James Baldwin is one of the greatest American writers. His life and legacy still remain relevant and unique. Baldwin’s work is complex and creative. The major recurring themes in Baldwin’s works are those of race, spirituality or religion, and sexuality. Baldwin wrote essays, plays, novels, and poems in his career. In addition to being a writer, Baldwin was also a social activist working for the betterment of the black community within America. His works explore the complexities of the dynamics of a society. Being a black man he was concerned with the plight of his people which became a major part of his work. Baldwin’s life experiences were crucial in shaping the ideologies later represented through his work. Baldwin’s work is very complex and diverse exploring the themes of race, religion, and sexuality and the discrepancies among people in society.
Race
Being a black man Baldwin was very aware of the problems and challenges faced by the black community in America. His work frequently comments, probes, and raises questions on the way black people are treated within America. His work also highlights the racial inequality that existed within the American community. His essay ‘Letter from a Region in my Mind’ points out the opportunities that were available to the black community within the land of dreams and opportunities – which America is popularly known as. His essay also reveals his own internal dilemma as he pondered about what he could do with his life (Baldwin, Letter from a Region in my Mind). All around him, he could see petty criminals, pimps, prostitutes, college-educated men working as handymen. These were all the options that were available to him as a young boy. His father wanted him to quit school and start working like many of his peers but he refused to do so. Reading Baldwin’s account one could get a sense of helplessness and resignation that both the adults and the children experienced (Baldwin). No parent would want their children to quit school if they believed it could lead to a better future for them. And for children to be so deprived of the luxury to even have big dreams and ambitions for their lives, is a testament to the failure of the society in which the child lives. Baldwin’s work aims to dismantle white supremacy by re-programming the minds of the people who read him. He questions white superiority but instead of posing the white man as the enemy he simply wishes to establish the humanity of the black person to be the same as that of the white one. Baldwin realizes that what freedom means for a black person is very different from what freedom means for a white man. The white people have all the possibilities and opportunities available to them. For a white person wealth and the power and social status it brings are equivalent to freedom. For a black person, however, wealth is not enough. Even wealthy blacks can go so far in society for although they have wealth they lack power and social status because they live in a state of constant segregation and discrimination based just on the color of their skin.
Baldwin envisioned an America that was fair to its entire people. He addressed the issues of white supremacy in his works frequently. As Taylor, points out in his article “Baldwin’s Another Country…is far more skeptical of its white characters’ attempts to seek social and cultural interaction with blacks without making any attempt to redress past and present injustices.” (Taylor). While Baldwin acknowledges that not all white people were oppressing the black community he also highlights that those who are attempting to intermingle with the blacks fail to acknowledge the severity of the situation and the past issues which has led to it. Baldwin’s essays, in particular, grapple with the intention of making sense of the world in which he lives. Baldwin’s biggest issue with being considered a black man by society is that he is recognized as black first and a human only as an afterthought. In the documentary ‘I am not your Negro’ while defending the position of the black community against the term ‘Negro’ Baldwin proclaims that he is not a Negro but a man. (Peck). It could be argued that the foremost objective of Baldwin’s writing was to establish the humanness of himself and the people of his black community. Baldwin analyzed the racial discourse in America in a very different manner from that of his peers (Applebaum). While most writers wanted to humanize the black people by dehumanizing the white people Baldwin understood that the problem did not lie with white individuals and their behaviors but the concept of whiteness that had been created and idolized to expand the rift between the two racial groups. Therefore, Baldwin’s attack was never on particular individuals but on the social, cultural, and political paradigms that allowed this dysfunction and inequality to exist within the society.
Baldwin has often been recognized as one of the most poignant thinkers of the 20th century. In his article, ‘Socrates in a Different Key: James Baldwin and Race in America’ Schlosser points out how Baldwin’s manner of thinking and practice of self and social examination resembled those of Socrates (Schlosser). The argument made by Schlosser is that Baldwin’s writings provoke the readers to examine their selves and the society in which they live and make informed and morally correct decisions based on that analysis. Baldwin doesn’t encourage the practice of blame game rather he forces the people to come to terms with their darkness instead of projecting it on others. Baldwin maintains that unless white people come to accept their own fallacies and what they fear within themselves they would not be able to accept the black people. The hatred that the white people had for the blacks was only a projection of the unexplored parts of their selves onto others.
Sexuality
The theme of sexuality recurs often in Baldwin’s writings. Being a homosexual he was rejected not only as a black man but also as a gay man and was thus doubly persecuted. Moreover, it was not just society that refused to accept him as he was but also religion that condemned him as an abomination. Being black and homosexual gave Baldwin a very unique perspective from which he analyzed the world. It would seem as if Baldwin intentionally chooses a white homosexual protagonist in his novel ‘Giovanni’s Room’ so as not to complicate the issue of homosexuality with that of race. When he wrote that novel his publishing house refused to publish it unless he toned it down but Baldwin refused insisting that there would be no novel he did that (Campbell). The issue of race was more prevalent and open for discussion but homosexuality was still too offensive for the people to accept. As in the issue of race, Baldwin’s works’ foundation lay in the concept of love. He wanted people and society to accept each other as they were, insisting that people should not have to repress themselves and their creative expression for fear of social persecution. Through his works, Baldwin, endeavors to show that respect, love, and affection were the basis of sexual and romantic relationships, and when two people had that for each other their acts of love became sacred actions. Baldwin insisted that in such a dynamic there is no distinction of gender, race, age, etc. rather it was a bond beyond a mere human one.
Baldwin’s aestheticism as a writer resulted from his experiences of being a homosexual. His writing was, thus, informed by multiple sources including feminist critiques and black aesthetics. However, Baldwin’s sexual writing seemed too revolutionary for his time and was not as well accepted as his writings on race or religion (Shin and Judson). The publishers and the readers both preferred a militant style of black writing instead of the subtle aesthetics through which Baldwin crafted some of his works. The themes of religion and sexuality also coincided in Baldwin’s writings. Belonging to a religious background Baldwin’s sense of identity was completely shaken when he came out as a homosexual. However, Baldwin did not make any qualms about it. Whoever he was he wanted to be that openly without having to edit or trim himself for the benefit of others or for social or religious acceptance.
Religion
One of the most complex themes in Baldwin’s writing is that of religion. The reason for this is that Baldwin had grown up as a very religious person but left the church at the age of 17. Baldwin was a member and preacher of the Pentecostal Church (Field). However, as his identity as an adult began to develop he began finding many issues with the Christian ideology. Baldwin argued that the Christian religious ideology was based on prejudice (McBride). He recognized elements of racism and homophobia within the teachings of the church which is the reason why he distanced himself from it. Baldwin emphasizes that religion like any other socio-cultural institution is a set of ideologies designed to influence the masses. He recognized in religion the potential to do both good and evil. His essay ‘The Fire Next Time’ elaborates on his experience in the church. Baldwin claimed that being a part of a religious ceremony was like being in the theater and he accepted that one of the reasons for his disenchantment with religion was that he had seen how the illusion and magic of religion worked (Baldwin, The Fire Next Time). He had become familiar with the trick and had, therefore, lost interest in it.
One of the greatest accomplishments of Baldwin as a writer was his ability to examine society, ideologies, conflicts, etc. merely as a witness. His views on religion also result from the same place of being a witness, an observer, of the dynamics of society and religion. Baldwin accepts that one of the major reasons that propelled him to join the church was that he could not see himself taking up any of the rest of the options available to him (criminal, pimp, etc.). He ran to the church in order to save himself from the evils out in the world that he witnessed within his community (Baldwin, Letter from a Region in my Mind). However, in time he began to see the same evils within religion as well. A religion that was racist, sexist, and homophobic had no place for an individual like him. Instead, Baldwin points out, that religion like other socio-cultural institutions was used as a means of repression of individual expression and identity. Even though Baldwin appreciated a sense of joy that church presented to some people he recognized that it was nothing more than a gimmick crafted to entertain and mesmerize but lacking any real substance or guidance for the people it preached to. Perhaps this is the reason why religion is one of the most complicated themes of Baldwin’s work. It is not easy to erase, from one’s identity, the fragments of what one once used to be. Having been a part of the church Baldwin, was able to see much more than people attending church would know yet the world of religion left him disillusioned. However, Baldwin essentially remained a voice of hope, love, and reason.
To sum up, Baldwin’s works and the views presented in them are as unique, diverse, and complicated as the man himself. However, despite the odds Baldwin emits a certain sense of love and hope for the world and the people in it. His works focus on the themes of race, sexuality, and religion expanding on each theme through his own unique lens with which he saw the world. His personal life experiences shaped his writings and enabled him to express himself creatively. Baldwin will remain one of the greatest American writers of all time.
Works Cited
Applebaum, Barbara. “oxfordre.com.” 09 June 2016. Critical Whiteness Studies. 01 December 2021 <https://oxfordre.com/education/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-5>.
Baldwin, James. “Letter from a Region in my Mind.” The New Yorker 17 November 1962: 59-144.
—. The Fire Next Time. New York: Vintage Books, 1993.
Campbell, James. Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
Evans, James H. “A Hermeneutic of the Cross: Religion and Racialized Discourse in the Thought of James Baldwin.” Black Theology (2017): 112-116.
Field, Douglas. All Those Strangers: The Art and Lives of James Baldwin. New York: Oxford University press, 2015.
—. “Pentecostalism and all that Jazz: Tracing James Baldwin’s Religion.” Literature and Theology (2008): 436–457.
I Am not Your Negro. Dir. Raoul Peck. 2017.
Judson, Andrew Shin and Barbara. “Beneath the Black Aesthetic: James Baldwin’s Primer of Black American Masculinity.” African American Review (1998): 247-261.
McBride, Dwight. James Baldwin Now. New York: New York University Press, 1999.
Schlosser, Joel Alden. “Socrates in a Different Key: James Baldwin and Race in America.” Political Research Quarterly (2012): 487-499.
Taylor, Douglas. “Three Lean Cats in a Hall of Mirrors: James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, and Eldridge Cleaver on Race and Masculinity.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language (2010): 70-101.