Brutality In James Baldwin's Going To Meet The Man

As post-racial as many American’s like to think that they are, their country has a history, and present, filled with racial violence and white supremacy. These prejudices are examined in James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man.” Often, 20th century civil right era literature follows the perspective and life experiences of the minority. Baldwin rejects this approach and, instead, tells the story through the perspective of Jesse, a southern deputy sheriff. By telling the story through Jesse’s perspective, the pervasive nature of racism is shown at its most severe degree. This pervasive theme expands even further in Jesse’s need for brutality in order to be sexually fulfilled.
By putting Jesse as the protagonist of the story, the audience can see

In the first exchange of dialog, it is seen that Jesse has lost control of the situation. He wants to have sex, but, due to his impotence, he could only “just lay there, silent, angry, and helpless” (1328). In his day to day life, Jesse exerts his own autonomy as well as violating that of those around him, but here in his own home, his own bed, he has no control whatsoever. This lack of power feeds into itself, with Jesse transferring his own feelings of inadequacy to those he deems below himself. Yet, when his mind begins to wander, his thoughts find their way to an “image of a black girl” that “caused a distant excitement in him.” With his wife, Jesse finds sanctuary, even having a wish to burry himself into “her like a child and never have to get up” (1329). Though he seems to deeply care for his wife, this submissive thought is not bringing him closer to an erection. Instead, it is the thought of a black woman that gives him an excitement, believing that she could bring him “the spice” in his sex life that he couldn’t ask from Grace (1328). This spice can only be found in his act of dominance. As the story ends, Jesse remember the man in the fire and the knife that was used to mutilate his genitals. At his thought of dominance, Jesse strokes himself to arousal and then pushes this dominance onto his wife, inserting himself into the role a black