Notes Of A Native Son James Baldwin Essay

James Baldwin Notes Of A Native Son Summary
James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son There have been many cases of social injustice on a
number of occasions in the expansive history of the United States. The oppressions of the early
movements for women's suffrage and the relocation and encampment of Native Americans are two
of many occurrences. Around the middle of the 20th century, a movement for equality and civil
liberties for African Americans among citizens began. In this essay, Notes of a Native son James
Baldwin, a black man living in this time, recalls experiences from within the heart of said movement.
Baldwin conveys a sense of immediacy throughout his passage by making his writing approachable
and estimating an enormous amount of ethos.
Throughout the entire essay, Baldwin uses his circumstances to make you feel sympathy towards
him as an author. In one part of his works he tells the awful account of his father's mental illness.
When telling the audience what he had went through, at the age of 19, someone reading this, might
say that brings them sympathy, while his tone in passages where he explains these sad expressions
are unattached. He writes, "...In the morning the telegram came saying he was dead. Then the
house was full of relatives, friends, hysteria, and confusion..." Here, he plainly states the facts of
how his house was after his father's death but does not describe how he feels about the people being
in his house or the emotional toll his father's death has taken on him. This is just one aspect of
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Notes Of A Native Son
Notes of a Native Son
In the article "Notes of a Native Son," James Baldwin explains how racism has an effect in his life
and how he would deal with racism in his life. Mr. Baldwin tells three events that occurred during
his time with his father when his father was still alive. Baldwin shares the story of how proud his
father was before he died and how he was of the first generation of freemen. Baldwin also shared
the story of the Harlem riot he witnesses. Baldwin explains how the white world was too powerful for
black people to handle or overpower. I believe that Baldwin is very effective to his readers by
using personal memories and personal experience to teach people to move on from whatever
have happened to them in the past. Baldwin's essay is effective to his readers because he uses his
personal memories as example. One of the memories is when Baldwin explains how his father is
never proud of his skin color, which explains how black people think of themselves. "With his
blackness and beauty, and with the fact that he knew that he was black but did not know that he
was beautiful" claimed Baldwin (85). Some black people don't really like their skin color,
because they believe blackness is ugly. Today, some black people bleach their skin especially
black women. They bleach their skin just to let their skin white and it common in Africa. Therefore,
what Baldwin is trying to pass out to his readers is the color black is beautiful. Baldwin father
blackness have had so many

Rhetorical Analysis: James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son In "Notes of a Native Son" by
James Baldwin, Baldwin feelings towards his father are unflinchingly honest, therefore
conveying the love and hatred he has towards him. His views towards his father are unkind, but
demonstrate the extent in which he took to understand him. Once Baldwin begins to understand
his father, he begins to develop the bitterness that his father once had. Through this bitterness,
Baldwin begins to regret that he hadn't tried fixing the relationship he had with his father when
he had the chance. In "Notes of a Native Son", Baldwin uses ethos, pathos, and logos to convey
sympathy for the relationship with his father while expressing how the influence of society can
affect someone's beliefs and morals. Baldwin uses the experiences he faced in New Jersey and
the personal relationship with his father to show ethos throughout his essay. At one point in his
essay, Baldwin finds himself in New Jersey where segregation still exist. "I learned in New
Jersey...one was never looked at but was simply at the mercy of the reflexes the color of one's
skin caused in other people" (68). Here Baldwin expresses how circumstances in New Jersey were
like at the time, but also portrays the way people were viewed based on the color of their skin.
Baldwin later goes on to mention the year he spent in New Jersey, was the year in which "[he]
first contracted some dread, chronic disease" (70). This "disease" Baldwin contracted is not an
actual disease, but more of a way in which he begins to feel and see the world around him
differently. The disease Baldwin is referring to throughout his entire essay is bitterness. Living in
New Jersey caused Baldwin to gain the sense of bitterness that his father had lived with during his
life. Baldwin's bitterness comes from the way he was specifically treated in New Jersey and how
he allowed that feeling to affect his behaviors. Baldwin specifically mentions the moment in New
Jersey where the white waitress approaches him at the restaurant stating, "We don't serve Negroes
here" (71). At this point we begin to see Baldwin as he acts out in violence by stating, "I wanted her
to come close enough for me to get her neck

Different lenses through the same eye
James Baldwin and Brent Staples are some of the many individuals who have shaped the ideas of
black culture and understood the reality of what many black people go through. James Baldwin is
a zealous author who shares his experiences with being black in America, writes about the
relationship he has with his father, and even discovers characteristics about himself and in the
environment around him. In Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin puts an end to the black
stereotypes from the American society and rather reproves them. Brent Staples, a known author and
reporter of New York, tells us his side of his struggles as a black man. In Just Walk By:Black men
and Public Space, Staples pinpoints the perspective and misjudgements that the majority of black
people face. Through diction and syntax, Baldwin illustrates an angry and reflective tone while
Staples uses a softer and humorous attitude which highlights white privilege and the injustice of
Black oppression.
The use of diction describing Baldwin's relationship with his father drives a troubled tone, while
Staples use of word choice drives a more sarcastic tone. To illustrate, Baldwin states: "The day of my
father's funeral had also been my nineteenth birthday. As we drive him to the graveyard, the spoils of
injustice, anarchy, discontent, and hatred were all around us," (Baldwin 40). Through diction, the
reader feels distressed because of the word choice: injustice, discontent, and

Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son Essay
In My Father's Eyes The essay "Notes of a Native Son" takes place at a very volatile time in history.
The story was written during a time of hate and discrimination toward African Americans in the
United States. James Baldwin, the author of this work is African American himself. His writing,
along with his thoughts and ideas were greatly influenced by the events happening at the time. At the
beginning of the essay, Baldwin makes a point to mention that it was the summer of 1943 and that
race riots were occurring in Detroit. The story itself takes place in Harlem, a predominantly black
area experiencing much of the hatred and inequalities that many African–Americans were facing
throughout the country. This marks the beginning of a...show more content...
It takes him his whole life to grasp the fact that his father was connected to him in many ways.
Baldwin's closest connection to his father was the amount of rage both of them shared regarding
many aspects of life. Baldwin begins the body of his essay by familiarizing the reader with the
situation he is currently entangled in. His father has just died and it is the day of his funeral.
Baldwin cleverly intertwines other details into this short introduction. He introduces the
importance of Life and Death here. He informs the reader that on the same day of his father's
death, his youngest child was born. Life and Death are two very powerful words that employ
incredibly symbolic meanings. Life and Death are direct opposites of each other immediately
suggesting the distance Baldwin feels from his father at the beginning of the essay. Baldwin
connects to the theme of life, because obviously he is the one who is alive, but it isn't until later
that he will realize that he will continue to live through his father. His father connects to the theme
of death because he is dead and all of the themes and ideas that surrounded his life have died with
him, waiting for someone to carry them on for him. Thus, Baldwin and his father contrast here
because they represent the two opposite themes in a person's life. These binaries become very

Notes Of A Native Son By James Baldwin
James Baldwin, "Notes of a Native Son" (originally appeared in Harper's, 1955)
"I had never thought of myself as an essayist," wrote James Baldwin, who was finishing his novel
Giovanni's Room while he worked on what would become one of the great American essays.
Against a violent historical background, Baldwin recalls his deeply troubled relationship with his
father and explores his growing awareness of himself as a black American. Some today may
question the relevance of the essay in our brave new "post–racial" world, though Baldwin considered
the essay still relevant in 1984 and, had he lived to see it, the election of Barak Obama may not
have changed his mind. However you view the racial politics, the prose is undeniably hypnotic,
...show more content...
Before I heard Sontag–thirty–one, glamorous, dressed entirely in black–– read the essay on
publication at a Partisan Review gathering, I had simply interpreted "campy" as an exaggerated
style or over–the–top behavior. But after Sontag unpacked the concept, with the help of Oscar
Wilde, I began to see the cultural world in a different light. "The whole point of camp," she writes,
"is to dethrone the serious." Her essay, collected in Against Interpretation (1966), is not in itself an
example of camp.
Read the essay here.
John McPhee, "The Search for Marvin Gardens" (originally appeared in The New Yorker, 1972)
"Go. I roll the dice–a six and a two. Through the air I move my token, the flatiron, to Vermont
Avenue, where dog packs range." And so we move, in this brilliantly conceived essay, from a
series of Monopoly games to a decaying Atlantic City, the once renowned resort town that inspired
America's most popular board game. As the games progress and as properties are rapidly snapped
up, McPhee juxtaposes the well–known sites on the board–Atlantic Avenue, Park Place–with actual
visits to their crumbling locations. He goes to jail, not just in the game but in fact, portraying what
life has now become in a city that in better days was a Boardwalk Empire. At essay's end, he finds
the elusive Marvin Gardens. The essay was collected in Pieces of the Frame (1975).
Read the essay here (subscription required).
Joan Didion, "The White Album"

"Notes of a Native Son" is an essay that takes you deep into the history of James Baldwin. In the
essay there is much to be said about than merely scratching the surface. Baldwin starts the essay by
immediately throwing life and death into a strange coincidental twist. On the 29th of July, 1943
Baldwin's youngest sibling was born and on the same day just hours earlier his father took his last
breath of air from behind the white sheets of a hospital bed. It seems all too ironic and honestly
overwhelming for Baldwin. From these events Baldwin creates a woven interplay of events that
smother a conscience the and provide insight to a black struggle against life.
"He had been ill a...show more content...
All the children were frightened of the man. They only knew that he was a cause of unexplainable
turmoil, "the child always became fretful and began to cry" (64–65) whenever their father tried to
help or explain with anything. The father was known as a force to be reckoned with. He never
failed to disappoint, intimidate, or curse a child for being as menaced as him. His father even
distrusted school so much because of the white people who taught the schools. He didn't believe
that there were any honest people in the world at all. He completely disregarded all attempts made
to help his family as well. It was his pride that further pressed the world away from him. It was as if
he was waiting for life to be over and trying to remove himself from it all at once.
A year before his father died, James left home. He was living in a world where he was hated and
mistreated for the simple color difference in his skin. He pushed himself into predicaments he
knew would make things more troublesome. He repeatedly went into diners where they refused to
serve black men or women. He constantly put his life in the way to make a point to someone that
he was unmoved by the simple signs and prejudices. It was however, that he would catch a couple
of near death experiences for his unrelenting fervor to take a stand. One instance that relinquished
the fear within him was when he threw a glass of water at a

James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" interweaves his own racial experiences with the ongoing
chaos and claustrophobia in Harlem. Following the death of his father, a man "eaten up by
paranoia," the author embarks on an introspective journey, realizing how his identity is shaped by
both the traits he inherits from his father and the experiences he has with racist attitudes and
violence. Baldwin's prose is as complex as the concepts he deals with, as he comes to the
conclusion that hatred is a choice, not a fact of life. Baldwin reveals the major factors at stake
when providing context. He states simply, "On the 29th of July...my father died. On the same
day...his last child was born." Ironically, the author's tone lacks any hint of sorrow or solemnity,
and he exhibits restraint of his emotions. He continues, "On the morning of the 3rd of August, we
drove my father to the graveyard through a wilderness of smashed plate glass." The image of
wilderness captures the chaos, while the image of smashed plate glass further adds to the
violence of the atmosphere. Thus, Baldwin goes beyond simply recounting his father's death. He
goes compare his father's life experiences with his own, to highlight how racial injustices shaped
both their identities. He captures the surrounding atmosphere as one of "injustice", "hatred", and
"anarchy", yet keeps the same understated tone. He concludes with a reflective purpose statement
to transition to the next part of his memoir: "When his life had ended I began to wonder about
that life and also, in a new way, to be apprehensive of my own." The second portion of the memoir
is recounted through flashback, where Baldwin draws parallels between his father's life and his
own. At some points, Baldwin is conscious of the similarities he shares with his domineering
father, such as "the vice of stubborn pride." He also recognizes the unfortunate inheritance of his
father's "intolerable bitterness of spirit". However, Baldwin has moments where his rage seems to
blind him to the personal characteristics he and his father share. He establishes the extended
metaphor of his father's hatred as a "disease of the mind". Partly because he never divulges his
negative racial experiences to his son,

Lessons Learned from Notes to a Native Son
Realizing What Society Really Is
Born in 1924, James Baldwin grew up in Harlem during harsh racism and the infamous Jim Crow
laws. In addition to being surrounded by hate crimes and riots, Baldwin had a rough relationship
with his father, who died when Baldwin was only nineteen. Twelve years after his father?s death,
Baldwin wrote an essay, entitled ?Notes of a Native Son,? which described the events that took place
around the time of his father?s death. Being one of his trademark talents, he also inserted periods of
analysis while narrating the story. These insights, often reflections on his life and actions, illustrate
the importance of learning to truly understand the society in which one lives in order to react...show
more content...
(63). He spent so much time despising his father and staying away from him that he lost touch with
the special bond between father and son. He could have absorbed so much more knowledge and
been much happier in his childhood if he truly connected with his father, because his father had so
many experiences and perspectives of his own which could have been shared with his son. The
father–son relationship is a very important base of learning, for the son, about his environment, and
since young Baldwin separated himself from his father, he lost that chance.
Although Baldwin did not really get to know his father, he began to look back on his life and
realize that his father wanted only the best for him. His father would gloat with pride about how
wonderful a preacher Baldwin was, during the short time that he was a preacher. James Baldwin
could remember his father actually was ?grinning with pleasure? after his sermons, as opposed to
the continuous look of disgust and hatred that he was used to as he was growing up (79). Instead
of working off of the happier times that he had with his father, Baldwin ignored those times and
focused on the many times where tensions occurred. His father also tried to spend time with his
kids, but his ?inability to establish contact? made his kids actually fear whenever he was home
(65). If he tried to play with them, they cried in fear; if he brought home a surprise, like a huge
watermelon, it

Essay on Analyzing Notes of a Native Son
Analyzing "Notes of a Native Son"
James Baldwin is a highly renowned African–American essay writer who is best known for his
ability to interweave narrative and argument into concise well–written essays. He had his first book
published at the early age of 19 and has published some astounding literature during the time of civil
rights activism. He succeeded himself to rise out of his poverty to become an amazing writer
through self–determination and courage. In his essay entitled, "Notes of a Native Son", Baldwin
does an excellent job making use of binaries and repetition of words and phrases as well as
switching back and forth from narrative to analysis. He also cleverly connects his progressively
raising maturity and understanding of...show more content...
At this point in the story, Baldwin hasn't specifically pointed out these clever binaries and repetition
of words but they can easily be picked up by the acute reader. These binaries and Baldwin's
intentional word repetition usage are then exposed through Baldwin's narrative writing towards the
end of his essay.
Baldwin's writing tends to be very themed which, again, is achieved by repeating key words and
phrases. Baldwin will use words like terror, hating, fearing, and betrayal to form an image of what
his father felt towards the "white world" (66). Baldwin paints an image of the way that his father
saw the world and also to contrast how he must have felt when his family was so trusting of the
white population. Later in the essay, Baldwin tells us of how wary his father was of letting a
white schoolteacher take his son to see a theater production; something which was not typically
allowed in the Baldwin household. In order for Baldwin to see the play, his mother had to
persuade her husband that the reason for letting James go to the theater was for him to get an
"education". Baldwin shares with us how the "[e]ducation argument carried a bitter weight for his
father" (67). We notice that Baldwin will use the term "bitter" when mentioning a side of his father
as well as a power brought onto blacks by the white man. Early on in the essay,

Native Son By James Baldwin Analysis
In this book, content is more important than style because without the content of racism this book
will not have a good tenacity no matter what the style of the author is. James Baldwin mainly
focused on racism, sexism and class–ism. In these non–fiction collected essays he showed us his
struggle of being a 'Negro' in America and how he and his family survived. James Baldwin's style of
writing is known for its eloquence and its ability to make powerful social critiques through rhetoric
and narrative. He talked about his life events by using many irony, humor, metaphor and many
figurative terms. Where as in his content he mentioned the African American culture, its history, race
and the politics played by the white and the government's law...show more content...
His relationship with his father was not very nice, he wanted him to be a preacher but he was
more interested in reading book except 'Bible' therefore he became a writer; being a Negro writer
was very difficult because the Negro problem was written so widely that everyone thought that they
knew everything. The Negroes mainly suffered from poverty as the white society did not accept
them to be a part of this country, whereas James Baldwin was showed his patriotism towards
America. In "Notes of a Native Son" the race riots, humiliation of being black, poverty has been
mentioned. In this essay he also talks about his relationship with his father that he never talked to
them, he thought that they were trying to poison him. And how one of Baldwin's white school
teacher supported him with his reading and with the theater who later came to his house to meet his
parent and later that year his father death, his sister and his funeral. At that time even in the
restaurants and bars the whites used to say that they do not serve Negros which once led Baldwin in
a fight. "Many thousand gone" is about the hatred between the American whites and the Negroes and
but without the Negroes this won't be a continent and the murders and the suffering of the

As I was reading the essay "Notes of a Native Son" by James Baldwin, I was filled with mixed
emotion. Baldwin, explains that his father was a preacher who had a lot of anger in his heart; he
states that his father had two personalities, the one at church and the one at home. He declares that
his relationship with his father was not the ideal relationship a son should have with his father;
they rarely spoke with one another, even though; Baldwin was the oldest. According to Baldwin,
his father was bitter because of the oppression he had experienced for being black; Baldwin
portraits his father as a man who was filled with anger against whites. He narrates the story when his
father passed away; he explains that during the funeral not many people

James Baldwin in "Notes of a Native Son" writes about the death of his father and his struggle in
America during segregation. He also reveals that he didn't have a very good relationship with his
ill father. Throughout the essay there is a repetition of bitterness. Also, Baldwin's experiences reveal
his purpose for writing the essay. One passage that is especially revealing is on page 222 which
says, "When he died I had been away from home for a little over a year. In that year I had had time
to become aware of the meaning of all my father's bitter warnings, had discovered the secret of his
proudly pursed lips and rigid carriage: 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." This passage reveals
how Baldwin's relationship with his father, and his father's warnings help demonstrate how
hatred can cause negative effects on African Americans. The passage reveals the difficult
relationship which Baldwin had with his father. He says "When he died I had been away from
home for a little over a year" (222). Baldwin had not been living with his father which caused
them to become even more distant from each other. Also, on page 221 he says, "When he was dead
I realized that I had hardly ever spoken to him" which shows that the two didn't like to converse
with each other. Baldwin also describes his father as "the most bitter man" and "indescribably cruel"
(221). And he uses repetition of the word bitter throughout the essay. His description of his father
shows that his father wasn't a kind father which made their relationship challenging. And also shows
that Baldwin had a negative image of his father. This negative image came from the resentment his
father held towards people. Furthermore, Baldwin discloses how other family members reacted to
his father's death. He says, "The younger children felt, quite simply, relief that he would not be
coming home anymore" (222) this reveals that the father's death brought liberation for the family.
They felt that they had been liberated from the hatred their father had towards whites. They felt

Journal 1
James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son
As I began reading James Baldwins passage, "Notes of a Native son", I was immediately filled
with emotion. He began his very first sentence by stating that his father had died. I started to
imagine to myself, what it would be like if I was Baldwin. I could not imagine what I would do if I
lost my father today. He is my hero. I have some previous knowledge of the Harlem riots because I
did a project on them when I was a junior, but reading Baldwin's first–hand experience opened my
eyes even further. I sympathized most with Baldwin when he said that he hardly ever talked to
his father before he died. His father was a mean and scary man. I am so thankful for my dad. He
is always there for me and supports me in all that I do. I talk to him every single day and could
not imagine it any other way. In 2009, my uncle committed suicide. It wasn't until after he died that
I realized how rarely we actually talked. I regret that almost every day. Death is a painful
eye–opener. I really liked the way Baldwin went into detail describing his father and who he truly
was. He explained the way his father treated others and why he was the way he was. It was
because of that detail, that I was able to empathize and understand why Baldwin resented his father.
I would have felt the same way if I would have grown up with a father like his. It was truly
disheartening to read about his father's illness. It completely took over his body, mentally and

Cycles of Hatred
James Baldwin lived during an extremely tumultuous time where hatred ruled the country. Race
riots, beatings, and injustice flooded the cities that he, as well as most African Americans, was
forced to live with every day. Many people, out of fright, suppressed their opposition to the blatant
inequalities of the nation. However, some people refused to let themselves be put down solely
because of their skin color and so they publicly announced their opposition. One such person was
James Baldwin, who voiced his opinion through writing short stories about his experiences growing
up as a black man. In order to convey to the reader the unbearable nature of this troubled era, he
traces his feelings of hatred...show more content...
The heart generally represents love, so when a person's heart is full of hatred, love is essentially
lost. Baldwin's analysis of his own actions and the actions of society shows that his enduring hatred
terrifies him.
James Baldwin grew up in a household with little tolerance of white people. His father actively
disapproved of making connections with people of the opposite race, because according to his father,
white people have cruel intentions and can never be trusted. During his childhood, Baldwin had
no first hand knowledge of the claims his father repeated countless times and therefore hated his
father for his bitterness for reasons that Baldwin deemed unworthy. As a result, as he grew up, his
naivete blinded him from inequalities he encountered. He went to a diner several times and
ordered and grabbed food from the table but not once did he realize that they did not serve blacks
and that food belonged to some one else. One time an employee finally told him they do not serve
blacks and at this exact moment, Baldwin was abruptly introduced to the real world. Hate and
bitterness flooded his body and as he marched to an upper–class restaurant, he carried hopes of
getting revenge on white people all over the nation. As he waited to be served, a waitress
approached him to politely tell him they do not serve blacks. He exploded in anger and threw a
mug at the woman, barely missing her. His whole life his father embedded in his head that white

Notes Of A Native Son Essay
Learning to die and coping with death is a life–long art task; it is an art form on learning how to find
yourself through the lens of death is a daunting task. Death is the center of all art. It is the artist
task to create themselves and others around them through their art. Art can out live people. Art
gives a voice to people who don't have one, as well as the artist that is striving to develop their
own voice. James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son, is an essay about a young man finding his
identity through his father's death, the turmoil of racial climate of segregation and riots. James
Baldwin declared himself as a writer in this essay. He was a black writer, first and foremost and
wrote about racial issues. He saw African Americans...show more content...
This is an essay about him, trying to figure out his life and also trying to find closure with his
father. This is a coming to age piece, of a young man who is at odds with his father, who is
alienated from the society that he lived in, and could not find away to express his anguish. This
is why Baldwin became a writer. Writing gave him a tool to find ways to express the unthinkable
and unsayable. Writing gave Baldwin a sense of purpose, direction and an identity. There was a
major falling out between him and his father that gave him sense of urgency and identity, " I had
declined to believe in that apocalypse which had been central to my father's vision; very well, life
seemed to be saying, here is something that will certainly pass for an apocalypse until the real
thing comes along" (587) Baldwin started to explore himself and his community after the death of
his father. His father's death gave him a sense of clarity on life and the condition of life. It brings
the death of someone to usher in thought into life. Life is a major aspect in this essay, Baldwin
experienced the birth of a new sister. This gave Baldwin an intense view on the connation of

James Baldwin's Essay: Notes Of A Native Son
In today's society it causes no alarm for people of various ethnicity to sit on a barstool at any
counter and be served. When patrons walk into a public place, there are no signs that so white's
only or colored anymore. Yet, only a very short time ago in 1954 Brown v. Board of Education
outlawed segregation in the public education facilities. Even though being served at a restaurant or
using the same restrooms has changed in the last 50 years, it has not erased the racism that so many
people still face as James Baldwin did in "Notes of a Native son."
At the beginning of this essay there is no guessing about what time period that James Baldwin
lived in or that his father died in. He gives the date and the controversial time period in the opening
paragraph of his essay, "On the 29th of July, in 1943, my father died." "Over a month before this,
while our energies were...show more content...
If the reader isn't careful the actual reference is missed. "I first contracted some dread, chronic
disease, the unfailing symptom of which is a kind of blind fever, a pounding in the skull and fire
in the bowels. Once this disease is contracted, one can never be really carefree again, for the fever,
without an instant's warning, can recur at any moment." (Baldwin p825) This was a powerful
passage. At first it could be mistaken for an actual disease. At the same time, in some way, racism
and the bitter evil that comes with it, is a disease. It is handed down through generations like an old
myth. Racism is brought to light by people who are taught that it's the right way.
Baldwin seemed to have a serious lack of emotion when it came to his father's death. He spent more
time worrying about disappointing his female friend who wanted to take him out for his birthday,
than the fact that he had to go to his father's funeral. He says that he was somewhat drunk when he
got dressed and headed to his father's

James Baldwin's 'Notes Of A Native Son'
Hatred for white society was a strong theme among the African American community during the
1950s. These emotions were conveyed through different platforms of the time, ranging from art
and music, to articles and books. But James Baldwin, a popular African American writer during
this time period, does not obsess over this subject that was so passionately conveyed by so many
people like him. Instead of preaching about his hatred for white America, Baldwin utilizes his story
of his childhood as well as his early adulthood to illustrate the destructive nature of the African
Americans society's hatred for white society in the very well known essay, "Notes of a Native Son."
The hatred many African Americans possessed during the 1950s caused multiple riots. Baldwin
touches on this in his essay, by mentioning the Harlem riots that broke out during the same time of
his father's death. Baldwin states that "it would have been better to have left the plate glass as it
had been and the goods lying in the stores, [but] it would have also been intolerable, for Harlem had
needed something to smash" (82). The African American community, infuriated by improper police
action, exploded into a fury. While Baldwin does not argue against the riots, he points out their
uselessness throughout the essay. The riots, as Baldwin points out, did not cross the "ghetto lines."
Instead of wreaking havoc in white neighborhoods, the black mob simply destroyed its own area.
The mob had surrendered to its

James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" demonstrates his complex and unique relationship with his
father. Baldwin's relationship with his father is very similar to most father–son relationships but the
effect of racial discrimination on the lives of both, (the father and the son) makes it distinctive. At
the outset, Baldwin accepts the fact that his father was only trying to look out for him, but deep
down, he cannot help but feel that his father was imposing his thoughts and experiences on him.
Baldwin's depiction of his relationship with his father while he was alive is full of loathing and
detest for him and his ideologies, but as he matures, he discovers his father in himself. His father's
hatred in relation to the white American...show more content...
The white world had shut the door on him and he finally conceded the burden of being black.
Baldwin affirms, "I had discovered the weight of the white people in the world" (222). Baldwin
realized that his father was not trying to pass along his racist beliefs. He was simply trying to
save them from the agonizing conduct of the whites towards them. He found the reason behind
the bitterness in his father. Baldwin also became aware that the bitterness, which he had once
hated in his father, was now a part of him "The bitterness which had helped to kill my father could
also kill me" (222). Baldwin did not want live a lonely life; the fear of becoming, what his father
once was, dwelled in Baldwin. He realized that he had to free himself of the bitterness, before the
bitterness distanced him from his family (like it had, for his father).
Baldwin felt torn between the feeling of hatred that he had always felt for his father and a gnawing
feeling of guilt for not being able to understand the reason for his father's detached behavior. He
emphasizes, "The moment I saw him I knew why I had put off this visit so long. I told my mother
that I did not want to see him because I hated him. But this was not true. It was only that I had hated
him and I wanted to hold onto this hatred" (230). Baldwin was afraid to admit that his hatred was
meaningless; but that feeling of hate had resided in him for as long as he could remember. Baldwin
was not sure if he

Human beings are byproducts of their environment. How people are raised (who they are raised
by) and where they are raised (location and time period) might seem like small, flippant details of a
person. However, these small details snowball into the much bigger picture that distinguishes the
individuality of said person. How and where people are raised stem off into important details such
as how they behave, think, and feel. In James Baldwin's essay "Notes of a Native Son", Baldwin
compliments this theory. Through juxtaposing stories of his father and his experiences in Jersey,
Baldwin candidly talks about his real life experiences that prove he is a byproduct of his
environment. Through this exploration, however, Baldwin also discovers that just because he was
raised a certain way and has undergone difficult experiences, doesn't mean he has to succumb to it if
it is making him unhappy.
Throughout his essay, Baldwin focuses in on the juxtaposing stories that concern not only his
father, but the experiences he undergone in Jersey. Nonetheless, his father is most certainly an
importantly explored character in his essay. Being an onlooker as well as a victim of his father's
behavior shows later on in his life how much it truly has effected who Baldwin grows up to become.
Strangely enough, it isn't until after his father's death that Baldwin is aware of this matter. While he
was living, and after he died, Baldwin describes his father rather harshly– "He could be chilling
...show more content...
While Baldwin's story of his father explains the traits Baldwin will reiterate, Baldwin's story of his
experiences in Jersey shows Baldwin actually reiterating said traits. Baldwin's father, as mentioned
beforehand, had always told his family to be weary of white people and their institutionalized racism.
It wasn't until Baldwin moved to Jersey when he attained the same bitterness towards white people
like his

Notes Of A Native Son James Baldwin Essay

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Notes Of A Native Son James Baldwin Essay