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James Baldwin's theme analysis
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James Baldwin, an outspoken civil rights activist, helped America to realize the corruption of the social society and attempted to inform the people about the unraveling rivalry of white and black people of the nation. Colin MacInnes refers to Baldwin as a “premonitory prophet, a fallible sage, a soothsayer” which attempts to elaborate on Baldwin’s realism and the ability to touch the public in a known sense for the black community. In Go Tell It on the Mountain, his first and most famous novel, Baldwin states “they could change their clothes” (88) at a crucial point in the novel which the metaphor refers to the character’s constant search for identity. Baldwin also uses the juxtaposition “healed the sick” (5) to illustrate the character’s quest for love when denied human affection as God cures their desire for love. James Baldwin emphasizes that race is all about perspective. He uses several stylistic devices to expose his point of view on the current racial issues and explains what needs to be done about the explosive situation. James Baldwin uses juxtapositioning, oxymorons, and metaphors to illustrate that conflicts are solved by strength of character and unity of race. As seen in many of his novels and short stories, James Baldwin constantly assigns his characters with the important role of attempting to impose the racial impact of each story. In Go Tell It on the Mountain, James describes the church as “not the biggest…yet the smallest” (5), which the juxtapositioning of biggest and smallest has an uncanny relationship when discussing the large but small conflict that needs to be recognized. James’s childhood had a massive effect on his style especially growing up in the harsh world of downtown Harlem. At the same time, the unkind neighborhood did nothing but influence his religious yet racial perspective in his works. In the infamous Go Tell It on the Mountain novel, James searched for ideas “on the streets, on rooftops, or under the stairs” (5), to prove his beliefs. This way of investigating his ideas demonstrated that he was willing to hunt for facts anywhere and everywhere. As always, James constantly found the opportunity to unite disagreement with satisfaction to fulfill the reader’s expectations. In “The Outing” in Going to Meet the Man, he attempts to portray his stepfather’s effect “with an anger which surprised and even frightened him” (35), which the juxtaposition of surprised and frightened facilitated his ability to revolve the anxiety into optimism to support his principles in his works. James’s unsympathetic stepfather impaired him at the moment but yet fueled his ambition to illustrate to the public that he was not afraid to share his views.
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