In the short essay A Natives Son by James Baldwin, the racial tension was high. His step father made it very obvious that “blacks” were not welcomed and that whites felt they were superior. Baldwin was in the midst of it all. Him and his father’s relationship was just like the negative tension between the whites and blacks; horrible.
Baldwin’s dad was very judgmental of Baldwin so he had no choice but to be judgmental about everything in life because he was taught that way. Being that whites and blacks judged each other without even knowing each other played a huge role into why there was so much racism. When a person was born during those times they were taught to either not like blacks or not like whites even though sometimes they didn’t even agree with judging another race. For example when Baldwin was sitting down at a restaurant and the white waiter walked over to him and told him that “we don’t serve Negros here.” You could tell by reading the book that the white waitress didn’t want to tell him that but it was her job to let Negros know that they could not sit down and eat, they could get their food and go. Going back to when I stated that sometimes people were pushed to judging blacks without wanting too, this is an example and Baldwin knew she didn’t want to tell him that he couldn’t eat there but he was still highly upset. Baldwin was so upset with the racial tension that was taking place that he reached levels of wanting to commit murder on other people. He was tired of being judged because his step father judged him his whole life the ironic thing was that he was turning into his father and he did not want that at all.
I believe that, that was why Baldwin found it so easy to relate white and black’s relationship with him and his father’s relationship. It was parallel to each other because both cases were very judgmental. Baldwin hated his own father. I feel that Baldwin was lucky enough to be able to figure out judgmental was wrong. After having the interaction with the white waitress Baldwin’s whole persona changed. He realized that he had to accept before he could change completely and he noticed that in the last paragraph of the essay. He says, “the fight begins, however, in the heart and it now had been laid to my charge to keep my own heart free f hatred and despair.” Baldwin knew that the acceptance and change had to begin with him and is his heart before trying to change other people.
2 comments:
I really agree with you blog on Notes of a Native son by James Baldwin because while I read the essay I seemed to see his dad as very judmental towards other people, and society at this time was also judging people on there color.Reading you blog I also able to remember when the waitress didnt want to serve Baldwin because he was black.I really liked your blog and believe you got the relationship between his father and black and americans relationship.
When reading this blog, i knew the writer understood the story because it showed on the first paragraph what Baldwin was talking about in his story. She put good examples on what Baldwin was going through and experiencing about the community of the black and white culture. The story mainly focused on the relationship between Baldwin and his father and the writer focused on this in the last paragraph which i thought was good.
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