Black And Blues By James Baldwin Analysis

Life in America
James Baldwin is one of the most inspirational writers to live, so it comes to no surprise you can find similarities in other writers’ work. In one of his better writings, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” James Baldwin warns his nephew white people are going to hate him simply because he’s black. Baldwin abvices his nephew throughout his letter to ignore what white people tell him because they want to see him, and everyone else with colored skin, struggle. Garnette Cadogan “Black and Blues” is a similarly successful story, the story depicts how Cadogan grew up in the dangerous streets of Jamaica, and then went to America during his adult life. Growing up in Jamaica Cadogan found a safe haven in walking, even though he could have at any moment lost his life if he ran into the wrong person fortunately Cadogan never encountered any of these people. When Cadogan arrived in America he realized life wouldn’t be so easy in America, being a innocent colored man seemed like a foreign concept to white people here. Its as if Cadogan could have used Baldwin’s advice because he was experiencing a lot of the things Baldwin was

Cadogan thought growing up in the rough streets of Jamaica would have prepared him for whatever dangers here could have faced in America… but he could have never been prepared. In Jamaica everyone is, for the most part, black so racial tensions never were a problem. When Cadogan arrived in America he did not judge based on skin but on character, so he did not know the stereotypes black people dealt with. While Jamaica did not prepare Cadogan for the racial injustices he was going to face he did give him the mental toughness to deal with