In the essay "Notes of a Native Son," James Baldwin talked about the relationship with his father as well as the issue of blacks and whites. Baldwin states that his father was a very bitter man he lived and died in an intolerable bitterness. In addition, he never had any sort of relationship with his father. He even said at one point that he felt that he hated his father. His father was never nice to him or any of his children. When Baldwin was a young boy he feared him and never was excited when he would come home. When his father died Baldwin had no expression he was even drunk at his father’s funeral.
Furthermore, when Baldwin was in high school his warned him about his white friends and how white people should not to be trusted. His father also said to Baldwin that white people would do anything to keep a black person down. Although his father did warn his Baldwin did not really listen or think it was true until he went to a restaurant and was denied service because of his color. He became to hate white people and almost came close to murdering. At his funeral when a man was giving a speech about his father he talked about what a great man he was and all the good things his father was. That is when everything unfolded.
In conclusion, he realized that his hatred towards him and his father was the same hatred towards blacks and whites. He realized all the little things his father did for them and how proud his father was when he was a young preacher. He states that people matter, life matters, but the color of the skin does not matter. Hatred could destroy so much and never failed to destroy man who hated. That was what Baldwin stated it was an unchallengeable law.
1 comment:
I agree with your blog. I believe Baldwin compares his relationship with his dad to Blacks and Whites because of the hatred they had towards one another. Your paragraphs were well developed. I liked how at the begining you wrote about the comparison between Baldwin and his dad and then in the next paragraph you wrote about the comparison between Baldwin and how and when he discovered his hate towards White people. Then at the end you brung it all together with his feelings he had at the end. It was a very good blog to read.
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