Homosexuality In Just Above My Head By James Baldwin

In the novel, Just Above My Head written by James Baldwin, the theme of homosexuality is discussed throughout the book. One key passage that involves homosexuality is when Hall says, “Arthur had to pull himself to a place where he could say to Paul, his father, and to Hall, his brother, and to all of the world, and to his Maker, Take me as I Am! (472). This passage from Hall can be significant especially in Arthurs life because he needs to finally coming to terms with his sexuality and accept himself for who he is. He no longer wants Arthur to hide who he is and wants him to tell the world, and specifically his maker, which would be god, that this is who he is and he is not changing. This statement can be related to other passages in the novel

He did not want Arthur to worry about how he perceived him. He states, “…I wish I could talk to him about it. I wanted to say, “Dig it, man, whatever your life is, it’s perfectly alright with me. I just want you to be happy. Can you dig that? But that’s a little hard to say, if your brother hasn’t given you an opening (379). In this sense, Hall is absolutely ok with Arthur being homosexual, he just wants him to be happy. Hall finds it hard to talk to Arthur about how he feels about his sexual identity because there was never an opportunity for him to tell him because of how Arthur was scared of how Hall was going to react. This can be related to the statement that Hall states about Arthur coming out to the world because he shows how he is accepting to Arthur and now it’s on Arthur to reveal who he is. Furthermore, Hall reveals how, “He [Jimmy] didn’t care about who knew what—he trusted his sister more than Arthur trusted me; but then, an older sister is a very different weight, in a man’s life, than an older brother. Arthur was worried about another man’s judgment; in this case, mine” (380). Hall understands why Arthur won’t come out to him because since he is his older brother, Arthur believes that he has to live up to the expectations that males have in society. In society, males are supposed to be tough and have relationships with only women, but since Arthur is homosexual he finds it difficult to tell Hall because of the status quo. He doesn’t want to tell Hall that he is gay because of the judgement and negative connotation that is associated with homosexual males. Generally speaking, Hall is accepting to Arthur’s sexuality and he wants him to tell him that he is