The Fire Next Time Baldwin

Words: 1095
Pages: 5

In James Baldwin’s, “The Fire Next Time”, is called one of the greatest writings of the twentieth century because of the recollection of his experiences and his shocking opinions that comes out from reading this book. Baldwin writes his book in essays to not only get his point across and his experience, but talks about the so-called “Negro Problem” that was so noticeable on how blacks were treated and recognized as a dirty lower-class race. He discusses all of the social and racial injustice between African-American and Caucasians during the era of the 1960s. However, not only does it talk about the racial experience during the Civil rights movement, but Baldwin give people an outlook on his religious views. The reader will know about his firsthand experiences and opinion learning …show more content…
In the first short essay called, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” was written as the form of a letter to his young nephew, so he can be aware about the hate and injustice against African-Americans during that period. One of the quotes in the first essay says, “They have destroyed and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it and do not want to know it” (A Fire Next Time). Baldwin’s view on America’s racism was very strong because he saw it as disgusted and wrong due to the fact that we were taken from our home countries stripping us of our culture, religion, and voice, but used as slaves for white peoples’ entertainment and hard labor. Even though his nephew was young, it was important to tell his nephew about the harsh reality of a black man in such a misconstrued society. As a man of his age who has seen America at its worst when he was young and older, it gives newer readers more of an insight to racism during the 1960s. However, Baldwin see the newer generation as a part of the solution