In his collection of essays there is a light shined on the relationship between blacks and whites. Baldwin throughout the book discusses the idea that to be successful in the world that we live you have to live in a white world. This creates a problem because then you have blacks who want to be successful but the whites will not except them. Baldwin deconstructs the myths that surround blackness in America and sets out as a possibility t

hat blacks must learn to accept whites but whites don't have to do the same. Even though he has these thoughts he is not anti white. He understands that one day in this world whites and blacks will have to come together and live as one in order to be successful as a whole. A part of the book that he states this goes, "In short we, the black and white deeply need each other here if we are really to become a nation-if we are really, that is, to achieve our identity, our maturity, as men and women". This is a very important part of the book because it shows the reader that the author even though he has been suppressed by whites understands that one day we have to live in unity.

An issue that the author brings up in the book is the work that a black man can do. He discusses how their options are limited to the lower class for the mere fact that they are black. You learn that his father was a preacher, and that James Baldwin himself is a preacher. In one of the essays he explains how a young black man has to find a "gimmick" to get into for work. Something that he can do well that will help him make it in a white world. He mentions many lower class jobs like Prize fighting since these are the only ones open to blacks. James states the reason why he moved toward religion is that it gave him a sense of home, and a place to express himself. But on the contrary religion gave him no peace. After reading about a black man's options for work yo

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Approximate Word count = 974
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)