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Summary Of My Lagoon Shook By James Baldwin

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African Americans have lived in a world in which they are inferior to whites. The letter "My Dungeon Shook" written by James Baldwin and the memoir Warrior's Don't Cry, Both talk about how in this certain tin African Americans where judged not by their personality but by their skin color. Which they were treated not as people but as animals, who were inferior to them. Baldwin's purpose in writing "My Dungeon Shook" was to inform and to prepare his nephew on the reality that they live in. In the letter it states "You were born in a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in as many ways as possible that you were a worthless human being." He is telling his nephew that the whites had so much hatred towards African Americans that they …show more content…

The letter states "Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure, does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity and fear." This means that even though whites might call him names or abuse him, he doesn't have to react the same way by treating people inhumanly. The central idea of this letter is that Jhon James has to sat with his had up and has to use his own opinion and not anyone else's. Melba's experiences and Baldwin's letter are both a like in many ways. They both show what African Americans had to go through and how they were treated in this time period. In Warrior's Don't Cry Melba told one of the teacher's that why can't all of them be in the same homeroom and the teacher responded by saying "You wanted integration you go it." In My Dungeon Shook Baldwin states "You were not expected to excellence; you were expected to make peace with …show more content…

So one day a man tried to rape Melba and that traumatized her. The white society doesn't know that their doing so much damage they think it's alright, but mostly their hurting and being disrespectful towards children who are innocent. Baldwin told his nephew "Please try to be clear, dear James though the storm which rages about your youthful head today, about the reality which lies behind the word acceptance and integration." Grandma India told Melba to pray for the man that tried to rape her and to pray for go forgiveness towards him. Even thought Melba was still a teenager she had to go through all this, but she is for what she believes in even if she has to give up everything fun that she use to do. Like all of the African Americans are! They want to live a normal life but they can't because of the way they

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