James Baldwin Identity, Essay Example

James Baldwin was a notable figure in defining an identity because he strived hard to define his identity as an African American through different perspectives and to be a spokesman to his people. Through fiction and non-fiction, Baldwin wanted the people to explore their past, accept it, own their mistakes and experience their suffering with grace because that was the best way to form an identity. Using Baldwin’s non-fiction book called notes of the native son, this essay will discuss the relationship between identity and nation and how class, ethnicity, gender and race connect to the American personality.

Irrespective of class, race and ethnicity, people can be identified as Americans because they share the same goal, beliefs, and they all depend on the same reality. In the second essay of his book, the notes of a native son, Baldwin writes that the oppressed and the oppressor are bound within the same society because, even if the oppressor had more than the oppressed, they share the same resources (Baldwin, 1984). African Americans have always struggled to have more because they fight for equal employment, education and other resources. The African Americans do so because their identity lies in the same society as the white Americans, and they believe they have the same rights to enjoy what this society provides.

An American identity also comes from past experiences. Baldwin writes that African Americans and white Americans are intertwined forever because of their ancestors’ history. This defines the identity of both races, where Baldwin claims that the ancestors still treated the negro as an exotic rarity and did not perceive him as a human being (Baldwin, 1984). Regardless of how the white man treated the black man, it did not prevent him from being part of the social fabric, and this helped form his identity as American. Baldwin emphasizes the importance of people understanding their past because it would help them get more insight into their American identity.

The American identity has been hard to achieve because it is an acquired identity. Baldwin writes in his book that the Americans took African Americans from their home, where they had an established identity and forced them to embrace a new one (Baldwin, 1984). The American identity has been hard to achieve because of racial discrimination. Although the American ideal is for everyone to be as alike as possible, the blacks were banned from white restaurants, social gatherings and schools, and they were not allowed to marry white women. This collides with the idea of establishing their identity because they were always referred to as people from America. Their ethnicity made it challenging for them to have an identity.

Baldwin advocated love as the primary weapon in the African- American quest towards identity for the present and the future. In his book, Baldwin explains the torture that the negros endured under the White Americans, who regarded themselves as being in a higher status. Although they became free, the whites still regard them as misfits by denying them employment and killing them. Furthermore, the American refuse to accept their shortcomings because of their established identity as superiors (Baldwin, 1984). Since African-Americans are also Americans, Baldwin urges them to be loving towards themselves and their country because it will give them the American identity regardless of the torturous circumstances.

In summary, race and ethnicity connect to a distinct American identity because of the past, which helped African Americans develop roots in America. Since both Blacks and Americans are part of the same society and reality, the blacks have a distinct American identity even if it is faced with uncertainty and discrimination.

Reference

Baldwin, J. (1984). Notes of a native son (Vol. 39). Beacon Press. http://faculty.gordonstate.edu/lsanders-senu/Everybody’s%20Protest%20Novel%20by%20James%20Baldwin.pdf