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Down At The Cross Baldwin Analysis

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“My Dungeon Shook” is a intellectual essay that Baldwin writes to his nephew which expresses how whites obliterated psychological and spiritual values of all African American people. His primary focus is to notify his nephew about the discriminatory and maltreatment his nephew will encounter living in America. Not only is Baldwin informing his nephew the harsh and unpleasant truths of being a black man, but Baldwin wants him to to know how to manage being an outsider even when he’s restrained to find his true persona. Baldwin uses the nephew’s dad as an example of how he became an indignant irritable man (Baldwin 21). Baldwin assumes that if his nephew can convert this contradiction into a constructive use, different results will transpire …show more content…

Elijah Muhammad who is very passionate about the Nation of Islam assumes that the African Americans are Allah’s masterpieces whereas the white people are devils and need to be completely demolished (Baldwin 72). Baldwin’s views are the complete opposite and does not believe the white’s are mischievous humans that need to be exterminated, instead the African Americans should take this rage and utilize it as ambition to fight for freedom the correct way, which is humanity. Baldwin has bad but also has many good relationships with whites, he understands that this will have no effect based on the information Elijah brainwashed his followers with. Baldwin realizes that instilling this distaste will only push the blacks further away from achieving freedom. Not only will eliminating the white community make things worse, but it is not even manageable based on the statuses of the two races; whites inherited more valuable resources and advantages then the black (Baldwin 101). Baldwin believes the actual propositions of christianity is being swept under the rug and whites are implementing the wrong aspects that prevent them from embracing and perceiving their

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