Contradiction in Another Country
Another Country contradicts the age-old principle that the United States is a safeground for all people. James Baldwin compares living the life of a homosexual in Paris to living the life of a homosexual in the United States. The views of the French are much more liberal than the conservative views of the Americans. The life that Eric, the homosexual character in Baldwin's novel, leads in Paris is socially acceptable. Baldwin also depicts France as a haven for interracial relationships.
Eric believes that living an openly homosexual life in Paris is more satisfying, rewarding, comfortable and protected because his choice of life is widely accepted by the French society. In Paris, everyone feels comfortable. Everyone feels free to live his or her own life and not adhere to the rules that society establishes. Homosexuals have the liberty to walk down the street, sit in public parks and show affection towards their partner free of worry, without the fear of "alley cats". The people of Paris condone and support Eric's happiness, as seen in this passage: "I see that. You seem much happier. There's a kind of light around you. She said this very
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New York is confined by America's conservative views. The New York society functions on the principle that different is bad. Anyone who strays from the norms of society is a threat. The people in New York vocalize their disdain for homosexuals and in some cases even threaten physical violence against those who are bold enough to come out of hiding. Eric describes the New York atmosphere to his partner using the metaphor "alleys and alley cats" to represent those who prey on the openly homosexual. He comments: "Getting you into America is going to be hassle enough, baby, let's not rock the boat. Besides, New York is full of alley cats. And alleys" (Baldwin
The early backgrounds of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. had major impact on their goal to achieve equality between all races. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born Michael Luther King in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. He was one of three children born to Martin Luther King Sr., pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Alberta King, a former schoolteacher. Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Louise Norton Little, was a homemaker who stayed occupied with the family’s eight children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. King attended segregated local public grammar schools in Georgia and graduated from high school at the age of fifteen after being skipped two grade levels. King then enrolled in Morehouse University in 1944 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He furthered his education after Morehouse at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania and at Boston University, earning his doctorate. X attended reform school in Michigan after the death of his father. Malcolm dropped out of school after graduating from junior high school at the top of his class.
de Romanet, Jerome. "Revisiting Madeleine and `The Outing': James Baldwin's revision of Gide's sexual politics." MELUS 22.1 (1997): 3. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Dec. 2010.
They mention the transition of “the closet,” as being a place in which people could not see you, to becoming a metaphor over the last two decades of the twentieth century used for queers who face a lack of sexual identity. Shneer and Aviv bring together two conflicting ideas of the American view of queerness: the ideas of the past, and the present. They state as queerness became more visible, people finally had the choice of living multiple lives, or integrating one’s lives and spaces (Shneer and Aviv 2006: 245). They highlight another change in the past twenty years as the clash between being queer and studying queerness (Shneer and Aviv 2006: 246-7). They argue that the active and visible contests over power among American queers show that queers now occupy an important place in our culture. They expand on the fact that queerness, real, and performed, is everywhere (Shneer and Aviv 2006: 248). This source shows the transformation in American culture of the acceptance of queerness. It makes an extremely critical resource by providing evidence of the changes in culture throughout the last two decades. Having the information that queerness is becoming more accepted in culture links to a higher percentage of LGBTQ youths becoming comfortable with their sexual identity. However, compared to the other sources, this
James Baldwin left Harlem and fled to Paris in 1948 to escape uneasy relations including difficulty with his stepfather, financial distress, and problems discovering his sexual identity (Roberts). He escapes to the ?Swiss village? to advance his writing career and, furthermore, find himself as a person....
Being abroad gave Baldwin a perspective on the life he’d left behind and a solitary freedom to pursue his craft. “Once you find yourself in another civilization,” he notes, “you’re forced to examine your own.” In a sense, Baldwin’s travels brought him even closer to the social concerns of contemporary America. In the early 1960s, overwhelmed by a sense of responsibility to the times, Baldwin returned to take part in the civil rights movement. Traveling throughout the South, he began work on an explosive work about black identity and the state of racial struggle, The Fire Next Time (1963). This, too, was a bestseller: so incendiary that it put Baldwin on the cover of TIME Magazine. For many, Baldwin’s clarion call for human equality – in the essays of Notes of a Native Son, Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Next Time – became an early and essential voice in the civil rights movement. Though at times criticized for his pacifist stance, Baldwin remained an important figure in that struggle throughout the 1960s.
James Baldwin's novel, Another Country , is enhanced by Baldwin's unique narrative style. The majority of the exposition of Another Country is presented through flashbacks. Baldwin uses the third person omniscient point of view to narrate his characters' personal thoughts and develop the characters. Lastly, Baldwin intensifies the rage and anger through his uncommonly harsh diction. Quite often Baldwin oversteps the traditional bonds of appropriate language. Although his diction is not appealing, it is both strong and effective. Such words evoke emotions in all readers.
“Everybody’s journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality”. -James Baldwin. In his impressionable quote Baldwin voices the prominent yet tacit unacceptance of Homosexuality. Baldwin indicates that homosexuality or queerness in America is equated to an incurable disease or illness has been a conventional theory that it reveals an attitude of intolerance within American society . This widespread notion has held an augmented presence most notably in the African American community.(Crawford et al. 2002:179-180). In a thorough yet, animated analysis of Floyd, Ayana Mathis reviews popular receptions of Homosexuality and Queerness in the African American community. The characterization of Floyd unveils the ostracization that homosexual Black men face which generates a deceptive performance of hypermasculinity. This false performance is displayed through masking emotion and unveiling an attitude of contempt for anything dearth to the ideology of masculinity while perpetuating Homophobia.
Greenwich Village, the art and cultural center of New York, was the setting for what would be one of the most influential moments in the history of the Gay Liberation Movement. On the streets of the village, a white, brick building stands amongst the other stores and restaurants in the area. Looking at the building from the outside, one can hardly notice anything that stands out. A large, vertical hanging sign displays the word “Stonewall.” However, a sign on the front window reads, in white writing, “We homosexuals plead with our people to please help maintain peaceful and quiet conduct on the streets of the village.”
Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their lives. Geanne Harwood, interviewed on an National Public Radio Broadcast commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, said that “being gay before Stonewall was a very difficult proposition … we felt that in order to survive we had to try to look and act as rugged and as manly as possibly to get by in a society that was really very much against us.” The age of communist threats, and of Joseph McCarthy’s insistence that homosexuals were treacherous, gave credence to the feeling of most society members that homosexuality was a perversion, and that one inflicted was one to not be trusted.
In the Middle Ages, when The Canterbury Tales was written, society became captivated by love and the thought of courtly and debonair love was the governing part of all relationships and commanded how love should be conducted. These principles changed literature completely and created a new genre dedicated to brave, valorous knights embarking on noble quests with the intention of some reward, whether that be their life, lover, or any other want. The Canterbury Tales, written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer, accurately portrays and depicts this type of genre. Containing a collection of stories within the main novel, only one of those stories, entitled “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, truly outlines the 14th century community beliefs on courtly love.
In the beginning of his story Baldwin speaks of his young adolescence during which various men constantly take advantage of him. In this part of life he speaks much of loneliness. First, as he talks about those who are literally androgynous, containing male and female parts, he guesses at the “…all-but-intolerable loneliness…”(150) that they must feel at not being able to find love by being themselves for fear of humiliation at being so different. Later, he tells of his many encounters with men that appeared to be stereotypical American citizens looking “…like cops, football players, soldiers…or bank presidents…construction workers…”(153). These men would accost Baldwin in dark movie theaters and in the alleys at night begging or bullying him to take them to bed.
The acceptance of “abnormal” sexualities has been a prolonged, controversial battle. The segregation is excruciating and the prejudice remarks are so spiteful that some people never truly recover. Homosexuals have been left suffering for ages. Life, for most homosexuals during the first half of the twentieth century, was mostly one of hiding: having to constantly hide their true feelings and tastes. Instead of restaurants and movies, they had to sit quiet in the dark and meet each other in concealed places such as bars. Homosexuals were those with “mental and psychic abnormalities” and were the victim of medical prejudice, police harassment, and church condemnation (Jagose 24). The minuscule mention or assumption of one’s homosexuality could easily lead to the loss of family, livelihood, and sometimes even their lives. It was only after the Stonewall riots and the organization of gay/lesbian groups that times for homosexuals started to look brighter.
Thousands of homosexuals immigrated to the San Francisco area in this time period, as stated in Gay Manifesto by Carl Wittman. Feeling threatened and targeted by heterosexual society, they formed an enclaved on the basis of sexual identity. United, gays advocated for the integration of tolerance of society as they felt in many aspects the group was misunderstood. Labeled as “sexual perverts,” the group worked to change this negative perception. Gays attempted to seek support from women and minorities facing similar discrimination. However, support was not always granted. Assaults on members of gay community were in considered to be lynching, by the community. The comparison did not connect with African Americans. The vision of freedom the Gay community envisioned was one of social unity with disregard to sexual identity. The avocation of gay perceptions eventually changed the ideals of equality and societal
In the essay “Stranger in the Village”, by James Baldwin, printed in The Arlington Reader, the author, a black African-American, narrates a personal history of the few times he visited Leukerbad, Switzerland. During his stay there he observes the Swiss culture and the reactions of their encounters with not only an American, but a black African-American. He compares this in contrary to the way White Americans react to his presence. He uses bona fide and particularized description and narration early in the essay. He transitions into comparing and contrasting, traveling, in his thoughts, back and forth from Switzerland to America. His tone is gradually growing more powerful as he progresses into argumentation and exemplification as
Baldwin portrays sexual oppression in his novel entitled, Giovanni's Room. Sexual oppression is exemplified through individual homosexual white men who are unable to find happiness or contentment in themselves or in everyday