Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

In James Baldwin’s, Notes of a Native Sun, Baldwin seems to be discussing racial perspective and analyzing what it means to be “Black” or a minority in this country. But what he actually seems to be touching upon is racial culture and how it separates the people of the country. Baldwin looks at literature first, mainly Stowe’s Uncle Tom and Wright’s Native Son and whether he meant to do it or not, the points that he is arguing have to do with a separation of culture and how “white” culture was thrust upon African slaves that were brought to the country later to become African Americans. He speaks about how it is poor writing and unlikely writing. He also looks down upon Uncle Tom because of the fact that the slaves were praying to the “White God” to cleanse them. While he brings up a valid point he fails to acknowledge that the point Stowe is making is the same as the one he later uses in a metaphor to support his argument: the missionaries traveling to Africa to cover up the natives. It is not an issue of the “White” dominating the “Black,” but rather two completely contrasting cultures and one has an older presence in the country and has larger numbers than the other. Therefore one culture imposes itself on the other, despite what the outcome may be. Stowe was speaking of the irony of two cultures colliding, one stronger than the other.

Harley