Going To Meet The Man By James Baldwin

In the short story “Going to Meet the Man” by James Baldwin, Baldwin pushes the boundaries of racism and cultural repression. Jesse is white deputy sheriff who is sexually frustrated in bed with his wife Grace when he cannot develop an erection. For the first time he is suffering from insomnia and he begins to have flashbacks of the many interactions he has had with the black race. He starts to tell his wife of an earlier incident he had with a group of black protesters who would not stop singing. While the sheriffs are arresting the protesters, Jesse takes the “ring leader” of the group to a cell and beats him repeatedly with a prod in order to force him to stop the singing. As Jesse heads for the cell door, the boy reminds him of his pass when he once disrespected his auntie, Old Julia. This channels the many flashbacks he has to understand why he sexually repressed with violence and has grown to be racist. Baldwin conveys that violence and pain manifests themselves in each generation because families teach them through household values and societal expectations.

Jesse first lesson was his childhood friend, Otis. Jesse was not always violent towards the black race as he was in the jail cell with that black, battered body. As a child, he looked beyond race and his black friend Otis was just a boy to him: “He had a black friend, eight, who lived nearby. His name was Otis. They wrestled together in the dirt” (1756). Baldwin shows that Jesse and Otis are simply friends. Jesse plays with Otis because he did not care about his race but he just wanted to be a kid and have fun. Shortly following the friendly interaction with Otis, Jesse started his transition from child to the chauvinistic man he is now. Soon young Jesse realizes that...

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...oked to them for courage now” (1754). Jesse’s prior experiences provoke him to believe that through violence towards the colored race was the epitome of being a man. It was because of his father and his friends, which forms the racial tension he has with colored race and the moral value of white supremacy.

Overall, racism and social repression is a pending issue that has yet to cease. Racism has become the face of American history because of the belief structure and family morals built on hatred of one another. This leads to societies broken and has become the most common setback of modern society. The use of violence and pain has manifest through generations, teaching whites to be superior and allowing blacks to be use to common oppression. If the world fails to reprimand the issue, generations will grow to believe the unrealistic morals that have shaped America.