Baldwin Relationships

Baldwin did not know his father very well, mainly because they shared different views about life. His father knew that the world had opportunities but felt they were only for the white person. Baldwin’s father was the first generation to be a free man. His father along with thousands migrated to the north after 1919. Baldwin’s father experienced first hand what is was like to be a slave and how the white people treated the blacks. This certainly affected how Baldwin’s father felt toward the white person. Baldwin, however, did not experience what it was like to be a slave.

Baldwin and his father never really connected as father and son. His father was a harsh man which made his son afraid to approach him.

Baldwin says, “When he took one of his children on his knee to play, the child always became fretful and began to cry; when he tried to help one of us with our homework the absolutely unabating tension which emanated from his caused our minds and our tongues to become paralyzed, so that he, scarcely knowing why, flew into a rage and the child, not knowing why, was punished.” (53)

. . .

Baldwin says, “Then someone began singing one of my father’s favorite songs and, abruptly, I was with him, sitting on his knee, in the hot, enormous, crowded church which was the first church we attended…I had forgotten, in the rage of my growing up, how proud m y father had been of me when I was little. A mob of black people raided all of the white owned stores and attacked them where it hurt. This fear and hatred even went towards his children which is why his father never developed any relationships with his children. There was so much anger built up inside their father that whenever he would try to help one his children, they would become frightened and too scared to say or do anything, and that made their father even madder.

Even though Baldwin did not grow up with the same values as his father and thought that his father was completely wrong, he would inevitably inherit his father’s view on whites.

Baldwin says, “It was, perhaps, like feeling that the most dangerous part of a dangerous journey had been passed and that now, even if death should come, it would come with honor and without the complicity of their countrymen. (57-58)

This part of the story is very important because it shows how Baldwin has changed.

Baldwin says, “In that year I had had time to become aware of the meaning of all my father’s bitter warnings, had discovered the secret of his proudly pursed lips and rigid carriage: I had discovered the weight of white people in the world. ” (67)

This story illustrates the magnitude of a parents influence even when the child resists that influence. The blacks prejudice towards the white arises because first the whites were racist against the blacks. ”(64)

This excerpt depicts the change in Baldwin’s feelings towards his father because he realizes that his dad did care about him. When his father did this it made Baldwin hate his father and not want to be around him. At the end of Baldwin’s essay his feelings towards his father changes. Even though his father hid it well he did love his son. passage shows how Baldwin and his siblings were scared to be around their father.

Common topics in this essay:
War II, , Negroes Baldwin, baldwins father, white people, America Baldwins, baldwin father, father baldwins, feelings towards father, World War, world war ii, world war, towards father, war ii, white person, father mean, father harsh,

Approximate Word count = 1314
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Already a member? Click here