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James BaldwinA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
"The image of a black girl caused a distant excitement in him, like a far-away light; but again the excitement was more like pain."
Baldwin foregrounds Jesse's arousal at dehumanizing, sexual violence against black people by opening the short story with this incident. The short story concludes with Jesse's final fantasy: that he is a black man having sex with Grace, his white wife.
"And he was a good man, a God-fearing man, he had tried to do his duty all his life."
Jesse, having been indoctrinated into the myth of white supremacy since birth, believes that his duty is to keep black people subordinate to white people. Jesse also believes that black people inherently act against God.
"They were animals, they were no better than animals, what could be done with people like that?"
Lacking both empathy and an understanding of the structural racism that caused rural black Americans to live in poverty, Jesse strips the black population in his town of their humanity. He also blames them for their living conditions, and accuses black people of laziness and poor hygiene.
By James Baldwin
Another Country
Another Country
James Baldwin
A Talk to Teachers
A Talk to Teachers
James Baldwin
Blues for Mister Charlie
Blues for Mister Charlie
James Baldwin
Giovanni's Room
Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin
I Am Not Your Negro
I Am Not Your Negro
James Baldwin
If Beale Street Could Talk
If Beale Street Could Talk
James Baldwin
If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?
If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?
James Baldwin
Nobody Knows My Name
Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son
James Baldwin
No Name in the Street
No Name in the Street
James Baldwin
Notes of a Native Son
Notes of a Native Son
James Baldwin
Sonny's Blues
Sonny's Blues
James Baldwin
Stranger in the Village
Stranger in the Village
James Baldwin
The Amen Corner
The Amen Corner
James Baldwin
The Fire Next Time
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin
The Rockpile
The Rockpile
James Baldwin