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The Problem Of Philosophy

James Baldwin (1924-1987)
Contributing Editors:
Trudier Harris and John Reilly
Classroom Issues and Strategies
Problems surround Baldwin's voicing the subjectivity of characters, the great sympathy he awards to the outlook of the marginalized. Students normally meet the underclass as victims perhaps objectified by statistics and case studies. For that matter, students who are not African-American have difficulty with the black orientation arising from Baldwin's middle-class characters: the artists and other, more conventionally successful people.
The strategies flow from the principle that people do not experience their lives as victims, even if Baldwin's popular social autobiographical essay Notes of a Native Son --the portion where he recounts contracting the "dread, chronic disease" of anger and fury when denied service in a diner--might be useful in raising the issue of why Baldwin says every African-American has a Bigger Thomas in his head. The anger may become creative, as might the pain. A companion discussion explores the importance of blues aesthetic to Baldwin: the artful treatment of common experience by a singular singer whose call evokes a responsive confirmation from those who listen to it. In addition, an exploration of the aesthetic of popular black music would also enhance the students' understanding.
Within a literary context, the strategies should establish that fictional narrative is the only way we know the interior experience of other people. The imagination creating the narrative presents an elusive subjectivity. If a writer is self-defined as African-American, that writer will aim to inscribe the collective subjectivity under the aspect of a particular character. Of course, the point is valid for women writers and other groups also, as long as the writers have chosen deliberately to identify themselves as part of the collective body.
Major Themes, Historical Perspectives, and Personal Issues
Themes of personal importance include the...