James Baldwin’s Critique of the Social Condition Essay -- James Baldwi

James Baldwins Critique of the Social Condition James Baldwin was an Afri preserve American writer who, through his own individual(prenominal) experiences and life, addressed issues such as race, sexuality, and the American identity. Notes of a Native Son is one of many judges that Baldwin wrote during his lifetime. Within this essay, Baldwin dialog around when his father died and the events that revolved around it. His fathers demise occurs in the early 1940s, where oppression and racism were still fairly frequent in many cities across the nation. So amidst the events that revolve around Baldwins fathers death, there are many riots and beatings taking place. This essay is simply not a recollection of what Baldwin experienced in the past, however it challenges, critiques, and tries to understand the current well-disposed condition of the time. He does this by recalling his individual(prenominal) experiences to draw the lecturer in and as a result of that, can begin to construct an analysis of the social condition. Baldwin weaves in and out of his personal experiences and private reasons to give the reader both a small and overlarge panorama of what is going on at the time. Its important for the reader to have a small, personal perspective so they can plug into with the emotions Baldwin expresses. At the same time a large general perspective is needed because it shows the reader that Baldwins experiences, although unique, is connected to a larger mathematical group of people, that in one way or another, his plight is the plight of many. Baldwin efficaciously implements this method when he says All of Harlem, indeed, seemed to be infected by delay (73). This sentence is placed in between two moments. Prior to this sentence, Baldw... ...bat the poison with it, perhaps poison should be fought with poison (78). Through his own experiences, Baldwin is adequate to highlight the social conditio n that he was surrounded with during that period. Through just use of words and transition, Baldwin was able to indirectly question and analyze the social condition without losing the interest of the reader. By moving back and forth from a personal experience to a public condition, Baldwin makes the essay very properly and very effective in getting his points across. What is also successful about Baldwins method is that it captures the readers attention and forces them to look deeper and understand what it is he rightfully is talking about.Works CitedBaldwin, James. Notes of a Native Son. 1955. James Baldwin Collected Essays. Ed.Toni Morrison. raw(a) York Library of America, 1998. 63-84.