Stranger In The Village Analysis

Eng 1A

The Battle for Identity In the essay “Stranger in the Village” written by James Baldwin in 1953 from Notes of A Native Son, the author mainly describes the idea of racism from both black and white people perspectives and how it affects to the America society as well as throughout the whole world. This essay was written during the time of Jim Crow Law and the onset of the Civil Right War; hence, it mostly implies the idea of racism in the US. The grief, pain, frustration and devastation that black people had to endure were so great that they had to choose between standing up to fight for their own rights or just staying the same as low life people as they had been. The whites also had to struggle a battle in their mind which they
had to overcome the pride of being considered themselves as superior human race so that they could live with the blacks as the same level. The battle, in which both black and white people took part, is indescribably painful since it tortured them physically because of the war in real life and mentally because of the struggle in their mind. The history of segregation which spread throughout the entire America continent changed the fates of numerous black and white people; this change is considered as an achievement to comfort the anguish gnawing in black people, but it’s a big paradigm shift in white people’s perspective. Anguish and rage are feelings which lingered in African Americans’ mind due to the fact that they had been dehumanized by the whites for a long time, but they couldn’t really do anything to express those feelings. “The white man takes the astonishment… people who have cost me more than anguish and reage than they will ever know, who yet do not even know my existence.” (Baldwin 3) For years, the white people had been, in the very literal mean, controlled the blacks as slaves and even treat them less than level of a human being. As the result, the existence of the black people in the society was nothing but living machines which to do whatever had been told by the masters to please them, or would be punished for being blamed as the act of disobedience or rebellion if they refused to do. Since the black people couldn’t do anything, they always remained powerless in all of the situations. Living in a place where a human being can’t express how they feel establishes the grudge which is accumulated from the anguish, grief and extreme devastation. After a long battle full of pain and loss, the blacks finally reached their goal, the freedom they had been yearning for, and thus were rewarded an achievement called identity. “American Negro problem is not merely shameful, it is also something of an achievement.” (8) In history of African Americans, there are memories which they don’t want to mention because they remind them the shameful and painful times that they had to endure. From the past, listening and fulfilling the order of the masters without consideration were all what the blacks could do. The word “freedom” seems to be unrealistic for the blacks during that time. Nevertheless, if the past didn’t exist, there would be no future. Because of that miserable past, the black people stood up and fought for their liberty and the rights that they deserve to have as a human. Thanks to that battle, the blacks gained their own identity and place in the society, which is equal to the whites, and that means they can do things that they want without asking for any permission from anyone. For all of the African Americans, this achievement is the biggest turn in the history since it changes completely the life of these people from absolutely powerless and inferior to the level as high as the white people. The equality was finally derived to the blacks. The paradigm shift in the society didn’t only happen in the black community, but it also affected strongly to the whites since they had to wake up after had been slept too long in the dream of superiority and supremacy.
“But in the situation in which Americans… is the very warp and woof of the heritage of the West, the idea of supremacy.” (6) For centuries, the whites had considered themselves to be more superior than any other races, especially to the black people. They were so proud of themselves and so afraid of losing the superior status that they started to give themselves the right to treat the blacks inhumanly. The whites’ mind was simply blinded by the “jewel of naiveté”, which implies the idea that the white people were so immature that they couldn’t understand or show sympathy to other people, beat in their head the concept of white supremacy. Nonetheless, they were, all of sudden, required to treat the black equally as themselves and start living together with the blacks as a whole society as the must. It’s obviously indescribably hard since the habit of treating the blacks as a tool or a slave, which was established and practiced for so long, couldn’t be changed in a short amount of time. Especially, this change wasn’t merely a daily activity but the perspective toward other people or toward the black people in this
case. Because of the sudden paradigm shift, it’s not hard to realize that there would be several people who couldn’t accept that fact that they have to throw away their superior identity, which is also their pride, to live and treat the black as the same level as themselves; hence, this is the tip of the iceberg that a great battle would sooner or later come. “Thus it was impossible for Americans to accept black man as one of themselves, for to do so was to jeopardize their status as white men.” Since it’s hard to change something big all of sudden, there were people who struggled to overcome the idea of supremacy to live peacefully with the blacks as a whole society, but they somehow finally did it. However, there were also people found it impossible for them to abandon their pride and treat the blacks, who had been once their slaves, equally as themselves. Due to that fact, the physical and mental battles started to rise as the thirst for identity of the blacks and the pride of the white rose. Meanwhile the blacks was fighting to gain their identity in the society, the whites was also fighting to protect their superior status because they would think that they couldn’t be a white men anymore if they lost that status. Segregation between black and white people was the biggest problem in the history of the US which changes the destiny of every single citizen in this country; and thus, thus change affected strongly to the identity and perspective of the blacks as well as of the whites. The yearn for a position in the society for the blacks was the strength for the battle against the whites, and their achievement was exactly what they wanted. Meanwhile, the passion to keep the pride, or the supremacy, was the strength of the white for the battle. Even though the whites “lost” in the battle so that they had to live with the blacks and accept them as citizens of the US, is it a bad thing? No, what they gain from that loss is even greater because that battle is what makes the US society as today. Everyone lives together peacefully and help each other to better their own life as well as the future of the country.