native son essay thesis

Notes of a Native Son

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Summary and Study Guide

Notes of a Native Son is a collection of nonfiction essays by James Baldwin . Baldwin originally published the essays individually in various literary and cultural commentary magazines between 1948 and 1955. The Beacon Press first republished the essays as Notes of a Native Son in 1955. This study guide refers to the 2012 Beacon Press edition of Notes of a Native Son . Citations to page numbers, however, come from the volume The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985 , published by St. Martin’s/Marek in 1985 (hardback first edition), which includes all of the essays curated in Notes of a Native Son .

With the publication of Notes of a Native Son , along with his first novel Go Tell It on The Mountain , Baldwin catapulted into the national spotlight as a major literary figure. His rise coincided with the emergence of White liberal support for civil rights, and the White press came to see him as one of the leading voices of Black America. As this White support for civil rights waned by the beginning of the 1970s, Baldwin was deemed no longer relevant by the mainstream society, while Black readers would become more devoted to his later work.

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Notes of a Native Son established Baldwin as a major essayist. All of his essays amount to meditations on race and reflections on slavery’s ongoing repercussions for human connection today. He offers these meditations by discussing the most mundane things that everyone can relate to—death, love, family, popular culture, fear, and desire. Baldwin’s essays closely connect to his own lived experience—which was both typical and atypical for a Black person in mid-twentieth century America. He grew up poor in Harlem, exposed to many of the cultural institutions central to that historic Black neighborhood in New York City. He also had an inimitable talent and drive for writing about the human condition as he experienced it. This led him to travel to Paris to find his way as a writer. While most Black people were not able to go this route, Baldwin was following a path laid out by Black writers and artists in the generations immediately preceding his. The New Negro Movement of the 1920s was also known as the Harlem Renaissance because Harlem was in many ways the cultural epicenter of this major development in Black history.

In “Everybody’s Protest Novel,” Baldwin criticizes Uncle Tom’s Cabin , coining it as a “protest novel,” a uniquely American literary genre . While the intention of the genre is to help the oppressed, he believes the novel perpetuates the agenda of White liberals using stock characters that don’t accurately portray the experiences of slaves as complex human beings. Baldwin explores another novel of this genre, Native Son , in “Many Thousands Gone.” The title of the essay references the deaths of thousands of slaves, and Baldwin argues that the novel, and society, refuses to move past slavery, and the Black community alienates Black people who try to overcome segregation.

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In “Carmen Jones: The Dark is Light Enough,” Baldwin criticizes the musical film Carmen Jones , which took the plot from the opera Carmen and gave it an all-Black cast. Baldwin points out that the American public tends to sexualize the Black body, and the film doesn’t better the opera’s message. He also notes that the actors are all very light-skinned, making them “light enough” for Hollywood.

In “The Harlem Ghetto,” Baldwin portrays his neighborhood in New York City, along with the racial oppression therein, and he considers that interracial understanding might be possible. In “Journey to Atlanta,” he tells the story of his brother’s quartet, The Melodeers , whom the Progressive Party sponsored, but then abandoned in Atlanta. Baldwin points out the party’s attempt to gain the favor of Black voters, though they had no interest in helping the Black community.  

“Notes of a Native Son” discusses Baldwin’s father’s life history and death, their strained relationship, and the generational pain that caused his father to be distant from his family. “Encounter on the Seine,” centers on the interactions between Black Americans, White Americans, Black Africans, and Black American entertainers in Paris. Baldwin suggests that Black Americans, displaced by slavery, have no heritage or roots as do Europeans. In “A Question of Identity,” Baldwin posits that Americans’ sense of time, understanding of society’s limitations, and skewed concept of freedom, leave American students in Europe without a sense of identity.

“Equal in Paris” tells the story of Baldwin’s arrest for using a friend’s bedsheet, which the friend had stolen from a hotel. Baldwin notes that his jailers were no better or worse than their American counterparts. In “Stranger in the Village,” Baldwin relates how the people of a Swiss village, who had never seen a Black person, treated him as a novelty—they did not intend to be unkind, as a contemporary White American might, but their reactions were dehumanizing. 

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Notes of a Native Son

James baldwin, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Coming of Age — Analyzing “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin

Analyzing "Notes of a Native Son" by James Baldwin

• Categories: Coming of Age Literary Criticism

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Published: Sep 12, 2023

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Table of contents

The themes of "notes of a native son", style and writing technique, impact and relevance, racial identity and alienation:, father-son relationships:, social injustice and civil rights:, personal narration:, rhetorical devices:, essay structure:, relevance to the civil rights movement:, exploration of identity:, call to confront injustice:.

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Notes of a Native Son

By james baldwin, notes of a native son themes, the task of the writer.

Baldwin argues that the writer must be committed to uncovering the truth about himself and other people. For him, writing is "a devotion to the human being, his freedom and fulfillment." We see Baldwin's attitudes toward writing mostly clearly in "Everybody's Protest Novel" and "Many Thousands Gone" when he is criticizing other writers for creating stereotypes with their characters and taking the easy way out. Baldwin is against this approach. He writes "part of the business of the writer—as I see it—is to examine attitudes, to go beneath the surface, to tap the source." We see this approach across all of the essays here. He sets out to examine the meaning of race in America and to do this he turns to history, unconscious attitudes, and even his own family life and psychology.

Embracing complexity

Another important them for Baldwin is embracing the contradictions, complexities, and paradoxes in life. The problem with modern society, he argues, is that it is always trying to reduce people to something simple, to make them little more than cogs in the machine. It reduces people and things to the simplest common denominator. The goal of literature, by contrast, is to reveal the complexities hidden under the surface. The only way to improve the world is to accept the contradictions and bring them into the light.

History, society, and the individual

For Baldwin, the individual cannot be understood without grasping their historical and social context. We see this in the essay " Notes of a Native Son ," where he brings together his own family history, the history of the New York neighborhood Harlem, the conditions in America during World War II, and his own mental state. All of these aspects help create the individual, Baldwin argues. He is against what he describes as the American illusion that history and context do not matter and people should simply be seen as individuals. Similarly, in the essays written from Europe, Baldwin critiques American students and tourists who are completely unaware of how America's dominant position after WWII affects how locals see them.

Family relationships

The relationship Baldwin had with his father was a complicated one. Baldwin admits that his father had trouble connecting with his children. Baldwin remembers how his father tried to be more accessible to his children but that his children were too scared to get close to him and then the father would get even angrier, becoming violent at times. Instead of criticizing his father for his behavior, Baldwin eventually tries to understand him and the reason why he acted this way. Baldwin admits that his father’s behavior was most likely the result of his experiences as a black man in America. Baldwin sees a link between the rage that made his father emotionally unstable and the rage that exists within him. Yet Baldwin is also determined to act and live differently than his father did and not let the rage get the better of him.

Western civilization

Baldwin frequently describes the relationship of African Americans to Western civilization. Though he knows Shakespeare, Bach, Rembrandt, and other important figures in Western literature, music, and painting, as a black man the way he approaches these works is different. Because his ancestors were enslaved, removed from their culture, and brought to the American continent, he is both inside and outside of Western civilization. He describes himself as a "bastard of the West." Even the way he looks at a French cathedral or the Empire State Building is different than the way a white European or American looks at them: "These were not really my creations, they did not contain my history."

Birthright and inheritance

Baldwin separates the idea of birthright from that of inheritance. Inheritance is specific and particular. In Baldwin's case, this is his inheritance as a black man in America. Birthright, in contrast, is shared and universal; it connects him to all people. As we see throughout the essays, Baldwin starts from his specific inheritance (his family history, experiences with racism, way of looking at the world) to reach his shared humanity. Inheritance and birthright are separate but connected; one has to start from the specific to reach the universal.

Black and white

One cannot understand America without understanding race. Yet this does not only mean looking at the experiences of African Americans, though this is crucial. Baldwin argues that the racial system in America (the history of slavery, segregation, and so on) has also shaped what it means to be white in the country. Racism stems from the false attempt to act as if one can return to an innocent world before slavery and ignore the consequences of history. Yet Baldwin shows in these essays that the fate of both black and white Americans depends on acknowledging how interconnected their histories are. The future of the country depends on this.

Notes of a Native Son Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Notes of a Native Son is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Note of a Native Son by James

This is really asking for your opinion. I don't know what meant something to you. It is a personal question.

In what month and year do the events of the essay take place?

Notes of a Native Son is a collection of essays written and published by the African-American author James Baldwin. Your question depends on which essay you are referring to.

What is the author’s goal in this book? And what kind of effect does he want his book to have in the world?

Baldwin believes that one cannot understand America without understanding race. Yet this does not only mean looking at the experiences of African Americans, though this is crucial. Baldwin argues that the racial system in America (the history of...

Study Guide for Notes of a Native Son

Notes of a Native Son study guide contains a biography of James Baldwin, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Notes of a Native Son
• Notes of a Native Son Summary
• Character List

Essays for Notes of a Native Son

Notes of a Native Son essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin.

• The Identity Crisis in James Baldwin’s Nonfiction and in Giovanni’s Room (1956)

Lesson Plan for Notes of a Native Son

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Notes of a Native Son
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Notes of a Native Son Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Notes of a Native Son

• Introduction
• Autobiographical notes