Public versus Personal Reference in Notes of a Native Son :: James Baldwin

Stand Back Up (unsteadily: Tumbling revision) Throwing scalding hot water in someone’s face on a day to day basis will eventually cause a reaction. James Baldwin decided to throw back physically in his life, and with the manner in which he writes. As I'm sure you do not know, James Baldwin was an African-American writer. He is widely thought of as one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century. He has composed a fascinating account of living as a black man in America, â€Å"Notes of a Native Son,† which was first published in 1955. This is not nearly as long ago as you may think and the issues he addresses are still prevalent today. Put yourself in a semi-uncomfortable position, uncover the past and realize this country isn't as full of equality as it likes to seem. As a nation far too many of us don't actively think about or bother to remember the social inequalities that this country had and certainly still has. To create a truly captivating experience Baldwin utilizes a sor t of public versus personal reference. James Baldwin is possibly one of the most inspiring and charismatic writers in our history. I absolutely can't understand how so many of you haven't even heard his name. Don't you think you should know something about someone who is widely renowned as being the greatest?! James Baldwin is a man who has lived with racial prejudice all his life. In this essay Baldwin focuses on his father and their relationship as well as personal and historic accounts. Early on his father was a keynote in helping him to notice the ways white people treat blacks. Of course he was eager to prove his father wrong, as youth are apt to do. Baldwin did resist these allegations for a while. It is hard to resist passioned hatred when it is surging all around you. Baldwin notices that his father's death has been marked by a terrible riot where the mob â€Å"began to swell and to spread in every direction, and Harlem exploded.