Racism has been a part of American and world history for centuries, and has become a pattern in cultures. James Baldwin was an African-American author who, like many black men and women, struggled against the inherent hate/racism in America. Baldwin had the opportunity to travel to a microcosmic Swiss village atop a mountain. His story of the native's curiosity towards him and eventually fondness challenges the idea that racism is quickly overtaking the world.
A microcosm, by definition is a representation of something on a smaller scale. In the Renaissance age, philosophers considered the world to be a macrocosm hosting millions of individual microcosms: people. The term microcosm signifies the cre
An often-overlooked aspect of Baldwin's personal philosophy is the fact that he was a humanist. Baldwin believed that racism stemmed from the insecurities of men, who turned others into scapegoats to bolster internal feelings of powerlessness. Through his works, Baldwin's arguments for civil rights transcend color boundaries and stress the idea that, regardless of race or culture, everyone is a human being and deserves to be treated accordingly. Baldwin's attitude is a far cry from how he was often treated.
The village that Baldwin verbosely writes about is not specified although he tells us that the warm springs are a tourist draw and that the village is "only four hours from Milan and three hours from Lausanne" (124), but this gives the reader little information about the city. The imagery that forms while reading the passage comes
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