James Baldwin Creative America Analysis

This essay compares “In response to executive order 9066” (poem) by Dwight Okita to “Mericans” (short story) by Sandra Cisneros. Specifically, the essay explores the central theme of American identity in the two literary works. The “Mericans” is about a little girl who has a story about the new world and the old world. In this case, the new world is America. The young girl is prevented from entering the church where her grandmother has prayers. As a person from the old world, the young girl is not allowed to play with boys from the new world. On the other hand, “in response to executive order” by Dwight Okita is about Americans of Japanese origins that were supposed to report to relocation

This quote acts a thesis for the entire essay, in one perspective it speaks on the destruction of his father's body while on his death bed. The extreme hubris and stubborn attitude held for much of the father's life, which drove so many people away, was eradicated when he was overcome with sickness. Likening the man, at least in Baldwin's eyes, to that of a ruin. The anger and hatred Baldwin's father exuded, is argued

Bane once said “you think darkness is your ally?” Robert Frost would undoubtedly say no. Both “Acquainted With The Night” by Robert Frost and “We Grow Accustomed To The Dark” by Emily Dickinson applies literary devices to interpret dark or night In a concrete manner. However Frost poem “Acquainted With The Night” uses symbols, point of view, and metaphor to construct a more substantial representation of night.

No matter what, he’s a great man, especially since his personality never dimmed to reflect his experience as a black man in such a white community. James Baldwin’s an American author through so many works such as essays, novels, plays, and public speeches. The great man never showed any difference from the hatred between the black and whites during this harsh time with him trying to save the brotherhood of it all. I’m going to tell you about how James Baldwin came about, and how he impacted American Literature.

“The Raven”, by Edgar Allen Poe, and “The Minister’s Black Veil”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne are two stories that show the dark and twisted side of humanity. Edgar Allen Poe is best known for writing his stories about death and the darkness of death. This in turn makes all his seem to be this style where as “The Raven” is a creation of humans seeking hope in a situation that is hopeless. Hawthorne writes about the good and bad in the choices we choose. In “The Ministers Black Veil” Hawthorne confronts a touchy subject by displaying how the congregations covers their sin like a veil covers the face. Even though both authors write in the same type of style they differ in their themes, points of view, and symbols used to portray these

Knowing that Baldwin was a black man from Harlem, one can assume he had put up with discrimination. He describes his relationship with his father saying, “I had not known my father very well” and this explains why he never learned to deal with hatred, and let it eat him up like it did to his father. His father was also very religious, and consequently, Baldwin saw Christianity, in which he grew up, as a mechanism by which African Americans channeled their desire for revenge against white oppressors. By describing his background in this fashion, he is able to gain empathy, credibility, and a large sense of ethos from his readers. Baldwin’s pathos is seen in his pure unadulterated hatred of white people. One example is when he claims,“I hated her for her white face… I wanted her to come close enough for me to get her neck between my hands”. With his thoughts stated in his work, the reader is better able to understand if not fully understand why James Baldwin is writing about such a thing. Another example is when he writes, “perhaps poison should be fought with poison”. His hatred is so strong that the audience is almost able to sympathise with his emotions even if they

As a gay black writer in racist mid-twentieth century America, James Baldwin felt a great need to escape. And he did, he moved to France where he spent most of his life. Baldwin often took inspiration from his own life experiences for his stories, and as a result, many of his stories are semi-autobiographical, and it is possible to see Baldwin in the place of the title character. Baldwin’s characters escape from their struggles by listening or playing music, taking part in a romantic relationship, traveling, drinking excess amounts of alcohol, or acting in a theater or in movies. Baldwin’s short stories have an episodic feel to them -- short intervals with loosely connected events. Across three of his stories, Previous Condition; This Morning,

In “Salvation,” Langston Hughes presents his momentous coming-of-age story as a dark and saddening ending to his childhood that provides the reader with understanding of the loss of innocence; and faith he faced and how it impacted who he came to be. Hughes makes a strong implication that children become less and less innocent over time. Hughes himself proves that through the tone of his entire essay. It begins with a light toned; yet still ironic introduction, but ends with a dark, depressing final line. Hughes supplies his reader with multiple literary devices such as imagery, flashbacks, and irony to present this comparison of his younger self and his older self.

Surrounding environment takes a big role in shaping a person and creating one’s personalities. Edgar Allan Poe, an American writer, is an excellent example for this. Poe’s parents died shortly after he was born and he was taken in by John and Frances Allan, though they never really legally adopt him. With a life full of obstacles, he needed to bear the sadness of his parents’ death and face financial problems all by himself, but still, Poe managed to live a successful life out by himself. He holds fame in the ring of American Gothic genre, digs out people’s darkest sides and puts them into words, and, without himself knowing, influences countless people with his works. This paper shows the background information about how the childhood environment of Poe shaped him, then talks about how his early life affected his style of writing, and, lastly, examples of how his works relate to his childhood memories.

How does Baldwin's real-life experience connect to his short story, "Sonny's Blues"? Read Baldwin's biography for more background on his life.

James Baldwin, a writer from Harlem, New York, is particularly studied because of how he addresses race in the United States. Though he saw himself as a “witness to the truth,” Baldwin becomes a leader in black freedom particularly in his collection of essays, The Fire Next Time (The Chicago Tribune). In the essays explored in class, “My Dungeon Shook” and “ Letter from a Region in My Mind,” religion is a reoccurring theme that played an integral part in Baldwin’s life. Although the streets would usually be seen as a more dangerous and deteriorating lifestyle than the church; chapters from The Fire Next Time demonstrate that the institution of the black church created an equally negative and lasting impression that mirrored the impact of street life.

The United States is not a “melting pot” of cultures but is more complex like a “salad bowl” where foreign and domestic influences combine to create a society where individual differences in gender, race religion, or ethnic background are valued. Immigrants strived to become the ideal “American” citizen, a more historically accurate metaphor is that the U.S. has had a cultural “cookie cutter” with a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, male mold; but the view of culture has changed. Today, with the increase of numerous subcultures, diversity is greater valued and accepted. The growing acknowledgment of Asian American subculture present is in social media as a result of the continuously growing Asian American population. Ever since Asians first arrived in the mid-nineteenth century, the expansion and greater exposure

In a letter to his brother, the great painter, Vincent Van Gogh, once wrote,“Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it”. In this quote, Van Gogh summarizes a subject great writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson has devoted entire essays to defining and explaining, and that is the subject of poetry. As it can be seen, a poet undertakes that almost impossible job of transposing what he or she sees in Nature on to paper for others to read. Only a true poet can be successful in an attempt. It is not just Nature a poet tries to capture into words, but also social experiences and human truths. Gwendolyn Brooks (1917- 2000) and Robert Hayden (1913-1980) are two Harlem renaissance poets who are experts in writing poems the detail both African American social experiences and universal human emotions. In Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, The Explorer, the speaker tells the events of an unknown subject walking down a hallway searching for a quiet peaceful room in which to rest. In Frederick Douglass by Robert Hayden, the speaker voicelizes that when everyone receives freedom, then the great, historical figure, Frederick Douglass will be remembered eternally in the lives of everyday people. The Explorer by Gwendolyn Brooks and Frederick Douglass by Robert Hayden can be compared and

Imagine going to church on a gorgeous Sunday morning and looking up at the tall, formidable steeple but it was painted a deep black as if it were meant to be invisible. In Gwen Bristow’s Celia Garth the St. Michael’s church steeple was painted an oppressive black during the British siege of Charleston to make it unable to be seen by British ships from the harbor. Since the steeple was painted black instead white, it was no longer notably noticeable, making God have a lesser presence in the minds of the people of Charleston. The Charleston citizens interpreted the black steeple as a foreshadowment of death to the people of Charleston, and it frightened them. In addition, the black steeple symbolized the British oppression, acting as a constant reminder that the British were coming. Bristow utilized the black

In fiction, the narrator controls how the audience connects to and perceives the various characters in a story. A good author can manipulate the narration to connect the audience to certain characters and deepen the reader’s understanding of their conflicts. In “Previous Condition” and “Sonny’s Blues,” James Baldwin illustrates themes of loneliness and isolation in the pursuit of finding a space that feels like home. Although this theme is clear in both stories, Baldwin is able to portray it very differently in each story through the relationship he allows the reader to the characters struggling with these feelings. While “Previous Condition” provides a more intimate relationship to the narrator, “Sonny’s Blues” is able to deliver an additional level of understanding by telling the story through Sonny’s brother, therefore disconnecting the reader in a way that forces him or her to share the characters’ feelings of isolation and confusion.