Baldwin had absorbed his mentor Wood's decorating principles of "the importance of the personal, of the comfortable, and of the new."…
Baldwin's points established that "Black English" is a separate language. It is not a dialect as people say. He supports his claim by giving the statement that black Americans where diaspora. The black slaves where taken to the Americas from different ethnic groups. There was no possible way that they could communicate with their masters or with each other. Each of the had a different language. This made it impossible to communicate. He also states that a language is born out of the need of survival. Since the blacks, had no way of communicating with each other or with their slave masters, they were forced to create a language. No one would teach it to them, so they were forced to do…
Being black and gay in the 1950s wasn’t the best thing you could be, being a black male 6 feet tall wasn’t either. James Baldwin and Brent Staples both suffered from discrimination in the 1950s. James Baldwin was an African-American writer who was discriminated in the public for being black, while Brent Staples was discriminated in the public because of how he looked and dressed. Brent Staples moved to Manhattan where was treated wrong. Staples was called different things during his time in New York. His appearance scared the public wherever he went. Many people started to worry he was going to rob them or even try to kill them. Staples tried to change the way he dressed and acted but the public still acted the same. James Baldwin’s situation was different, he was discriminated while going to a restaurant. The restaurant didn’t serve to black people, Baldwin then lost his temper and started saying bad comments about the place, “I do not know why, after a year of such rebuffs, I completely failed to anticipate his answer, which was, of course, “We don’t serve Negroes here.” This reply failed to discompose me, at least for the moment. I made some sardonic comments about the name of the diner and we walked out into the streets.”(Baldwin, pg.58).…
Theme: friendship is something that allows one to feel a strong bond no matter the circumstance.…
Baldwin remembers his father as an angry man who distrusted all white people because he was among the first generations of free men and, during his time, racism was very prevalent in the United States. His father had been ill a long time and ended up dying of tuberculosis. However, he was also sick with paranoia; this “disease of his mind allowed the disease of his body to destroy him” (Baldwin 590).…
Each story has a protagonist, the main character, the one that seems to have the attention focused on them. Then there's usually an antagonist, the opposite of the protagonist, the so- called "bad apple" in the family. It seems to be that way with the modern family we see today. "Sonny's Blues" is mainly of an older brother who only wants to see the best for his youngest brother, Sonny. Coming from a middle-class family, things that happen to Sonny aren't what the brother though would come about.…
One can gain knowledge in order to break free of the power structures of oppression. In “THE BOOK OF NEGROES”, Lawrence Hill illustrates the theme of knowledge and power through the use of tropology and structure. Knowledge has power and it controls the access to opportunity and progression. Today we have an opportunity for everyone in the world to have access to the entire world’s information, however back then people had to strive to get knowledge. Knowledge itself is power. In the book of Negroes, the protagonist used this power in a right way, which led her to achieve success and ambition in life.…
Intolerance based upon race and upon a person's age have been an enduring element of society since the beginning of the 20th century. In Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird", the community of Maycomb demonstrates racial and age based intolerance throughout the novel. The most prevalent form of discrimination in Maycomb is white intolerance against blacks. Interestingly, blacks discriminating against whites is another form of intolerance demonstrated throughout the novel. In Maycomb, children as seen very much as subordinates to their parents, which in turn manufactures an intolerance from adults to children if they do not conform to social standards.…
"Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people, too." This is how Mr. Dolphus Raymond put racism into words that kids could understand. However, racism and prejudice are problems that are as complicated as problems come. This is evident in the novel by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird. No one knows what causes racism, if it is inherited, if it runs in families, or if it can be "cured". Prejudice ranges from race and skin color to gender, age, religion, and many other forms. Classic examples of widespread prejudice are the Ku Klux Klan, Adolph Hitler, and Hitler's followers, the Nazi's.…
One cannot forget the cruelty that African slaves endured, reoccurring abuse in ways that brought them misery until death. Lawrence Hill 's, The Book of Negroes demonstrates the damaging effects of African slaves; physically, mentally and socially. These three elements of destruction can take all the willpower out of a well built character, which is proven through the protagonist, Aminata Diallo. This novel ultimately allows us to understand the life of Aminata, and how the damaging journey as a slave lead to her "loss of identity". Physically speaking Aminata shows her loss of identity through various situations where she could not defend herself and was abused. Secondly Aminata was mentally abused by her poor relationships throughout the novel, which brought down her self esteem and contributed to her loss of identity. From a social perspective Aminata was damaged through the humiliation and the way the Africans were looked down upon compared to the people of white descent(toubabus).…
A. The theme of Baldwin’s essay is equality. He establishes this theme in his essay with the juxtaposition of a poor white man and a black man. In this essay, Baldwin speaks of how “People are continually pointing out to me the wretchedness of white people in order to console me for the wretchedness of blacks.” He says that people say that being black is not that bad because there are white people in the same situation and that there is still hope for the black because of people like Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis but it is still not something “to be regarded with complacency” because the situations of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis are just rare. Equality in America at the time was possible with “determined will,” but still very rare. Another way James Baldwin established the theme of equality in this essay was when he mentioned the projects, more specifically, Riverton. Baldwin establishes this theme of equality through mentioning Riverton for Riverton was a physical representation of the inequality of blacks and whites in America back then. Baldwin said, “The people in Harlem know they are living there because white people do not think they are good enough to live anywhere else.” There was going to be no equality if people were told to live in certain places because of their color. Baldwin also makes this theme extremely clear when he says, “Negroes want to be treated like men.”…
In the story Stranger in the Village by James Baldwin, he explains his experiences in a remote mountain village and how he was viewed by the people in that village, being a Black man. He quotes, “it did not occur to me-possibly because I am an American- that there could be people anywhere who had never seen a Negro.” So, in this village, James Baldwin was considered odd, but he also stresses how the unkindness of the people in the village was not out of bad intent; however, he was seen not as human because of his skin and his features did not reflect the people in the village. James Baldwin began to notice the village custom of “buying” African natives, and how they would darken the faces of children to go and solicit money, in order…
The essay The New Negro by Alain Locke’s defines what Locke believes to be the “Old Negro and the “New Negro. This paper will compare and contrasts Marcus Garvey The Future as I See it and Langston Hughes various poems on why Locke would have characterized them as either Old Negroes, New Negroes, or both. I believe Locke, Garvey , Hughes were determined to see Blacks succeed. Each writer expresses their idea in their own unique way, but they all wanted freedom, equality, and respect.…
Has writing ever changed your life? Have you wondered about the author of the amazing work? James Baldwin was the author of books, plays, and essays that broke literary ground. His work explored social and racial issues regarding discrimination. James Arthur Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York in August 2, 1924 to Emma Berdis Jones and an unknown father. His stepfather was David Baldwin, a Baptist preacher and a factory worker.…
Reflective statement: how was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?…