Look closely at the first paragraph in “Notes.” Baldwin immediately sets his personal story into a social context. Baldwin continues to do this throughout his essay.In what ways does this affect the reader’s understanding of Baldwin’s relationship to the world and his father?
James Baldwin immediately establishes three events that are crucial to the setting and theme of the story in the first paragraph: 1) His father just died, 2) His father’s last child was just born, and 3) A riot broke out in the ghetto of Harlem. This establishes the setting of Harlem in the 1940s and America’s overall condition when it comes to race issues. The race issues of the time also defined a complicated relationship between Baldwin, his father, and the prejudicial society that encompassed them.
Baldwin elaborates on his father’s death by explaining his life. Baldwin’s father was incredibly spiteful towards white people (which eventually festered into a paranoia for all people, including his family) and lived his life as a minister in a coma of bitterness. This was because he was a part of the first generation of free black men who still knew what it was like to be a slave, having experienced it first hand. This hatred and prejudice that reflected off the world onto Baldwin’s father also reflected of him onto his family, including Baldwin. Baldwin hated his father for burdening this bitterness unto him, and after his death, he began to completely inherit it. This hatred that he eventually inherited from his father was something that he did not want to take on, partly because when he was young he had white friends as well as a white teacher whom he liked. It was interesting to see how white society had changed to a small degree to be a little more accepting of black people (at least in the North), but none the less, an inherited hatred had been passed down in black society to maintain a constant distrust and disconnection between the two races. This hatred killed Baldwin’s father as well as caused the riot in Harlem — it was a poison that broke down oneself as well as others. Baldwin now had to cope with this as the cause of his father’s death, and now he was poisoned, too. However, there is a new child born that will grow up without feeling the bitterness of his father, perhaps he will go down a different path . . .
