Called one of the “most influential writers and social critics of the 20th century, (“Why James Baldwin’s influential work still resonates”) James Baldwin’s writings left an impact on the country. Baldwin was a writer who discussed the tense race relations before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement. He was not afraid to address the hypocrisy of American society and the problems which plagued African Americans. His writings challenged the status quo as he countered the popular beliefs of Malcolm X and the ideas of the Black Christians. Furthermore, he sought to explore the isolation he felt as a homosexual and an African American which led into his self imposed exile.
The heart of James Baldwin’s works can be described as his journey grappling with the struggles encountered every day. A major crisis in his mind was the cycles of poverty which became a plague to African American communities. Attached to this idea, he wrote extensively on the themes of escape many sought and the hopelessness those in poverty experienced. Baldwin also explored themes of why racism even existed and the role white Americans played. His themes also stretched to include the ideas of major parties in the civil rights movement, including the Nation of Islam and the various Christian groups. Because of his identity, Baldwin explored his homosexual feelings and shame in his writing. His themes culminated in his eventual self exile away from America as he sought an escape from the hatred he experienced.
Despite his prominent writings in the various fields of the civil rights movement, James Baldwin became renowned for his unique style of writing. The personal narrative style that he employed was a hallmark of his writing as he portrayed his themes and ideas through narrative works. His background as a youth minister in Harlem served as inspiration for his use of the vernacular found throughout Christian texts and the Bible.
One of his more famous works, “Sonny’s Blues”, Baldwin explores the entrapment of African Americans in a cycle of poverty. The clutches of poverty limited the opportunities people are afforded and crushed their spirits. The drug addicted and afflicted character of Sonny is a literary example of the plight of African Americans. In his other works, he penned the lines “Anyone who has struggled with poverty knows how expensive it is to be poor,” (“Nobody Knows My Name”, 1961) expressing the hold poverty holds over its victims as they struggle to survive. As the narrator recounts the experiences of his poverty, he cannot help but compare his students who to Sonny and his addiction to heroin (Chaminade High School 183).
Baldwin explains Sonny’s addiction to heroin as an escape of his impoverishment, something that made him feel great, outside of the struggles he experienced in his daily life (Chaminade High School 186). The drugs he took made him feel as though he escaped the miseries of his daily life, an observation Baldwin makes about many other African Americans who ambitious dreams were limited as their heads brushed up on their low ceilings. “They began to care less about the way they looked, the way they dressed, the things they did; presently, one found them in twos and threes and fours, in a hallway, sharing a jug of wine or a bottle of whiskey, talking, cursing, fighting, sometimes weeping: lost, and unable to say what it was that oppressed them, except that they knew it was “the man”—the white man (The New Yorker, 1962). In his works and experience, Baldwin came to the conclusion that the escape from the life of poverty for many was drugs, which like Sonny’s friend, made them feel “great”. Drugs were not the only escape for many, many turned to the arts, especially music. Music, in “Sonny’s Blues” jazz, became a way for many to express the pain they felt through the pieces they played. As Sonny’s brother comes to watch him play, Baldwin writes “And I was yet aware that this was only a moment, that the world waited outside, as hungry as a tiger, and that trouble stretched above us, longer than the sky” (Chaminade High School, 2018). Music and drugs became ways avoid the menace they experienced on a daily basis.
“The concepts contained in words like “freedom,” “justice,” “democracy” are not common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and, above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply” (The Nation, 1956) Baldwin penned on the hypocrisy he saw in America. Baldwin believed in the power of words that symbolized American ideals, however, he did not believe America often lived up to them. Throughout his career as a social critic, Baldwin sought to explain why black and white institutions were so different and unequal. On the Dick Cavett Show in 1968, he admitted that he did not know how white Americans felt about black Americans, however, he explains he can understand a lot about American based on the fact that blacks and whites get very different treatment from the institutions they are apart of. To Baldwin, the less than adequate education system, segregated churches, and real estate lobby all led him to believe that these organizations trapped African Americans in the ghettos and poverty (Dick Cavett Show, Season 1 Episode 74).
In his most recent work, I Am Not Your Negro, he summed up his beliefs: “The story of the Negro in America is the story of America, and it is not a pretty story” (Magnoila Pictures, 2017). To Baldwin, he believed “History is not the past. It is the present,” (Magnoila Pictures, 2017) as we still carried the past with us. The America Baldwin lived in still held its past of slavery and segregation, he thought that place still had to face this past.
“You invent it [the ni**er]. So it has to be something you are afraid of. And you invested me with it,” (Take This Hammer, 1964) Baldwin said the state of race in America. Baldwin believed that American society, namely white people, invented the idea of the “ni**er”. He thought the “ni**er” was something that white people could use to put their fears on, like a racial boogeyman. “You still think, I gather, that the ni**er is necessary. It’s not necessary to me, so it must be necessary to you,” (Take This Hammer, 1964) Baldwin also believed that the continuation of racism showed him that white people still needed the “ni**er” in some way. He concluded that America needed a boogeyman to be scared of, which contributed to this idea’s longevity. This problem did not affect Baldwin in the same way, he said he didn’t need the “ni**er” like he felt white people did.
“And I give you your problem back. You’re the ni**er, baby. It isn’t me,” (Take This Hammer, 1964) The “Ni**er” problem wasn’t Baldwin’s creation and he didn’t need it, therefore, he said that he could not solve this problem. Since this problem originated in white people, he gave this “back” to them; charging them with solving this crisis within themselves. “What white people have to do, is try and find out in their own hearts why it was necessary to have a ni**er in the first place,” (Magnolia Pictures, 2017) Baldwin challenged white people to address the past they still carried at the origin of the “ni**er” question as he asked why.
One of the things Baldwin grappled with throughout his writing was the reason why hate was held on to. “Each of us, each nation, each individual, each race and each gender has a role in this history and we need to confront it,” (Magnolia Pictures, 2017) He believed every America had a role to play in the “ni**er” question. In this quote, he challenges his countrymen to confront the past, which he believed they still carried. He came to the conclusion that this question could be settled if Americans were willing to face the history they still carried. He summed up this sentiment by saying: “Not everything that is faced can be changed…but nothing can be changed until it is faced” (“Confronting History: James Baldwin”).
James Baldwin’s critique of the society can constantly be seen as he discussed this question. He said that the development of one’s conscience was the opening salvo for a continuing battle with the society they belonged to (“A Talk for Teachers”, 1963). He felt that being aware of what is right and wrong ran directly against the ideas of many in society who did not develop their conscience. “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain,” (Baldwin’s, 1963) Baldwin concluded that some would not be able to confront their past, as not to come into pain; therefore, they would not be able to let go of their individual pain.
One of the most significant events in James Baldwin’s life occurred when he was three years old: his single mother married the Protestant minister David Baldwin. His new stepfather introduced him to the Harlem Pentecostal church, where young Baldwin served as a youth minister and formed his beliefs on religion (James Baldwin Biography, Biography.com Editors). The relationship between stepfather and stepson was not built on solid foundations. Describing his own father as impatient, cruel, and judgmental as he noted the hatred and harshness which he treated those around him with. After an experience of his own anger towards a white waitress, Baldwin began to understand his father’s feelings as a product of the racism which surrounded them (“James Baldwin’s ‘Notes of a Native Son’”, Penn State).
In Baldwin’s beliefs, his father became an image of how some black felt such a strong feel towards white people. In “Sonny’s Blues,” Baldwin wrote “Till the day he died he weren’t sure but that every white man he saw was the man that killed his brother,” (Chaminade High School, 2018). To Baldwin, he felt his father and other black men thought every single white man they met embodied the racism they experienced. In a similar thread to David Baldwin, the popular civil rights activist Malcolm X embodied similar viewpoints. His violent and hateful beliefs, which reminded James Baldwin too much of his stepfather, forced his distance from Malcolm X’s Nation of Islam. He rejected this philosophy because he “did not believe all white people were devils” and believed it did not set a good example for young African Americans. He also did not join any Christian movements as he believed they did not live out of the love Jesus commanded, which was strikingly similar to the experience of his father (Chicago Reader, 2017).
Besides his race, the other most defining feature of James Baldwin was his sexual orientation. Because he was African American and homosexual, Baldwin felt the world would not accept him. “It all gives him an outsider status, which allows him the ability to see the world so clearly, because he did not quite fit,” Michelle Gordon of Emory University wrote about his identity (NBC News, February 7, 2017). Baldwin believed a black gay person faced a special dilemma as they were “menaced and marked” because of this fact. As an unapologetic African American and homosexual, he continuously explored these two ideas through his writing career (Vice, February 3, 2017).
An example of James Baldwin’s struggles reflected in writing was his novel Giovanni’s Room, which explored the conflicted feelings of homosexual relationships. A major theme he explored in this work was shame within a homosexual person. Using the main character, David, he was able to explain the shame he felt as the character carried baggage from previous homosexual relationships years prior and his current attractions. Through writing, Baldwin sought to express his major theme of how powerful shame can be and the ability it has to damage a person, particularly in homosexual relationships (The Guardian, November 19, 2016).
A consequence of James Baldwin’s race and sexual orientation was the constant state of feeling isolated and alone. After the control of his father ended with his death, young Baldwin moved to Paris speaking virtually no French and with very little money. Although he lived across an ocean, hee was still involved with American politics and society, namely through his writings on race and police brutality (Bonjour Paris, July 25, 2017). His flight from America was a voluntary self-exile where he escaped the racism of his birthplace and found a new home abroad. In Paris, Baldwin found a place to clean the hatred inherited from his father, he stated: “It gave me time to vomit up a great deal, a great deal of bitterness. At least I could operate in Paris without being meanced socially. No one cared what I did”. In this more lax environment in regards to his race and sexual orientation, his time in France allowed him to come to terms with his identity: as an American, a black man, and a gay man (“Jimmy’s Pulpit”, James Baldwin Project).
Besides being known as major player due to the content of his writings, Baldwin became known for the unique style that characterized his writings. He created a “literary niche” for himself as his work became the gold standard for literary realism. His essays provided a personal exploration into the themes he wished to explore. Through this unique style that combined an extensive use of the Christian language and biblical allusions with a deeply personal narrative.
Some of James Baldwin’s most important literary contributions came in the form of many essays. The style he employed in these essays was personal and allowed for a deeper exploration of the ideas at hand. “His role is to make you realize the doom and glory of knowing who you are and what you are,” Fred L. Standley wrote on the personal nature of his essays. The essays he wrote were designed to address the uncomfortable truths as he confronted significant issues of his day (“James Baldwin”, Poetry Foundation).
A major impact on James Baldwin’s writing styles and techniques was the literary device of biblical allusions. From his upbringing as a youth who spent his time in the churches of Harlem, Baldwin turned his back on organized religion and faith as he matured into the writer and man he became. While he abandoned the beliefs he once held to, he still used many of the ideas and images which characterized the Bible and other Christian texts. The author James Campbell wrote that Baldwin was a product of generations of black Christians, thus his writing was built on the foundation of Old Testament and King James Bible language (Tackach, 2007).
Images of the Old and New Testament are on full display in “Sonny’ Blues” as James Baldwin uses biblical allusions to express his message. Using the Old Testament characters of Cain and Abel, Baldwin presents Sonny and his brother in a similar light. Using this literary device, the famous Genesis question of “Am I My Brother’s Keeper” is brought to Harlem in the 20th Century. The narrator is called by his mother to watch after Sonny, to be his keeper, which he does not to want and fails to look after him. Since he denies being Sonny’s keeper, he echoes the same spirit as Cain with disregard for his brother’s welfare as his brother’s imprisonment as “none of his business” (Tackach, 2007). By using familiar biblical lessons, themes, and stories, Baldwin adds a deeper layer of meaning to his writing by using this literary device.
The writings of James Baldwin had an incredible influence over the national dialogue due to the important themes he discussed and the unique style that we delivered them with. His willingness to address the state of racial affairs with honesty and a sense of truthfulness set him apart as a unique figure in the civil rights movement. He was unafraid to discuss the hypocrisy of America and the many difficulties Africans faced as a result of their nation’s racism; in a similar way, he was quick to denounce the contempt many African Americans, such as his father and Malcolm X, held towards white Americans. Much of his writing explored the cause of American segregation and the horrible effect it had on both black and white Americans, the oppressed and the oppressors. He also wrote bluntly on his experience as an African American who was homosexual and the resulting isolation he felt. His themes extended to his own personal escape from America to France in order to understand his identity.
The unique writing styles and techniques employed by Baldwin further compounded his identity as an important writer in Twentieth Century American literature. The deeply personal nature and honesty which characterized his essays cemented them as important components of Civil Rights Era writings. He became renowned for his use of religious language and symbols throughout his works, which spoke to the many Black Christians who read his work. Baldwin was an indispensable part of the American conversation on race and homosexual through this poignant themes and unique writing styles.