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How Does James Baldwin Create Racism Exposed In Notes Of A Native Son

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Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary General of the United Nations, believed that “Defeating racism [...] and all forms of discrimination will liberate us all, victim and perpetrator alike.” Like Ki-moon, James Baldwin’s personal narrative Notes of a Native Son also concludes that the average black person strives to conquer racism, but has an inherent hatred against whites that when manipulated wrongly, may prevent him or her from fighting racism effectively. Baldwin suggests that for black people, hatred can be used as a vehicle for opposing injustice, but is ultimately self-destructive.
Hatred can be fostered as a means of opposing injustice when it isolates and causes people to see the maltreatment involved. Baldwin describes the dissension of the black community during the 1940s when he walks around town and speaks …show more content…

Their uneasiness translates into the looting and destruction of shops during the Harlem Race Riots of 1943, caused by police brutality towards African Americans. According to Baldwin, while the riot itself did not accomplish much, it was a “chronic need” for the citizens of Harlem, implying that the hatred and anger brewing within the black community needed to be expressed somehow as a means of showing that they will not accept more oppression (PAGE).
A black person’s hatred of white people, while justified, can consume the person and become self-destructive the more the person acts upon the impulse to hate. Baldwin introduces the deeply rooted hatred of black people towards white people through his father, who “had lived and died

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Analytical Summary Of Rhetorical Analysis Of Notes Of A Native Son

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Knowing that Baldwin was a black man from Harlem, one can assume he had put up with discrimination. He describes his relationship with his father saying, “I had not known my father very well” and this explains why he never learned to deal with hatred, and let it eat him up like it did to his father. His father was also very religious, and consequently, Baldwin saw Christianity, in which he grew up, as a mechanism by which African Americans channeled their desire for revenge against white oppressors. By describing his background in this fashion, he is able to gain empathy, credibility, and a large sense of ethos from his readers. Baldwin’s pathos is seen in his pure unadulterated hatred of white people.

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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).

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Baldwin claimed that this form of oppression left African Americans with two options - to accept the fact that they were dispensable members of society and bottle up their anger, or to “become a kind of criminal”, one that “has turned away from this country forever” and decided to “live outside the law”. Either way, African Americans learn to develop hatred toward America and augment “this country’s tremendous reservoirs of bitterness” which Baldwin believes will eventually lead to turmoil and the downfall of our “unified”

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Comparing Letter From Birmingham Jail And Notes Of A Native Son

2399 Words | 10 Pages

The narrator’s violent actions are understandable because as Dr. King mentions, “Vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim” (2). When a person is the victim of this kind of hatred it is understandable why is he has bitterness and rage and that he may turn to violence after he experiences of any type of continued

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If Black English Isn T A Language, Then Tell Me, By James Baldwin

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He talks on the reasons why White American English wasn’t spoken by Blacks due to “the bulk of white people in America never had any interest in educating black people.” (Baldwin lines 85-86). Blacks were never given a choice on whether or not to adopt White American English. They were ultimately forced to learn and adapt on their own because to be taught by white wasn’t a trustworthy option. “A child cannot be taught by anyone whose demand, essentially, is that the child repudiate his experience” (Baldwin lines 89-90).

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James Baldwin's Notes Of A Native Son

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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.

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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

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In addition, James Baldwin adds in his perspective and personal experiences when dealing with racism. The book is divided into three parts. Part one consists of three

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In order to affect positive change in the country, the people need to rebel against the past and develop a new way of thinking. Baldwin argues that race relations cannot improve if one is consumed in a religion centered around the subjugation of others. Instead, the past needs to be accepted and moved on from and the future has to be centered around a new way of thinking which embraces change, support, and love from both black and white

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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

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Notes Of A Native Son Theme Essay

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Although it hadn't always been clear to him before, he was now seeing the result of unequal treatment of blacks by whites. Because Baldwin knew blacks and whites should have been treated as equals, he understood where his father's anger had come from. Although it hadn't always been there, Baldwin realized that he was beginning to feel the same anger his dad had felt. Hatred, after all, wasn’t just a poison. It was something that helped him understand his father more and realize that he is now like his

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