ipl-logo

Analysis Of A Letter To My Nephew By Langston Baldwin

704 Words3 Pages

Langston Hughes depicts how discrimination has a direct impact on the speaker to explore how it influences the understanding of the speakers identity. The poem starts with the speaker stating "I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen”(Lines 2-3), describing the discrimination they face, being caste away from the public eyes and forced into the shadows. This message is portraying how societal norms dictate how an individual is seen and treated, leading to a distorted understanding of ones self. The opening line, "I am the darker brother," (Line 2) acknowledges the speaker's marginalized position in society, but despite this the speaker embraces his identity and resists societal norms. The speaker’s emphasis saying, “I’ll be at the table when company comes. nobody’ll dare …show more content…

Baldwin urges his nephew to recognize the struggle of their ancestors and to take pride in their heritage. He emphasizes that embracing one's cultural identity can serve as a powerful tool to combat the discrimination and prejudice. Baldwin uses imagery to highlight the black heritage as he says, “the black man has functioned in the white man's world as a fixed star, as an immovable pillar, and as he moves out of his place, heaven and earth are shaken to their foundations”, this metaphor speaks on the importance black Americans have on America’s culture and history, highlighting the fact his nephew needs to embrace who he is in this worked, and know their contribution. Balwin then reminds his nephew, “If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go”(), ensuring his nephew that his heritage is inspiration and can give him strength to break out of the mold and reach his full potential. Baldwin’s letter serves as a reminder as a reminder to recognize one’s cultural identity, and use it to fight against

Show More
Related

  • Comparison Of James Baldwin And Melba Beals 'Warriors Don' T Cry

    109 Words  | 1 Pages

    Both James Baldwin and Melba Beals are well experienced in living in a society where whites are viewed as superior to people of color, and they both know how it felt to feel ashamed in their own skin. In Baldwins letter "My Dungeon Shook" he writes to his nephew about succeeding in such an unfair world. In Melba's "Warriors Don't Cry" she tells her harrowing experiences as she tries to pursue the integration of Central High School as a member of the Little Rock Nine. Melba's experiences and the unfair world Baldwin describes have many similarities and it shows how society's treatment of others can dramatically affect someone's

    Read More

  • Sonny's Blues Literary Devices

    1895 Words  | 8 Pages

    Baldwin’s ‘Blues Text’ as Intracultural Critique.” African American Review, vol. 32, no. 4, Winter 1998, pp. 691–705. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.2307/2901246.

    Read More

  • How Did The March On Washington Influence The Ethos Of The Civil Rights Movement

    738 Words  | 3 Pages

    Baldwin’s disheartening, yet hauntingly beautiful letter to his nephew, James, captures a painful story of love and lost for Black America. Furthermore, James Baldwin’s letter expresses his candid disenchantment with the illusion of racial equality. In The My Dungeon Shook chapter, Baldwin poignantly writes to his nephew “please try to be clear, dear James, through the storm which rages about your youthful head today, about the reality which lies behind the words acceptance and integration. There is no reason for you to try to become like white people and there is no basis whatever for their impertinent assumption that they must accept you. The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them" (Baldwin 1963).

    Read More

  • James Baldwin's Influence On Identity

    688 Words  | 3 Pages

    When James Baldwin was a young kid he was afraid of his father and did not talk to his father very much making him not be able to connect with his father. During the year of his father’s death Baldwin had founded why he is father was also so bitter. Baldwin’s father was also so bitter and cruel to white people because of the weight of white people. This

    Read More

  • Prejudice In The Fire Next Time By James Baldwin

    1451 Words  | 6 Pages

    Together, white Americans must create for themselves a community, and begin to love within that community. Once they have achieved that, they can accept those outside their community. Baldwin states that, like white Americans, black Americans must accept and reciprocate love as well. Baldwin writes to his nephew, who acts as an allegory to all young black men, that if they have not “loved each other” then no black American “would have survived” (Baldwin, 7). Already, black Americans have learned to accept themselves, and have therefore found that love leads to peace.

    Read More

  • Journey To America By James Baldwin Sparknotes

    2204 Words  | 9 Pages

    Baldwin recounts his father’s death as it was the birthdate of his father’s youngest child and his birthday; however his father and him hardly had any relationship to which he now regrets, he shares how he now understands his father: “I had had the time to become aware of the meaning of all my father’s bitter warning, had discovered the secret if his proudly pursed lips and rigid carriage: I had discovered the weight if white people in the world” (Baldwin 90). Baldwin develops this idea by describing his estranged relationship with his father and contributing his conflicting attitude to his growing paranoia using an instance where he warned him about his kind white teacher and friends: “Some of them could be nice, he admitted, but none of them were to be trusted and most of them were not even nice” (Baldwin 94). He implies his fathers death to be a result of the restrictions and limitations African Americans faced and how stereotypes dictated the way they were perceived which made Baldwin’s father paranoid;

    Read More

  • How Does Baldwin Use Ethos Pathos Logos

    1314 Words  | 6 Pages

    He begins to stray from logos and uses pathos to earn a sense of sympathy and understanding from his White audience. In this, he longs for the people to create this personal connection and intimate experience with the speaker. Baldwin speaks of how African Americans cannot escape the pounding reality facing his people: “You are a worthless human being” (Baldwin). However, this was not what troubled him the most. He found it utterly disheartening that by the time one comes to terms with this corrupt system of reality, it has transferred to their beloved youth (Baldwin).

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Letter By James Baldwin

    1047 Words  | 5 Pages

    This letter created by James Baldwin is given to his nephew to provide insight into the societal structure of America and its effects on others from his perspective growing up and his family. He sets in his letter that his nephew is judged by the color of his skin and society has already deemed him worthless, set limits to his ambitions, and asserts negro with mediocracy. James Baldwin dives deeper into how American society placed “The Negro” in a place where it is untenable. But, they have this fixed mindset on the stereotype of what a black person is and are used to the way things are and but they are trapped into this mindset because it is what history has placed upon them so their intentions are not created through the malice of present

    Read More

  • My Dungeon Shook By James Baldwin Analysis

    958 Words  | 4 Pages

    Baldwin’s solution for black people is for them to create their own identity and take a stab at achievement regardless of the social requirements or constraints set before them. For, “You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigger". I was fascinated by the comparison of “Letter to My Son” by Ta-Nahisi Coates to that of Baldwin’s. Although they both bring forward the same topics and issues faced by the black community, however they both do not view the problem in the same way, as far as proposing a solution is concerned. For example, Baldwin proposed a solution in which he urges the black community through his nephew to recognize the shameful acts of injustice in America, and express acceptance with love towards the whites even though they may not do the same in

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Mlk Letter To Birmingham

    95 Words  | 1 Pages

    Upon being imprisoned for marching Dr Martin Luther King wrote a letter to the fellow clergymen of Birmingham, addressing his reasons as to why he committed his “crime”, This letter was widely known as “The Letter of Birmingham”. This letter was very influential and paramount to the cause of civil rights as it spurred up future events that would play essential roles in ending racial segregation in America. Throughout his whole letter, King used Ethos, logos, and pathos to firmly get his message across while adding rhetorical devices such as repetition, metaphors, and biblical references.

    Read More

  • James Baldwin's Use Of Logos And Imagination

    566 Words  | 3 Pages

    He explains how African Americans would have to keep the name of their slave owners to keep their heritage going. The point James Baldwin is trying to make is while accepting the white culture the strength of forgiveness is shown. In his speech Baldwin uses pathos and logos to express his purpose to the younger generations.

    Read More

  • James Baldwin's Notes Of A Native Son

    1099 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the essay “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin, he expresses feelings of hate and despair towards his father. His father died when James was 19 years old from tuberculosis; it just so happens that his funeral was on the day of the Harlem Riot of 1943. Baldwin explains that his father isn’t fond of white people due to the racist past. He recalls a time when a white teacher brought him to a theater and that caused nothing but upset with his father, even though it was a kind act. Many events happened to Baldwin as a result of segregation, including a time where a waitress refused to serve him due to his skin color and Baldwin threw a pitcher of water at her.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of A Talk To Teachers

    676 Words  | 3 Pages

    Baldwin uses an advanced vocabulary throughout the essay, but only uses slang terms when referring to African Americans. By using phrases like “But if I was a "nigger" in your eyes”, he shows the audience what the words culturally imply such as stupidity and ignorance. Since this is

    Read More

  • A Letter To My Nephew James Baldwin Analysis

    839 Words  | 4 Pages

    In A Letter to My Nephew, James Baldwin, the now deceased critically acclaimed writer, pens a message to his nephew, also named James. This letter is meant to serve as a caution to him of the harsh realities of being black in the United States. With Baldwin 's rare usage of his nephew 's name in the writing, the letter does not only serve as a letter to his relative, but as a message to black youth that is still needed today. Baldwin wrote this letter at a time where his nephew was going through adolescence, a period where one leaves childhood and inches closer and closer to becoming an adult.

    Read More

  • How Does Baldwin Use Aphorism In The Fire Next Time

    808 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of his most powerful aphorisms reads as follows: “You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason” (Baldwin 7). This aphorism makes the reader (his nephew) feel like a victim

    Read More

More about Analysis Of A Letter To My Nephew By Langston Baldwin

Open Document