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THESIS STATEMENT
James Baldwin’s works were influenced by the times in which he lived, as an African American writer he strove for equality and used his pen to work for civil rights through elements of his childhood among other aspects.
PURPOSE STATEMENT
Through research of textual evidence it is apparent that James Baldwin’s life and writing was formed by the society that surrounded him.
INTRODUCTION
History is defined my cultural movements and changes. The American of the 21st century is nothing like the young country that blossomed up from the oppression of England in 1776. Many men and women have shaped the world that we live in today, fighting for their rights and what they believe in. One of the greatest tragedies in the history of this great country was that of slavery. Even after the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery in 1865 there was still a great debate over the equality of all men. The Declaration of Independence stated that all men are created equal and have unalienable rights given by God. However, this only applied to the white men of the population.
This is why the Civil Rights Movement came into effect. This was an effort to continue history and change a nation’s culture as seen numerous times before across the world. The protestors were mostly African American’s looking for those unalienable rights that were given to them by their Creator and called upon in the country’s original piece legislature. The men and women who took place in the events of the Civil Rights Movement were led by others who believed that Henry David Thoreau’s philosophy of non-violent protest was key to cementing their position. Those who opposed them however, were not so kind and peace-loving in their actions.
The liter...

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...el. Before Sonny’s mother passes away, she asks his older brother to watch over him if anything were to happen to her. This flash back shows that he has not done as his mother asked, seen through the arrest of Sonny. In the Bible, God questions Cain on the whereabouts of Abel after he has killed him. Cain responds by saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4.9). In this the relation of failed brotherhood is seen in both stories. However there are differences between the two works, one of which being a major dissimilarity. “Unlike the Cain of Genesis, however, the narrator of ‘Sonny's Blues’ has the possibility of redemption. To redeem himself, however, the narrator must save his prodigal younger brother (Tackach 115). And thus it is discovered that the narrator “cannot free himself from the responsibility for his brother. He is his brother’s keeper” (Reid 445).

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