one might argue that he did not. However what is evident is the fact that what led him was him not being able to choose a lifestyle is what led to his fate at the end of this book. We see time and time again how David is battling between choosing to live a homosexual life style which he desires, and living a heterosexual life style which he also desires, he wants to be accepted by society. In the beginning of the novel (David proposes to Hella and asks her to marry him, and she laughed, but he was serious.) At that moment David wanted to conform to society and what society wants for him, but it was taken away from him. Now he begins to reminisce about Joey, who was his first sexual encounter, and he describes how passionate their sexual experience and the love he felt during that time. However, he also felt embarrassed because if this were to get out, he would be looked down upon as a consequence. When one is faced with making a decision between their desires and society and does not choose, the end result will not be so positive. The notion of being free comes up several times and it quotes that, “Nothing is more unbearable once one had it which is freedom.” Freedom equals choice, but if one decides not to choose, then they will inevitably be a disadvantage. This can be proven by looking at the relationship that David had with Giovanni. Baldwin explains how David loved Giovanni, and how he loved the times when they acted like children, he enjoyed spending time with Giovanni. But because he does not make a choice to fulfill his desires, he begins to hate Giovanni for opening his eyes to being attracted to men. David is not choosing the lifestyle that he wants, his desires want him to choose, but he does not. This is was negatively affected his life and which is what led to the tragic ending.
As human beings, people want to live a fulfilled, or complete life. When a person dies, they want to fie feeling accomplished, feeling that they lived a life of completion. However, for David, it is not so. To be able to live a full life is to be able to live not conforming to society. In the course of David’s life we see that he was not as Emerson would say, “whole.” Not making a decision on the type a lifestyle one is going to live will inhabit you from living a life of being whole. David feels forced to live in Europe but cannot live at peace because of the decision he is refusing to make about what type of lifestyle he is going to live. In Emerson’s essay Self Reliance he states, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” The decision of how one will live their life is up to the individual and no one else. One situation that is preventing David from choosing how he wants to live is the fact that he has to go back home to The United States. Baldwin says in this book that, “Nobody can stay in the garden of Eden.” The garden of Eden was a signification for paradise. Paradise is often look as a place that people have to go to to live a peaceful life, but paradise is not about where one lives, but about how they go about living. Living in peace of mind is also living in paradise. Emerson states that, “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” It is up to the individual to live at peace in their mind, not worrying about what society thinks, or not conforming to society because it was their choice, and they have the freedom to choose. When a person does not choose, they cannot live at peace, and they cannot live in peace, then they will not be able to live a life that is whole. That is what exactly happens to David in Giovanni’s Room.
The truth is something that people want, but it is also something that some people cannot handle. The truth can be shown in many different ways. It can be shown through people speaking the truth, or shown through their actions. The truth can be spoken in many ways. There are two common ways that people can speak truth. They either speak the truth in love, or they speak the rude truth. Speaking the rude truth is when a person speaks the truth straight forward, no filter, no sugarcoat. Emerson stated that, “I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the truth in all ways.” However, speaking the rude truth can affect a person’s life, and when the rude truth is being spoken, it is up to the individual to either make a decision to accept the truth, or ignore it. We see that in Giovanni’s Room through the character Giovanni. He was one character to follow. He loved David and wanted to be with him, however David did not know, nor was he able to choose whether he wanted the same. Giovanni knew what he wanted, he made his choice, but David did not. We see in this novel that Giovanni went through a lot. He went through sexual harassment at his job, he had to deal with being fired from his job. David was the one that brought joy to Giovanni’s life. Giovanni states that, “If it weren’t David, this would be the end for me.” Giovanni was passionate about David and he made his decision to love him. However, though David did love Giovanni, he was still battling with the notion of choosing to be with him. Being with Giovanni for David it is the “rude truth.” His desires for men were growing stronger and stronger to the point where he couldn’t even hide it, and he started to realize how much he love men, and how much he loved Giovanni. But despite all of that, he still did not make a decision on how he was going to go about it, and because he did not make that decision, he ends up breaking Giovanni’s heart. David leaves without telling him and goes back to be with Hella. It is not until he sees David some time later, that the spoke and David broke the relationship off with him. David’s decision to break up with Giovanni was not because he did not love him, but it was because he really did not know who or what to do, and not listening to his desires ended up breaking Giovanni’s heart. We see how later on Giovanni begins to act very calm and very strange. Then soon he started hanging around the wrong crowd in the streets, and they were bad influences. We see later on that Giovanni kills Guillaume and was convicted and found guilty of murder and sentence to death. The rude truth can be spoken in many forms. In David’s case it was spoken to him through Giovanni, and he did not choose whether to accept it or not.
In Baldwin’s essay Nobody Knows My Name, and The Fire Next Time, he tackles the issue of racism. He speaks about life as a Negro in America and how it can be tough and unfair, but one thing Baldwin stood for was not being ashamed of who he was, which was a black man. He was not proud of how things were going so he came back to America and joined the Civil Rights Movement. One thing that Baldwin said in his essay “My Dungeon Shook” from The Fire Next Time, “ If the word integration means anything it means this that we with love shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it.” This also aligns with what Emerson said, “Always do what you are afraid to do.” One thing that may cause people not to make a decision is the fact that they are afraid to accept themselves for who they are and stand up for themselves, but not making that decision to stand can affect the person negatively. They would be treated any way, rights can be violated, and society may look down upon the individual. It is better to be a nonconformist and live in peace of mind, than to not do anything and be ridicule by others. By not making that decision to stand up against the racism, the individual is accepting the racism and the ridicule. Baldwin also said, “ You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigger.” It is up to the individual whether they want to believe what society says they are, or whether they will rise up against racism, but the choice has to be made, otherwise it would be made for them. The innocent shouldn’t suffer while others sit in Judgment, but sometimes it does happen. This relates to Baldwin’s Go Tell It On The Mountain, how Richard was waiting for the Subway after dropping Elizabeth home. A whole bunch of teens came and stood on the platform. The police came and arrested all of them and they beat Richard and put him in jail for a crime he did not commit. He is considered the innocent that suffered while the others sat in judgment, but how a person reacts to it, is a choice that has to be made. Richard didn’t react to it very well, and committed suicide that night. These unfortunate situations happens, but the individual has to make a choice on how they are going to react to it. If a decision is not made, it can drive that person to do something they would of never thought of doing.
According to Thomas Paine Age Of Reason religion has negatively influenced society. Thomas Paine states that, “All institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” Religion is a way of life, a whole bunch of rules of how to achieve enlightenment or a way to go to heaven. Thomas Paine also stated that, “My mind is my own church.” According to Paine, your relationship with God is your relationship with God, nobody can tell the individual how to live, they have to make the decision of how they are going to live.
The Civil Rights movement was a movement that started in 1954-1968. It was a struggle for African Americans to receive equal rights as the whites. Some of the rights that the fought for were equal opportunity in education, employment, housing, and also having the right to vote. They also fought to be free from racial discrimination. The court case that basically laid the ground work for the Civil Rights Movement was the Brown vs Board of Education. The Civil Rights Movement sought to restore the rights of citizenship to African Americans which was guaranteed by the 14th and 15th amendments which were eroded by Jim Crow Laws. The primary leader of the Civil Rights Movement was Dr. Martin Luther King. This movement wanted to establish with America that African Americans are equal as whites and deserves the same rights as them.
At this time black people were being disrespected, ignored, beaten, and even killed. There was a group (mainly in the South) called the Ku Klux Klan. This groups was an secret organization in the South that aimed to suppress the acquired powers of the black people and they were also responsible for a lot of the violence that took place especially in the South and against black people. They would target black people and anybody in support of the Civil Rights Movement. They would burn black churches, and schools. They would even beat them up and kill them. There were 3 Civil Rights workers by the name of James Chaney who was a 21 year old black man from Mississippi, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner who were from New York. They were in Mississippi with the Freedom Summer trying to register black people to vote, and they were killed by the KKK on June 21, 1964. This was all going on and more violent acts took place which receiving national exposure. Due to all the violence taking place the govnerment had to impose laws before another war broke out, and this led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights act of 1965.
Racism is still as much alive today as it was in that time period. Violence still happens today as much as it did back then. We see the issues of police brutality now happening in America. When we look at the Eric Garner case, when he resisted arrest and they choked him to death, even though he repeatedly said “I Can’t Breathe.” We look at the Michael Brown case where Officer Darron Wilson, who was a white police officer fatally shot Michael Brown who was unarmed. We see the Trayvon Martin Case where Andrew Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon for “self defense.” These events still happens today and they are affecting our black people. It shows that society still looks down on black people the same way they did years ago. What Baldwin said in The Fire Next Time is true till this day, “You were born where you were born, and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason.” Black people still face this today because of the color of their skin. Making the decision to rise up against the hate will have great affect and maybe, just maybe, things will change, but as long as people do not make the decision to be the nonconformist, things will remain the same.
During the semester, we’ve discussed the struggle for the LGBTQ equality. LGBTQ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. It originated in the 1990’s and it replaced what was formally known as the gay community. We discussed this semester how the gay community is looked down upon because according to Emerson they would be the “nonconformist.” We saw how the fight for gay rights can also be considered the modern day Civil Rights movement because they have fought for rights. Sodomy is oral, and anal intercourse between human beings and animals, the opposite sex. Since sodomy was the only way that a homosexual could be pleased, it was considered perverse it was illegal. But they fought and soon enough Sodomy was legalized. They also fought for marriage equality, which was also illegal. Same sex marriage is a union between the same gender and it was illegal. The fought, and it was legalize in some states. The fight for gay rights have been thriving. But considering that America is still facing racism, the fight for civil rights is still at hand, and that’s due to people who are afraid to make the decision to rise up against racism. It is up to the African American population to continue to rise up to continue to fight.
In conclusion, it is evident that how not making decisions can affect the life of the individual. This is shown through the works of Baldwin, and his views. David’s life in Giovanni’s Room came crumbling down, due to him not making a decision to love Giovanni. It also shows how that can affect a person’s life when the individual does not make a decision. And through racism, and The Civil Rights movement, the importance of making the decision and sticking to it, because when a person does not, it can affect their rights, it can affect their life.
Edler Elie 5/19/15
Work Cited Page
1. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self-Reliance.” 1841. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 7th ed. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 2008. 532-50. Print.
2. “ku klux klan.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 19 May. 2015. .
3. “Civil Rights Movement.” West’s Encyclopedia of American Law. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 20 May. 2015 .
4. History.com Staff, Ku Klux Klan, History.com,2009, http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan
5. Brunner, Borgna. The Murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner,2005. 21. June. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmjustice4.html
6. “Sodomy.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 20 May 2015. .
7. “marriage.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 19 May. 2015. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/marriage
8. Baldwin, James. Giovanni’s Room; a Novel. New York: Dial, 1956. Print.
9. Baldwin, James. Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes Of A Native Son. Random House, 1961. Print.
10. Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. Random House, 1993. Print.
11. Paine, Thomas. Age Of Reason. Buffalo N.Y.: Promethus, 1984. Print.
12. Baldwin, Jame. Go Tell It On The Mountain. Random House, 1995.291. Print.
One Major Writer: James Baldwin
Writings are about a whole lot of things in social life. You see an abnormal life of family, the inflict of society on people, how it affect people or how the view of people in society can enclose someone into his/her own or lead someone to act differently. Through ought the reading you learn history of people at that time and observe that this history is continuing if there is a change then you can observe only a slight change.
Before we started the study of James Baldwin the reading of self-reliance from Emerson, and Thomas Paine also contributed to understand how connected the idea of these writers are.
Image of failing family:
When you start by family you can see that the image of family Baldwin shows is the family that is broken which affect it members. “When I have children I ain’t going to treat them like this. I’m sure this ain’t no way to be. Ain’t got no right to have a houseful of children if you don’t know how to treat them.” (Go Tell It Mountain, 23-23) Roy the son of Gabriel and Elizabeth is referring to his father who does not treat them right. He was complaining to his mother that his father does not let them go to the movie, to the street to play or have a friends, but all he want is for them to stay home and read Bible and go to church. To Roy that is not a life he wanted. His mother even though might recognize that supported her husband and try to make him understand that his father knows best and that is the way he could avoid going to jail and that his father works to support them.
It also seem like Roy’s father Gabriel have a sister who tried to help him recognized his mistake because Florence was trying to say the same thing to Gabriel when she was telling him about his other son John she says: “But he got you there, ain’t he, to help him when he stumbles and to be a good example?” These two women want their brothers to set good example to their sons. This shows that a father figure is not a good one for their children and if a role of father fail it affect the family.
This is the image of a broken family. From the Note of a Native Son, Baldwin talked about his father whose personage looks like that of Gabriel. He says somewhere “I do not remember, in all those years that one of his children was ever glad to see him come home.” (Note of a Native Son, 90) Then about his father’s death he says: “The younger children felt, quite simply, relief that he would not be coming home anymore.” (Note of a Native Son, 91). Baldwin says in the Note of a Native Son that his father was bitter and through the reading he would recall how the children fear him. This is why the children were not happy when he came home and why they felt a relief of losing their father.
What is the cause of all this? James tried to explain that it is what the society has done to these people. The effect of this he says: “In that year I had had time to become aware of the meaning of all my father’s bitter warning,…I had discovered the weight of white people in the world. I saw that this had been for my ancestors and now would be for me an awful thing to live with and that the bitterness which had helped to kill my father could also kill me.” (Note of a Native Son, 90) Baldwin thought about this when his father died he realized that his father had kept the weight of white people. It is imaginable that when you go through what his father had been through it is either you forgive and forget or forgive but remember. However remember to be cautious about it or not forgive and carry the weight. He believed that that bitterness could also kill him which was a possibility but it did not, because even though he thought about suicide it did not affect him. Having this thought about his father scared him. He stated somewhere in the Fire Next Time: “This is the crime of which I accuse my country and countrymen, and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them, that they have destroyed and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives” (The Fire Next Time, 5).
Men failures:
In addition, to this and somewhere in these men’s life they do not seem to realize what they are doing to their families: “If you been but a stumbling-stone here below? If you done cause soul right and left to stumble and fall, and lose their happiness, and lose their souls? What then, the Lord’s anointed?” (Go Tell It On The Mountain, 207) This is Florence telling her brother Gabriel how his failure let his family to be unhappy. Florence as well had a husband who had been that way and she told him as they were arguing: “I thought I married a man with some get up and go to him, who didn’t just want to stay on the bottom all his life!” (Go Tell It On The Mountain, 81) She sound regretting of marrying her husband because he did not get to do better like he says and did not get to do everything he promised to Florence. In response to this Frank says: “And what you want me to do Florence? You want me to turn white?” (Go Tell It On The Mountain, 81)
They did not get the opportunity to succeed as they wanted to, this is also part of all these failures. One of the other example is Elizabeth boyfriend Richard who could not achieve their dream because he killed himself for being unjustly arrested by polices beaten to the point that he could hardly walk. He was arrested because of his skin color even though he did nothing wrong. I will summarize some events that look like this brutality from police in the next paragraphs.
The cause of failing family and the civil right movement:
“You want me to turn white?” (Go Tell It On The Mountain, 81) These words from Frank tell a lot they bring someone to understand that at that period of time to be able to realize what you want, you have to be white. And you can see that all these failing of men figure have roots somewhere, as they say that everything has a reason.
African Americans have been brought to the United States against their wills long time ago to serve as slave they were used for agricultural purpose so they could work on the land. The South was one of the main places of this exploitation so during the 19 century the North proposed to the South to stop this exploitation, which led to civil war between the States. And whites Southerners started treating black people unjustly. Their houses and churches were being burned down et were being killed and forbidden to do what they wanted to do or what was right to them. What was a right for white people was not for black which was not fair. As we learned in class that these people were ripped from their culture, their identities and left with nothing, they were left the church that was their security and their identities. This is why through the reading of Baldwin from Go Tell It On The Mountain to The Fire Next Time to The Note of a Native Son Baldwin talks about church, being preacher, and his father as well. He says in one of his interview on YouTube: “you have to become a preacher to remove yourself from the world’s absolute merciless judgment” (James Baldwin, Mavis on Four). I guess this is what Gabriel was trying to do with his sons.
Then later, he stopped being a preacher. The reason for this part was he signified with Paine and Emerson who believed their own mind instead of religion. For Paine who said: “My own mind is my own church” (The Age of Reason) he said this because he believed that when a revelation have been made to someone it belong to that person, but it stop to be revelation and “become hearsay” when “he tells it to a second, a second to a third, a third to a fourth and so on.” (The Age of Reason) Baldwin also stated: “I was reluctantly, forced to realized that the Bible itself had been written by men, and translated by men out of languages I could not read…, and I was already, without quite admitting to myself, terribly involved with the effort of putting words on paper” (The Fire Next Time, 35) then he says: “I realized that the Bible had been written by white men” (The Fire Next Time, 36). All these saying of Baldwin show us how angry he was about the whole thing of white people oppression. After the civil war, there was this Jim Crow Laws that separated black and white in school, restaurant, facilities, swimming pools, water fountains, even schools so the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had to sue public school by insisting the “separate but equal” (54.a, ushistory.org) clause had been violated. Then the civil right movement started, there were many to be cited but the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional. One was the Brown V. The board of education of Topeka, Kansas this ended by the ruling of Supreme Court that stated: “segregation of public school was unconstitutional” (historyinanhour.com). There was the case of Emmett Till a fourteen years old boy who was killed in Mississippi by white racists who were declared “not guilty by white jury” (historyinanhour.com). There was The Montgomery Bus Boycott where Rosa Park refused to give up her seat to white man, after the movement it was ruled that the segregation in the bus was unconstitutional. The Little Rock Nine (Sept 3, 1957) that happened when nine student were blocked from attending the “all-white central high school” (ushistory.org). The sit-in movement (Feb 1, 1960) happened in North Carolina when African American where not served the coffee in “white only lunch counter” (ushistory.org). All these protest were positives because protesters were getting support from the government but the Ku Klux Klan persisted with the burning and killing of people. A lot of violence existed when black people were unjustly killed the case of The long hot summer where riots were happening to some States like Baltimore when police drew a gun on a man he suspiciously arrested for driving while intoxicated, the case of a young black shot in Harlem in July 1964 by a police, the was a racial violence in Detroit where 43 people lost their live. In June 1964 there was this slain of civil right workers founded near Philadelphia, Mississippi, during these time there was this lynching of African American, Italians, Chines, and Jews that cost the lives of an “estimated of 4,742 that took place between 1882 and 1968 and 1930” (digitalhistory.uh.edu). All these riots are happening today. There is this case of Trayvon Martin a teenager killed by a police, Mike Brown the same case, Eric Garner from New York and Freddie Gray who was killed in Baltimore and so on all these caused a lot riots over the country. This police brutality is part of the image of all those period of civil right movements.
These entire historicity events make of Baldwin a protest writer where he tried to make people understand the life of African Americans. As a result of all these, to sound on what was happening in America, Baldwin wrote:
Whether I like it or not, or whether you like it or not, we are bounded together forever. We are part of each other. What is happening to every Negro in the country at any time is also happening to you. There is no way around this….I think that what we really have to do is to create a country in which there is no minorities-for the first time in the history of the world.(Nobody Knows My Name, 137).
Baldwin explained through his writing that he had been expatriate in France because of the image of the society: “I left America because I doubted my ability to survive the fury of color problem here. I wanted to prevent myself from becoming merely a Negro; or, even, merely a Negro writer.”(Nobody Knows My Name, 3) In Giovanni’s Room he said: “I wanted to find myself.” (Giovanni’s Room, 236-part one) then he explained, “If it turn out to be the same self he would have stay home.”
Being in France, the reasons and the view of society about people:
The society had no idea how harm it inflicted on people. Because of society Gabriel from Go Tell It On The Mountain was scared to recognize his own son for the fact that he will lose his image as a preacher and he will be seen as a sinner, his sister Florence even went on to say: “He’s a preacher,…he ain’t got no right to be a preacher. Ain’t no better’n nobody else. In fact, he ain’t no better than a murderer.” (Go Tell It On The Mountain, 84). Having the guilt, he could not love the woman he wanted for this reason.
Because of the society David was scared to what people might say about him and Joy, he was scared to come out and love freely Giovanni because he thinks of it as being “dirty”.
Sometimes people make decisions due to the view of other people in society this led to a poor decision. When you look a David from Giovanni’s Room he is scared of what people could say when they found out who he is. This made him confused James Baldwin says that the novel is about what happen when you are afraid to love anyone. That is what David was he could no love he was very confused because he seems like he wants to conform he did not want other people to have bad impression about him while he hangouts in Paris with gay people at gay bar: “As Parisians sometimes put it, of le milieu and, while this milieu was certainly anxious enough to claim me, I was intent on proving, to them and to myself, that I was not of their company.”(Giovanni’s Room, 237-part one) And as he says that he was trying to prove them that he was not part of them, but he could not avoid it because he finally got to be with Giovanni he met at the bar. He was scared of loving Giovanni fully because he proposed to Hella before, and on the other hand he had his father who sent him letter asking him to come back home and marry a girl. Just because he has his father’s letter in mind the one who had no idea what is going on you can guess he could never tell the truth to his father and also during those time in U.S there was this sodomy law which interfered with the relationship between men or women. People were being killed or lose their jobs for this also. The sodomy law was rejected in June 26, 2003 because it violated the fourteenth amendment, which grants citizens equal protection under the law. All these combined together prevent him from loving. If David did what Emerson believes: “What I must do is all that concern me, not what people think” (Self-Reliance) he could be able to love Giovanni, he could be able to be comfortable in le milieu. However as Emerson continued: “It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it” (Self-Reliance) This is his father who think his duty is to come home and marry, this part of why he could not love Giovanni or anybody. “Me I want to escape…this dirty world, this dirty body.”(Giovanni’s Room, 238-part one) This quote tells that David despise himself for being who he is because of what people might think and he think he is being dirty.
CONCLUSION
As you read all these you can analyze it yourself as well. The study of James Baldwin teaches a lot more than this. The one I analyzed above is one of the thing that capture my interest because when you read something you want to know what period it happen? What was happening at that time what cause it and what is behind all this? Then you can learn at the same time and understand it. Like the way you learned why James Baldwin was a protest writer and why the characters in his stories are like how they are. We developed the view of society and by referring to the example of Emerson and you could observe that Baldwin signified with Thomas Paine. And you realize that what was happening many years ago are still going on today.
References:
• Baldwin, James. Go Tell It On The Mountain. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1998. Second print.
• Baldwin, James. Giovanni’s Room. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1998. Second print.
• Baldwin, James. Note Of A Native Son. United States: Edward P. Jones, 1995. Print.
• Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. New York: Vintage Books, 1962, 1963. Print.
• Baldwin, James. Nobody Knows My Name. New York: Vintage Books, 1961. Print.
• ushistory.org . Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. U.S. History Online Textbook. http://www.ushistory.org/us/54b.asp. Monday, May 04, 2015.
• ushistory.org . The Sit-In Movement. U.S. History Online Textbook. http://www.ushistory.org/us/54d.asp. Monday, May 04, 2015.
• Historyinanhour.com. The Civil Rights Movement-a summary. History In An Hour. http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/02/09/the-civil-rights-movement/
• Jone Johnson Lewis. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Self-Reliance.
09/03/2009 22:36:24, Web. 28 January 2015. http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm
• Thomas Paine. The Age Of Reason. World Union Of Deists. Deism.com.
http://www.deism.com/images/theageofreason1794.pdf. Web. 19 May 2015
Jesumene Desir
Dr. Williams
One Major Writer
Baldwin Research Paper
James Baldwin has written many different types of novels, essay, poems, and plays to prove one point. How society’s point of view can corrupt ones life. Living in a society where being anything but what society wants you to be can effect someone’s life enormously. Baldwin, being the humanist he is, kept to who he was and wrote on how he dealt with society. Being known as a “double other”, Baldwin being a black gay men has faced many trials in his life. Stories such as Go Tell it on the Mountain and Giovanni’s Room, he uses characters, roughly based on himself, to display situations that are dear to him. Situations such as racism, sexuality, gender roles, religion, and being trying to be free in a country where you cannot. These fictional characters face life altering decisions that are truly difficult because of how society will view them. If these decisions are made solely on how society will view them, it usually ends in hardship. Baldwin is also known for his actions towards civil rights. Even when having to deal with the shame he felt on the inside, he always felt a rage for what was happening to his people. With essays from Nobody Knows my Name and The fire Next Time, Baldwin made sure to speak up and contribute to the fight African Americans faced at that time and that can also be applied to situations today. To be able to have equal rights like everyone else. All in all to be able to live a life that you can enjoy and truly be yourself.
Baldwin had always shown his love for another former writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. Beliefs that Baldwin has shown interest in have many common attachments to Emerson’s beliefs. They both wanted others to be there best selves and live a way that pleases them. Baldwin, like Emerson, wanted others to not conform to what society wants you to be. Emerson states in his text Self Reliance, “For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure.” Meaning once you do not meet the standards of others who surround you, they begin to hate you. Society does not want someone who is different. Someone who tells the truth in a world filled with people who lie are looked at strange. In a world where a man should be with a woman is considered the “right” way and anything else is wrong, different, and hated. Where being a man means being masculine and having a woman by your side, and being a woman means being domestic and married with children. Males provide and protect while women have motherhood and matrimony to deal with. I’m going to examine this using Baldwin’s book, Giovanni’s Room.
In Giovanni’s Room we meet David, a white man born in America, engaged to be married to woman because he feels it is the right thing to do, and has a father who is less concerned about being a father and more concerned about being his friend. When David was younger he developed feelings for another boy his age who he ends up having sex with. The sex between them that night would be described as beautiful and unforgettable. But the next morning he begins to think about how society, his dad and others, will view him. David leaves and never speaks to him again. Later David leaves Paris searching for something and also running from something. He ends up taking the one thing he is running from in America, himself. David also leaves to Paris to be free. He meets up with a friend names Jacques who lends David money and takes him out to places. Jacques also becomes a character who tries to open up David to who he really is and help him accept it. He later meets an Italian man named Giovanni who he begins to have a relationship with. David moves into Giovanni’s apartment where they can have they’re relationship in a dark, confide room.
Because David has never had a real parental role in his life, he only knows the stereotypical roles genders should carry out. David could not be fully committed to Giovanni because if he did he would become a housewife. Throughout the book David states that he needs to be seen as a man. David states at one point to Giovanni “But I am a man, a man! What do you think can happen between us?” According to American standards you cannot be a real man without a woman because, “the woman makes the man”. With quotes like that and “a king is nothing without his queen”, if a man doesn’t end up with a woman you’re not a “real man”. This is one example of a gender role stereotype that was in the book. Another example was with David fiancé, Hella. While Giovanni was in Paris, Hella travels to Spain to also find herself. This occurred before Hella gives David an answer to his proposal. While spending time in Spain she realizes that she doesn’t want to seem lonely, for the rest of her life, the way she does in Spain. Society doesn’t give full respect to a woman until she has a ring on her ring finger. A woman with the title Miss/Ms. is looked at a young, lacking wisdom, and has no status. A woman with the title Mrs. is looked at as mature, wise, and has lived a more fulfilled life. When the only title given to all males is Mister. The fact that there is a distinct calling between a married women compared to non-married women creates the feeling that all women should want to reach that and if you do not you are not a true woman. As soon as Hella begins to feel that pressure she conforms and lets David know that she accepts his proposal. She doesn’t agree to marrying because of love, she marries him because she’s afraid of being alone. Now that they have each other, they can achieve the standards that are expected for them. But this will not leave them truly happy because they are just pretending. When Hella meets up with David in Paris, David ends his relationship with Giovanni. Following this development, Giovanni life turns upside down. He loses his job and begins to hang out with the wrong crowd. He feels as though he is left with nothing other than rage. Events occur that lead him to killing his former boss and end up being sentenced to death by an electric chair. Even with all of this happening David has committed to being seen as a man and staying in his phony relationship with Hella. Giovanni was such an important factor in David’s life that even Hella begins to question the relationship they had. With everything David is feeling, he slips and reveals his true self to Hella which leads to they’re relationship ending. By the end of the book we see how David ends up alone, with no one by his side. He was afraid to give in to true love and that results in him being deserted.
It’s true that you are responsible for your actions, but I feel that David was a victim of what should be expected of him. He began to live for other people which became his downfall. When was too busy thinking about how others viewed him and what others might say about him, David became a person he thought society wanted him to be. He hid his true self in the shadows at night and made sure they stayed there, resulting in sadness all around him. Another quote Emerson quotes that can relate to what Baldwin was trying to capture in Giovanni’s Room states “The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” Meaning, whoever can remain free without being pressured to be what society wants you to be is very special.
Both James Baldwin and Ralph Emerson fought for rights they believed a person should have. While Emerson was a transcendenlist, who fought that society and institutions ultimately corrupt the purity of the individual. Baldwin was a civil rights activist who fought for equal rights for African Americans. He made sure to focus on the hardships African Americans faced through powerful words in his writing. With essays from Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Next Time and the book Go Tell it on the Mountain, he explains the different sufferings black people deal with it the hands of white people.
In the book Go Tell it on the Mountain we meet a black family, much like James Baldwin’s, and their stories as to how they reached that moment in time. Even when they have other trials of life to focus, being black is essentially being seen as nothing at that time which also creates that mood for them. The father, Gabriel, makes sure to teach his children to see white people as evil. People who will only want to see the fall in black people. He states to his children “the white man is coming for you, be careful.” An example of the white man Gabriel is referring to can be shown in his wife’s, Elizabeth, part of the story. Before she met Gabriel, she had another man in her life named Richard. Richard was a smart man, who focused on making sure he was educated in what white people knew to combat racism. But even with his efforts white people made sure to show him that he in fact was nothing because he is black. When being wrongly accused for a crime he did not commit a white policeman states “You black bastards, you’re all the same anyway.” Meaning if it wasn’t this crime then it would be another crime a black men would commit. Black men will not contribute anything positive to this world, so it is their job to get rid and make sure African Americans don’t feel comfortable here. Knowing how much they emasculated him and made him feel like he had nothing left, Richard decides to end his pain with suicide. Sayings like these can still be applied in forms of racism that are still in effect this day and age. Young black men are still being put down by the men who should being protecting this country. Young lives like Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, and Tamar Rice, whose lives have been ended short by “America’s Finest” and have not had a fair trial on their behalf. People like Baldwin, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., who endured many hardships to make sure African American freedom wasn’t held back by laws, like Jim Crow laws and lynching laws that made it legal to keep black people from truly living an equal life and being free. And like these amazing men, Baldwin left his personal life and worries to make sure he spoke his truth for his people. He wanted to be sure he expressed the rage African American are feeling with their people dying repeatedly and lack of respect they deserve. Baldwin states in an interview for The New Negro “to be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” It’s a different time but the same situations are occurring which makes Baldwin and these other activists fight still an important factor in America today. When unarmed black man keep falling into the same traps over and over again. Baldwin also states “if things don’t change, things are going to continue.” Enraged black people turn against their community when they no longer feel like it’s theirs. African American begin to destroy places around them. The Chicago burning, Los Angeles Riots, and most recent Baltimore riot, are examples of when black people could not take the terrible acts happening to them. Laws that were created to end discrimination against different races were created to ensure the lives of African Americans are not harmed. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 states “This law makes it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.”
Baldwin states in an interview at this point black people don’t want to be equal to whites they just want to be able to live. Like most people living on planet Earth, they want to be able to live a life they desire. The fight African Americans face can be similar to the fight the LGBTQ community is having. For a long time, male and female relationship has been the standard that Americans agreed with. Other relationships like male to male or female to female were dealt with in the dark. These relationships weren’t something that would be publicized or accepted by the public. Like David in Giovanni’s Room, he made sure to keep his homosexual relationship with the men in his life in a closed dark room. Never to seem homosexual in the public eye. He never wanted to seem like he accepted the gay people around him, just to seem like he tolerated it. When the people of the LGBTQ community decided to stop hiding and fight for rights they should be granted, not everyone was okay with that. With the Bible being a factor that most angry protester have against homosexual activities. With bible verses like Leviticus 18:22 that states “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.” And Leviticus 20:13 that states “If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense. With verses like these like state that homosexuals should be put to death because of their actions, it was difficult for some to act in defense of homosexuals. There were also laws that were made to make sure the act of homosexuality remained in the dark. Sodomy Laws were also known as Gay Laws, were made to typically ban sexual acts that were seem as unnatural or immoral which could include oral sex, anal sex, and bestiality. But ultimately to proceed in banning same sex relations from happening.
As more and more people fought for their right to be equal in a country that is known to be the “land of the free” the more rights were being giving to them. To the protestors who threw Old Testament verses at any gay person, they threw the golden rule God truly asked all people to do. That verse which you can find in numerous chapters of the bible, such as John, Romans, Matthew, Hebrews, and many more speak on loving one another as you love yourself. To be sure to take care of others as you would look out for yourself. To treat others the way you would like to be treated were rules God gave to these same people. Baldwin states in a conversation with Eve Auchincloss and Nancy Lynch “Everybody’s journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them then it does homosexuality.” Just because someone loves differently then what the American standard is does not mean they should be treated any different.
As time are changing, more activist for the LGBTQ community have come together to create a more free environment, more people are joining the fight. In a recent survey yahoo states that “Support for the legality of gay marriages in the US has been a fast-changing trend. Just two decades ago, only 27% of Americans backed gay marriage, while 68% opposed,” Gallup said. But “by 2005, the percentage in favor had increased by 10 points to 37%, and by 2010 it had reached 44%.” With thirty seven out of the fifty states in the United States allowing same sex marriage, the number is bound to increase. Help from technology today, many can speak their truth and create a platform where others can as well, people such as celebrities who have access to fans who express how they are homosexual and achieving. Celebrities like Bruce Jenner who openly display who he really is on national television. He uncovers how he is going under to become a transgender. If celebrities like him and Laverne Cox can do it and be successful, inspiring, and finally free, so can others and be untroubled with good life. Positivity like these are what James Baldwin wanted to express and create with pieces.
Baldwin was a writer, speaker, and an activist who spoke in what he felt others should here. He wasn’t afraid to write, speak or fight about topics that were touchy to others. Those topic were what Baldwin talked about to ensure society heard what he was saying. With pieces such as Go Tell it on the Mountain, Giovanni’s Room, Nobody Knows My Name, and The Fire Next Time, he wrote about matters that others can begin to think about and see in a different light. As a “double-other”, meaning being a black gay man, Baldwin was definitely faced with major hardships. But he didn’t only focus on himself, he made sure to let others know that ultimately being yourself will be the best route in the long run. There will always be obstacles when facing something you truly want to achieve, but like Baldwin states in Nobody knows my Name, “Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does, love is a battle, love is war, love is growing up.”
Work Citied
“Baldwin, James – “Letter from a Region of My Mind,” The New Yorker (17 Nov 1962) | WIST.” WIST. 18 Feb. 2011. Web. 20 May 2015.
“James Baldwin My Dungeon Shook.” James Baldwin My Dungeon Shook. Web. 20 May 2015.
“Support for Same-sex Marriage Hits Record High in US.” Yahoo! News. Yahoo! Web. 20 May 2015.
“25 Powerful Quotes From James Baldwin To Feed Your Soul.” BuzzFeed. Web. 20 May 2015.
“Space and Masculinity in James Baldwin’s [Giovanni’s Room].” The Ever and Ever That Fiction Allows. 25 Jan. 2014. Web. 20 May 2015.
Fairchild, Mary. “Bible Verses About Homosexuality.” Web. 20 May 2015.
“Why You Shouldn’t Bother Calling Yourself Ms | The Vagenda.” The Vagenda. Web. 20 May 2015.
Damian,
Got it.