How does life and death relate to a relationship between father and son? And what makes this particular relationship significant to black and white America? These two questions are related in “Notes of a Native Son” an essay written by James Baldwin about his relationship with his father in black and white America in 1955.
Baldwin discusses death as life comes into the world. As life is given, so is the advice from a father to a son. The advice from a father to his son is a special memory to have and to hold because the father knows one day he will die. As the son receives the advice as a young child, he soon learns in his lifetime what the real message was from his father. The advices were blueprints to live life the right way. By saying to live life the right way is to say that in black and white America there was a right and a wrong way to live life.
Another way that black and white America is related to a father and a son’s relationship is how there is always a conflict with being a certain way. Since the black community in this era didn’t have much of a voice, they were trying to figure out what they could do to have a better future for themselves. So, with knowing that there were racial tensions between different races, specifically black and white people, there is a development of hatred. The development of this hatred is one that becomes exhausting and self-destructive. A relationship of a father and a son can be similar to the black and white America with the growing up issues and growing up to be a black man in “the white world”.
To relate the relationship between Baldwin and his father is to figure out what has made him into a man of the black and white America. The both of these relationships go hand in hand which each other because Baldwin grows up with a father preaching to him what is right and wrong in life, then live life in the black and white world of America. This creates a new relationship with his deceased father. This new relationship helps Baldwin find a new love for his father.
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5 comments:
I really enjoyed reading your blog on the essay "Notes of a Native Son" by James Baldwin. I was attracted by your first sentence of this blog. I really enjoyed reading about how you related the two differences between Black and White Americans and with Baldwin and his Father. I also agree with you when you mentioned that there was a right and a wrong way to live back in the 50s. I also agreed with you when you said the relationships both related to each other by both wanting to have a better future. I look forward to reading more of your blogs.
I really love the introduction because you really got me thinking about the topic. Your points were good and they were explained in good detail. I really enjoyed reading what you wrote and I look foward to reading more blogs.
I really liked reading your blogg. It made me want to keep reading more. I agree with you about Africans not really having a word when it came to life. I liked your topic sentice. It's a very good attention graber.
I really enjoyed reading your blog.I really liked your introduction paragraph, because it really grabbed my attention. I liked your detailed explainations about the differences between white and black America.
I enjoyed reading your blog on “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin. I like when you said, “The advice from a father to his son is a special memory to have and to hold because the father knows one day he will die.” This is true because parents do teach their children right from wrong. It’s up to the children to remember. It’s up to the children to remember because one day their parents are not going to always be there.I look forward to reading more of your blogs.
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