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Journal of African American Studies

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01.12.2013 | ARTICLES

Baldwin's Quest for ‘Panacea’: A Case Study

verfasst von: Bhumika Sharma

Erschienen in: Journal of African American Studies | Ausgabe 4/2013

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Abstract

Literature mirrors the ongoing social and cultural trends. Textual discourse gives space to internal and external upheavals that shape the human civilization. An author who interprets reality in terms of existing conceptions turns to his artistic sensibilities to decipher the true, deeper and even metaphysical meaning of his perceptions. Hence, a text turns into an endeavour to search the significance of various life experiences in relation to existing social, political, cultural and moral notions of a society. The present paper takes up an African American author James Baldwin to explore how a literary artist turns into a rebel or reformer in his quest for remedial measures for social and cultural maladies. In his attempt to unravel the intricacies of the institutionalized setup of human society, Baldwin navigates the whole range of the socio-cultural panorama to find a solution for human predicament. Baldwin's search was initiated with his traditional approach to religion in his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain and gradually becomes more and more radical with the advancement of time. A close perusal of his novels, chronically arranged as per the year of their publication, evinces the gradually transforming approach of the writer with an increasing element of experimentation. An individual's search of happiness instigates him to discover all its possible sources. Having existed in terms of gender and racial prejudices of a group, Baldwin examines the potentiality of the black church, interracial relationships, the value of strong family values, hedonistic approach of a bohemian culture and, furthermore, the spiritual element in homosexual love.

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Baldwin's non-fiction work enjoys a permanent status in American literature. He is considered as a moral essayist. His evangelical heritage gives him a noteworthy fervour, and he emerges like a preacher in his forcefully uttered essays. His essay collections—Notes of a Native Son (1955), Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son (1961), The Fire Next Time (1963), Nothing Personal (1964), No Name in the Street (1972), and The Devil Finds Work (1976)—were received widely as soon as they were published. They still possess an enduring quality and are applauded more than his fictional creations.

Baldwin got published two works of such nature. The first one was with an anthropologist entitled A Rap on Race: Margaret Mead and J. Baldwin (1971), and another was with the poet and activist Nikki Giovanni under the title A Dialogue: J. Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni (1973).

It includes One Day When I Was Lost (1971), a scenario based on Alex Haley's The Autobiography of Malcom X, Evidence of Things not Seen (1985), a report on the racial murder in Atlanta, and Jimmy's Blues (1985), a slim collection of his poetry.

Richard Wright's first novel, Native Son, was published in 1940. Its protagonist, Bigger Thomas, a 20-year-old black boy living in a one-room Chicago tenement, becomes an epitome of a ‘bad nigger’ who is bad because the surroundings in which he is placed do not leave him any other option. He is shaped so by the internal and external forces that exhort pressure on him.

Despite focusing on the spiritual force of Christianity, Baldwin could not defend the institution of the church wholeheartedly. It makes his views paradoxical. Does the ‘white god’ really deserve to be embraced? In fact, all prevailing dirt and darkness of Go Tell It on the Mountain makes the role of the church itself contradictory. Poverty of the Grimes family is a covert blow on the democratic intentions of America. Extreme religiosity hinders the full flowering of black individualism and their materialistic growth. This is what America has done for poor Negroes. Instead of giving them a ‘fair share’ in American prosperity, they have been granted a fatalistic attitude to adapt with the oppressive surroundings. They are crippled in the narrow purview of the church. Had there been other options open, John, who began with a rebellious instinct, could have chosen some other secular profession instead of following in his stepfather's footsteps.

Although Baldwin's fiction is an attempt to liberate an artist from excessive naturalistic interpretation of black experience, one wonders if he really offers an alternative approach. Baldwin's own black characters are inexorably chained to their surroundings. Since the circumstances had not changed much, how could Baldwin replace Bigger and Cross with a new Negro with all love for his oppressor? The influence of the church (as in the case of John and Arthur), white liberalism (Ida and Leo) and black family values (Fonny's forbearance) indeed softens their attitude, and they don't retaliate like Bigger, Cross and Jake, but do they stand independent of their environment? Can they be understood without external reference? Naturalistic vision is inherent in the black predicament itself. If Baldwin's characters do not translate Bigger's aggressiveness into their action, they propagate Uncle Tom's subservience. In any case, they are moulded by external forces.

Baldwin's political involvement has always been a debatable issue. In fact, the debate still goes on as Bill Lyne's latest article, “God's Black Revolutionary Mouth: James Baldwin's Black Radicalism”, published in Science and Society talks about Baldwin's radical inclination since the beginning.

It is not new or radical on the part of Baldwin to condemn religious hypocrisy and identify the oppressive role of Christianity. American literary history illustrates such progressive shifts from ‘providential view’ to more ‘secular’ approach by many literary stalwarts. In 1938, when Emerson reminded the young ministers of the scholar's necessary self-trust and bravery in ‘The Divinity School Address’, his criticism of religious traditions and conformity was taken as an attack upon Christianity itself. But both Emerson and Baldwin never intended to reject ‘God’ or discard the importance of ‘faith’ in the fulfilment of human potential. In terms of African American experience too, the church has been a source of solace for a long time. What these progressive writers object to is why the church contrasted with the human soul? Sometimes Christianity cripples the personality of people. When Emerson embraced secularism, he too found the church life not convenient for individual growth.

Richard Wright is well known for his story collection Uncle Tom's Children (1938) which, in the words of the famous African American writer Zora Neale Hurston, ‘speaks of people in revolt’ (Saturday Review of Literature, April 2, 1938).

It was indeed an extension rather than a deviation, as wrongly claimed by some critics, from Wright's approach. Wright too expressed almost the same sentiments of black aesthetics in his well-known non-fictional work White Man Listen! (1957). He exhorted, ‘Be proud of being black… love black, die black, eat black, sleep black, buy black, sell black and love black.’ (195)

Out of six novels written by Baldwin, only the second one, Giovanni's Room, has a white protagonist. The novel is concerned more with Baldwin's ambivalence towards homosexuality than his emotional urge to retaliate against racial oppression and the crumbling black sensitivity under it. Chiefly focused on a white man's dilemma between his heterosexual mindset and homosexual attraction, Goivanni's Room altogether obliterates Baldwin's racial consciousness, which underscores the rest of his fictional works.

Homosexuality illustrates the changing character of views about sexual behaviour and the degree to which sexual behaviour can become a socio-political issue. Over the years, opinions about homosexual behaviour have varied widely, and today, despite the fact that it is not included in the DSM and that both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association agreed to remove homosexuality from the list of mental illness more than a quarter of a century ago (in 1975 and 1973, respectively), ‘there is still a great variance of views among the members of the public (and even among some professionals) concerning whether it is simply an expression of personal preferences or a violation of social codes.’ (Shildo and Schroeder 2002, pp. 249–259)

Baldwin, J. (1968). Go tell it on the mountain. London: Corgi books (Transworld Publishers).

Baldwin, J. (1970). Another country. London: Corgi books (Transworld Publishers).

Baldwin, J. (1971). Tell me how long the train's been gone. London: Corgi books (Transworld Publishers).

Baldwin, J. (1974). If Beale Street could talk. New York: Dell Publishing.

Baldwin, J. (1994). Just above my head. New York: Penguin.

Baldwin, J. (1955). Notes of a native son. Boston: The Beacon Press.

Baldwin, J. (1999). The creative process. In H. A. Ervin (Ed.), African American literary criticism 1773 to 2000 (pp. 111–112). New York: Twayne Publishers.

Bigsby, C. W. E. (2006). In J. Baldwin & H. Bloom (Eds.), Bloom's biocritiques: James Baldwin (pp. 117–136). Philadelphia: Chelsea House.

Kinnamon, K. (Ed.). (1974). James Baldwin: a collection of critical essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-hall.

Lyne, B. (2010). God's black revolutionary mouth: James Baldwin's black radicalism. Science and Society, 74, 12–36.CrossRef

Record, C. W. (1965). The Negro as creative artist. Crisis.

Shildo A., & Schroeder, M. (2002). Changing sexual orientation: a consumers' report. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice: 33.

Stowe, H. B. (2003). Uncle Tom's cabin. New York: Bantam Classic.

Wright, R. (1965). Uncle Tom's children. New York: Harper and Row.

Titel: Baldwin's Quest for ‘Panacea’: A Case Study
verfasst von: Bhumika Sharma
Publikationsdatum: 01.12.2013
Verlag: Springer US
Erschienen in: Journal of African American Studies / Ausgabe 4/2013
Print ISSN: 1559-1646
Elektronische ISSN: 1936-4741
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-012-9227-0

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