Themes In James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time

In this paper, I will be discussing an important aspect in James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. One major theme that I found within this book was the viewpoint of black’s, particularly Baldwin’s, own feelings and attitudes towards white people. Baldwin states that these feelings and attitudes start from the day that you were born, and develop over your lifetime. An example that he gives to support this statement is that black children have a fear of judgement from whites without understanding what is going on around them. He begins the book with a letter to his nephew stating that it is up to each person individually on whether they accept this fear that they are raised with and live according to how whites label them, or have courage and

In the book Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain. In this book two young boys experience a life altering event that was beyond their control. The boy named Chambers was born a slave, while the boy named Tom was born into a white privileged family. They were switched as babies by Chambers’ mother, Roxy. Each boy grew up in the roles that they thought they were born into; Chambers now a white male, and Tom his slave. Even though these boys did not discover the truth behind their identities until they were older, they both followed the roles that society gave them according to whom society thought their families were. This supports James Baldwin’s argument of labels deeply effecting individuals, because the two boys appeared to be the same color but they were put into two different social classes, because of whom society assumed their parents were. Twain clearly illustrates that race, black and white, is socially created. Chambers and Tom never knew their biological identities, but they lived in identities that society labeled them

As Douglas Blackmon pointed out we often allow labels to define us, living up to the stereotypes that are given to us. Labels are a difficult thing to look past, because our society puts much of their focus on it. Not only does society push the importance of living up to labels, but the majority of the population is white and white people define how each person is labeled. With so many people labeling you and pushing you to behave in a particular way, an individual will often give into the pressure. However, as Baldwin says even though it may be difficult giving into the labels is still a choice. It is up to a person to decide if they are going to allow their labels to define who they are. All of these reasons and texts show how labels play an important role in each individual’s