I figured the most methodical way of presenting my questions and concerns would be to break it down into the sections like Baldwin presents.
“Encounter on the Seine: Black Meets Brown”
From the very beginning Baldwin states, “In Paris nowadays it is rather more difficult from an American Negro to become a really successful entertainer than it is rumored to have been some thirty years ago” (117). Let us unpack the sentence. First, Baldwin is presenting a difference between being an “American Negro” during the 1920s and 1950s. As we have seen in Stovall, a lot has change for the American Negro in Paris. It’s not so much about jazz, art, and the primitive veil that was attributed to African Americans. It’s not even about finding a universal blackness as our previous readings have suggested. It’s more about the “vast majority of [American Negro] veterans studying on G.I. Bill” and their identity. (118) Secondly, the use of the word “rumored” is quite interesting. Not only is Baldwin disconnecting himself from this past, but he seems to be doubting the truth the past contains. This is probably attributed to his idea that the “American Negro in Paris is very nearly the invisible man” (118). Why does Baldwin see the American Negro as the “invisible man?” What brings about “the battle for his own identity” that Baldwin points out on page 121? What is the result of this “battle”/What does the American Negro discover (i.e page 123)? Baldwin has a vendetta with the past. What do you make of his connection and constant reference to the past? What does the past consist of? In other words, to Baldwin, what is the past- Africa, America and/or Europe?
“A Question of Identity?”
Real vs. Imagined. The “legend of Paris” is defined as the possibility of finding one’s identity. However, Baldwin seems to be skeptical about this legend. Paris is the location that deconstructs the American. This deconstruction leads a discovery of identity; “from the vantage point of Europe he discovers his own country” (137). How does this process of finding identity differ from the identity issues we have encountered in past readings? How does Baldwin perceive Paris? As real, imagined or a distraction making them “lose what it was they so bravely set out to find?” (135) If imagined, then Paris is no longer a “safe haven” many African American sought, instead it becomes something more concrete. If a distraction, then Paris is a beloved image we continue to stare at until we “snap out of it.” What actions is Baldwin suggesting should be taken to discover our identity? Does it work?
“Equal in Paris”
(The more personal section. Get to know a little more about Baldwin). In the previous section, Baldwin states that African American (specifically the American students) were in “social limbo.” His incarceration is his “social limbo” moment. Being within this legal system he discusses the distance he feels from French society/culture and connection with American society/culture. For instance, he states, “I began to realize that I was in a country I knew nothing about, in the hands of a people I did not understand at all ... I am not speaking now of legality ... but of the temperament of the people with whom I had to deal” (144). Baldwin’s “old weapons” could not save him from his current situation nor his American identity. At some point identity has nothing to with being Black; instead, it has to do with being American. Baldwin writes, “The question thrusting up from the bottom of my mind was not what I was, but who” (146). Simply fascinating! There is a couple things happening at this moment: Is being Black the lesser of two evils, or is being American the lesser evil in his current situation? Baldwin is grappling this issue. He is aware that the French are developing an idea of him based on his Americanness (not his Black identity). Is Baldwin afraid of the unfamiliar? How does he connect the unfamiliar with the familiar (French with American)? What does Baldwin discover about being human (assuming that Black, American, French, etc. are erased categories) towards the end of the section with the “universal laughter?” How does this “universal laughter” reflect the universality of conditions we encounter as humans? Is it safe to say that Baldwin has found the true meaning of identity?
“Stranger in the Village”
(My favorite section). “It did not occur to me- possibly because I am an American- that there could be people anywhere who had never seen a Negro” (159). This sentence hit close to home. It had not occurred to me, until I went to college, that racism existed (or that there was so much prejudice within the Latin community). Yes, I did live a sheltered life, which perhaps explains a lot now. Baldwin, in a way, deals with this idea of “sheltered people” who are unaware of, for example, the use of the word “Neger.” For Baldwin it “echoes” his past. What customs does the village have that are reminiscent of the past? How does Baldwin feel among these villagers and their customs? Baldwin discusses Americans as “discontented Europeans, facing a great unconquered continent” (168). How does this relate to the American Negro slave experience? Baldwin finds the American Negro history unique in comparison to European Negro history because Europeans kept slaves in colonies. What advantages and disadvantages does Baldwin consider this has? What ideas do you have about this argument? Does Baldwin seem to sympathizes with the American Negro by giving him a greater role in American history? Does this change anything for you? Lastly, Baldwin writes, “the white man’s motive [for the battle] was the protection of his identity; the black man was motivated by the need to establish an identity” (173). How do these two “motives” compliment each? What happens to Blacks in Paris who are identified as American if they are still "establish[ing] an identity?" Are Blacks part of the American identity?
Hey Stephen, this is a really great entry. I'm just going to take up and continue one or two points you made on "Stranger in the Village."
ReplyDelete"Does Baldwin seem to sympathize with the American Negro by giving him a greater role in American history?"
You seem to have noticed something similar to what I did, that Baldwin has stirred up this tale about being a black man in a white village to draw a sharp contrast between the exotic, initial acquaintances and meetings between blacks and whites and the metaphorical connotations skin color has taken on in the American context. The Swiss village seems to have a benign fascination with Baldwin's hair and skin, especially the children who regard him the way they would some kind of exotic animal or object (I keep thinking of that Richard Pryor movie "The Toy," which -- Jesus -- someone should do a critical viewing of that movie). Baldwin seems to do the same, remarking about their blonde heads and blue eyes -- he practically writes them as cherubs.
So in a sense (quite ironically), Baldwin's American Negro has a lot of power to sway emotion, divide, provoke wonder, even though he doesn't seem to have power as a social authority. Of course, we can already see this changing by Baldwin's time as the Civil War era of black literature seemed to be coming into phase. The two competing ideologies are fascinating: the black search for an identity, the white protection of identity, and somewhere in there, the human individual.
Also, your remarks on "Equal in Paris" were quite wonderful. I keep thinking about that essay and the irony of bureaucracy being a universal language that transcends other cultural divides. Also, I love that even Baldwin's measured reason (he was a skilled rhetorician) could not get him out of spending Christmas in jail over a stolen bedsheet.
In "Encounter on the Seine: Black Meets Brown”, it's interesting to me how Baldwin relates the American Negro to an invisible man. He relates it directly to not having an identity.. and not having an identity rises from not knowing his roots. It seems like a vicious cycle, almost, because unlike those Blacks who can connect to one another through similar roots, the American Negro is isolated from the other ones living in the same area. One question I had while reading this section was why they don't want to try and connect to one another, get to know each other living in such small quarters.
ReplyDeleteI had written a post to Stephen's last point that effing blogger deleted, so here's attempt #2:
ReplyDeleteThe "dreadful abyss" that is created between hearing children shout "Neger!" in the village compared to hearing "Nigger!" in America is what is signified by each of the terms. With the village people (not the hit musical group), "the syllable hurled behind me...expresses, above all, wonder: I am a stranger here" (168). Baldwin referring to himself as a stranger echoes Hughes' feelings of being a stranger: "I was a foreigner of some kind" (154/10 in c.p.). Both Hughes and Baldwin knew they were different, but were regarded as being culturally different while abroad, they were not considered to be subordinate to man. The associations of being black in America did not carry over with them as they traveled abroad. Baldwin writes passionately and deliberately and he effortlessly segues from the connotations associated with "Neger" in the village to "Nigger" in America. In the village, Baldwin was a stranger, but not regarded as any less of a man, hence the wonder and amazement expressed in the word "Neger". Contrastingly, when Americans were still "discontented Europeans... the promptness with which they decided that these black men were not really men but cattle" (168) expresses their own superiority and the reasoning for why/how slavery ensued. The quickness with which the black man became identified by the slave movement, as this is the identity that rips him from his past and continues to be his identity for the future, expresses the ugly connotations in the word "Nigger". Thus, between the two worlds, the village vs. America, exists a "dreadful abyss" between what it meant to be a black person abroad and a black person in the States.