James Baldwin As A Legendary Writer example essay topic
He painted cruel history of black community into his writing. His writing contains lot of pain and anger, which could only describe by his writing. He was a one of the leader who speeches his nation by his writing. After reading his piece of art, which was presented via short stories and many books, I have come to perceive James Baldwin as a legendary writer.
Through his short stories, Baldwin expresses the truth about his life. It seems that most of Baldwin's life was spent during times of extreme racism and he was strongly discriminated against due to his racial and ethnic background. Some of his stories were written in the middle of 19th century, a time when American citizens were distinguished by their color. It was a time when black and white people had their own separate worlds in which they were living. It was very hard to break the narrow-minded ways of many racist people. In other words, there was a self-created border between both races.
In his stories, "Previous Condition" and "Sonny's Blues", Baldwin has developed characters to fight against racism in attempts to live their lives as they please. In "Previous Condition", the character named Peter, had a very difficult life. For example, throughout his childhood, Peter was often called a "Niger" by white children. At that time, Peter was too young to understand the meaning of that word.
After understanding what people meant when they called him "Niger", he began to hate his life. Peter no longer wanted to live in the neighborhood in which he belonged to. Peter wanted to change his entire lifestyle. He didn't want to just "struggle and survive". Peter didn't want to be average, he wanted to succeed. Finally, in pursuit of his dreams, Peter decided to sneak out of his neighborhood with the help of a white friend.
This turned out to be an awful mistake that Peter would regret for as long as he lived. Peter faced even more discrimination and was rejected by the white community, simply because of his color. The story, "Sonny's Blues" is quite similar to "Previous Condition". This story also deals with racial discrimination, self-hate, family issues, and drugs. The character, Sonny, was a younger brother of a teacher. Sonny wanted to escape from the routine pattern of life which everyone in his primarily "black" neighborhood had become accustomed to.
Sonny's only dream in life was to become a musician. He loved playing the piano. His brother wanted him to complete his education, while Sonny felt he was ready to be on his own and start taking risks in order to achieve his dreams. Being so young, Sonny was unable to differentiate what path of life was right and what was wrong.
Sonny's brother wasn't there to guide Sonny anymore. Sonny chose a lifestyle for himself, full of risk and danger. He began to use drugs and was slowly moving on a path towards self-destruction. Sonny's brother led a more conservative and simply, wholesome life. In conclusion, James Baldwin was a very lively writer, with the gift of being able to express his emotions with a touch of reality.
The characters that Baldwin creates portray personalities of people that still live amongst us in this society. Through his stories, Baldwin attempts to convey a message of being true to one's identity and always being proud regardless of what others say. Each person has been created equally, regardless of race, size, age, or religious preference. These differences enhance our world's diversity and add flavor to our lives.
This diversity of colors and races is comparable to the beauty of a bouquet of flowers, filled with different colors, merely to enhance the beauty of the bouquet. Why can't we treat our world as a bouquet and our fellow beings as flowers Wouldn't the world be a better place Baldwin said YES to life. He meant that who ever he is, that he is. That time it was embarrassing to say I am a gay.
He quite surprised that some one asked him about his sex life that either he is gay or not. He wasnt shy to answer that question, but he further explain that if some one attracted to same gender shouldnt be a awful thing. Humans have rights to select his sex partner either man to man or woman to woman. His answer was yes about his life that he is happy what ever he is.