ABSTRACT

This paper is a comprehensive analysis of James Baldwin’s book ‘Nobody knows

my name’. It is a critical assessment of James aesthetic prowess in the projection of a
fractured society (America) in a blunt non-fictional exploration of reality. The views of
James, his unflinching gaze upon societal issues- which he was unavoidably entangled
in- and personal commentaries on these issues are portrayed. There is slow unveiling
of the complexities of being an American to the Negro-African writers’ conference in
Paris and the ugly standard of living in Harlem. The exposure of Faulkner’s impact and
Baldwin’s thought on homosexuality. His rapport with Richard wright and the
complexities in the relationship between whites and blacks. At the end of this paper, the
reader is expected to have been immersed in a satisfactory analysis of James Baldwin’s
‘Nobody knows my name’.
 INTRODUCTION

James Baldwin was born on August 2nd 1924 in New York. He was among the
radical writers in America during the twentieth century. One peculiar thing about him
is probably his boldness and the complexity of his life as an America because James
wasn’t just a black who was struggling within the claws of racism, he was also a gay.
Despite the fact that the twentieth century unfolds scrolls of opportunities for the blacks
in terms of education, artistic excellence and economic boost, they still had to fight
against segregation, deepened prejudice, endless violence and utmost racism.

‘Nobody knows my name’ is one of the many books written during this period
of self-discovery and longing for equality in a society where the pigmentation of your
skin determines how far you can go in life. It is a blatant excavation of horrifying reality
mildly presented by an aggressive writers who at that point had the opportunity to
witness the dehumanization, subjugation and oppression faced by people like him. He
was able to recognize the fallacy of freedom which engulfed America and the
technicality of racism as practiced in the North and South.

People like James who had the opportunity of going out of America, especially to
Europe had experienced the unencumbered breath of freedom, the sweet feeling of not
being approached or judged based on the color of your skin. James is well equipped to
face the psychological disorientation that comes along with racial segregation and he
projects this in his work. He wants his reader to see the hardship of the blacks to
understand the simple fact the Negroes just want to be treated like humans. Although
he addresses the issue of cultural rejuvenation and homosexuality. He has successfully
opened our eyes to the wide fissure between whites and blacks and the complexities of
attempting to repair this fissure.
 BACKGROUND STUDY OF THE WORK

James Arthur Baldwin is a black America novelist, essayist, playwright, poet and
critic. He was born on August 2nd, 1924. Some of his works include The fire next time
(1963), No name in the street (1972), The Devil finds work (1976)’, among others. He
grew up in Harlem in a poor family. In Harlem he was a victim of racial segregation
and maltreatment. He attended P.S 24 on 128th street between FEifth and Madison
Avenues in Harlem which was why he could write so well about the plights of the blacks
especially on the Fifth Avenue. He was influenced by the likes of Counten Cullen and
Richard Wright who was his close friend. He died December 1st 1987.

These essays were published in different magazines. The book which was
published in 1961 is embedded with the factual representation of a twentieth century
American society. Prior to the writing of this book, James Baldwin has had the
opportunity of visiting a lot of places in Paris (Europe) and juxtaposed life in American
with life in Paris which he finds quite antagonistic. This inspired the first chapter “The
Discovery of what it means to be an American”. It was in Europe James could finally
accept his black identity. Despite the fact black writers were growing numerically and
artistically, it was hard to them to get their works published most of them still struggled
with identity crisis.

James had the opportunity of witnessing the Negro-African. Writer conference

held at Paris. Where he listened to speaker who mostly were black writers, speak about
issues concerning the black community. The conference was held in a time when radical
black voices were beginning to emerge to salvage the fading cultures of the black
people.

James also takes us behind the heavy dark curtains of Harlem where the standard
of living falls steadily under the weight of a rising of black population. The hardship in
the south worsened by racism had caused a great number of blacks to migrate to the
North. Harlem which stood as a refuge for these blacks became the most populous black
community in America at that time. Despite the fact the Harlem renaissance changed
the lives of blacks positively, the emergence of the great depression however turned
things around. Ghettos grew out of Harlem, and the rate of violence, hardship and
ultimately death increased. Baldwin was able to portray this hardship in his painting of
the pictures of the slums of Harlem.

Baldwin who was a gay also experienced the alienation faced by homosexuals.
He delves into the life of Andre Gide in other to expose the complicated feelings that
gays have to battle with as they try to fit into their society. In the chapter that follows
he tries to capture the migration in America which has led to overpopulation in some
places especially Harlem thereby depleting the resources of that area and making
survival extremely difficult.

PLOT

James Baldwin’s Nobody knows my name; More Notes of a Native son consists
of thirteen different essays. These essays were published in different magazines and
they cut across certain social issues in the twentieth century American society.

In the first chapter, ‘Discovery of what it takes to be an American’, Baldwin

begins by stating that being an American is a ‘complex fate’. The complexity is so
unique that even the word ‘America’ still remains new, almost completely undefined.
Being exposed to the ills of racism, and the plight of Negroes beneath whites. He had
to leave for Paris where he established relationship especially with white Americans.
To him, there was no racial barrier in Europe. He could meet and affiliate with
Americans regardless of their skin colors or classes.

In Paris, Baldwin discovered that being black or white meant nothing and that
him, just like the rest is searching for identity. He hints the trouble of being an American
writer as tied to the liquidity of the society. While Europe was more static in terms of
class and status; American writer do not have a fixed society to describe. He also
compares the American writers with the European writer. The lack of social paranoia
causes the American writer in Europe almost certain that he can reach out to everyone,
and open to everything. His encounter with an Algerian taxi-driver; who told him how
it feels be an Algerian in Paris made him realize that there are no untroubled countries
in this fearfully troubled world. Every society is really governed by hidden laws, by
unspoken but profound assumptions on the part of the people and he is no exception.
He finally understands, that even Europe is no paradise.

The next chapter titled ‘Prince and Powers’ is about the conference of Negro-
African writers and artists which opened on Wednesday, September 19, 1956 in the
Sorbonne’s Amphitheatre Descartes in Paris. Richard wright, Alioune Diop, Leopold
Senghor and Aime cesaire among others were present. Dr Price-Mars from Haiti was
the president of the conference. Alioune Diop who spoke first referred to the present
gathering as a kind of second Bandung. As at Bandung, the people gathered together
are held in common view of their subjugation to Europe. Dioup insists that History is
“a western interpretation of the life of the world” (pg 25). He points out that the decline
of Negro cultures was due to their lack of political sovereignty. He also raised the issue
of assimilation. Other speakers include W.E.B Du Bios who caused the greatest stir; Mr
Lasebikan from Nigeria who spoke on the structure of Yoruba poetry, and hinted that,
“one day an excavation would bring to light a great literature written by the Yoruba
people” (pg 30); Leopold Senghor after invoking what he called the “spirit of Bandung”
said that one thing which distinguishes Africans from Europeans is the comparative
urgency of their ability to feel. The question of what culture is and how it can be
described are raised. Baldwin describes the gathering thus:-

“what they held in common was the necessity to remake the world
in their own image, to impose this image on the world and no longer
be controlled by the vision of the world, and of themselves held by other
by people”(pg 35)

The next day Aime Cesaire spoken on the relation between colonization and color he
summed up cultural crisis thus.

“… culture which is strongest from the material and technological point

of view threatens to crush all weaker cultures, particularly in a world in
which, distance counting for nothing, the technologically
weaker cultures have no means of protecting themselves” (pg 38)
It was noted that any political and social regime which destroy the self-determination
of a people also destroys the creative powers of the people.

Mr Wahal spoke in the afternoon on the role of the law in culture and was followed by
George Lamming. Saturday (the last day of the conference) morning was taken up in an
attempt to agree on a cultural inventory.

Baldwin titles the third chapter “Fifth Avenue, uptown: A letter from Harlem”. He starts
by giving out the location of the Fifth Avenue and then progresses by painting pictures
of how life is there. This chapter is about the bad living condition of Blacks in Fifth
Avenue at Harlem, how they are been subjected to dehumanizing treatment and torn
amid the hostility of the north and south. In portraying the monotonous lives of the
Blacks, Baldwin says.

“They work in the white man’s world all day and come home
in the evening to this fetid block” (pg 56)

He presents a vivid description of the slum, through the “colorless, bleak and revolting”
streets of Harlem.

The fourth chapter is another essay titled ‘East River, Downtown: postscript to a
letter from Harlem”. It opens with a riot in the U.N by American Negroes during Adlai
Stevenson address after the killing of Patrice Lumumba. Prominent Negroes come
forward to assure that the rioter do not represent the real feeling of the Negro
community. However Baldwin refutes claims that local African- American activities
were simply agents for international communist movements. Baldwin expresses his
opinion thus:

“What I find appalling and really dangerous, is the American assumption that the
Negro is so contented with his lot here that only the cynical agents of a foreign power
can rouse him to protest. It is a notion which contains a gratuitous insult, implying as it
does that Negroes can make no move unless they are
manipulated?”
 “A Fly in a Buttermilk” is the title of the fifth chapter. It is about the adventure
of a young boy called G, who is enrolled in a white school because his mother, Mrs R.
wanted a better future for him. G is being isolated in school and he witnessed extreme
discrimination from his mates. The blockade by student, the fact that they called the
principal “nigger-lover!” when he came to G’s aid and G. been tripped by a white
student, help expose the glaring face of racism. Baldwin was able to capture the fears
of the black amid the white especially in the street of Harlem. He also explores the
deteriorating standard of education in the black community. According to him, “the
principal of G’s former high school was about seventy-five when he was finally retired
and his idea of discipline was to have two boys beat each other-under his supervision”

In “A Letter from the South”, James Baldwin emphasizes on the lives of the
southern and northern Negroes. He also examines the relationship of black with the
whites during his trip. He narrates his experience when he travelled to Georgia, he
expresses his thought by saying “the earth has acquired its color from the blood that has
dripped down from the trees” This depicts the injustice that has been done against blacks
over the years. Baldwin recounts some horrifying moments including the story of the
daughter of a presbyterian minister who was stoned and spat on by the mob and the
issue of one of his brothers in uniform who had his front teeth kicked out by a white
officer. He decries the neglect of Negroes and their bitter inter racial history.

Baldwin discusses the position of Williams Faulkner in the fight against segregation in
“Faulkner and desegregation”. He insists that there is nothing like “middle of the road”.
He sees Faulkner’s advice to the blacks to “go slow” as an act against the emancipation
of the blacks concluding that the right time is now.

Baldwin addresses the issue of minority in the eighth chapter titled “In search of
a majority” he stipulates that majority goes beyond numerical strength. According to
him, “you can far outnumber your opposition and not be able to impose your will on
them or even to modify the rigor with which they impose their will on you”. An instance
of this is the apartheid in South African. Baldwin insists that majority doesn’t refer to
numbers or power but influence. He traces the course of Negroes maltreatment to
economic and political reason.
 The ninth chapter is titled “Notes for a Hypothetical Novel: An address”.
Hypothetical novels are novels which are possible and imagined rather than real and
true. Baldwin decides to write a hypothetical novel of his past, especially the people he
grew up with. The story encompasses his childhood experience which saw the
renaissance that unveiled black creativity. This age which is referred to as Jazz age
opened an artistic chapter in the lives of the blacks. Baldwin takes us to his days in
elementary school and how the society influenced him to drinking whiskey and how he
had seen the white world has some sort of utopic setting.

In chapter ten, Baldwin addresses the issue of homosexualism. Being a gay,

Baldwin tries to explain the complex feelings of homosexuals. He states thus, “it is
worth observing, too that when man can no longer love women they also cease to love
or respect or trust each which makes their isolation complete” (pg 132)

‘The Northern Protestant’ centers around the American movie industry in the
twentieth century. Baldwin was able to meet with Ingmar Bergman, a producer and have
an interaction with him. Baldwin in this chapter talks about Americanization which
refers largely to the fact that more and more people are leaving the countryside and
moving into Stockholm (a movie industry). He continues, the people use
Americanization to refer to an epithet used to mask the fact that the entire social and
moral structure that they build is proving to be absolutely inadequate to the demand
being placed on it. Baldwin subsequently states that “all art is a kind of confession, more
or less oblique” and he sees movie as a way of invoking the past, bringing memory to
life.

Chapter twelve, “Alas poor Richard” is an eulogy to Richard wright who was a
close friend of Baldwin. The whole chapter carefully discusses little of the life of
Richard wright and also some of his works. The eight men is a collection of short stories
which tells the stories of a young farm worker deep in debt, a flood, a murderer, a
fugitive exile and railroad porter. Each about a black man at odds with the white world
in which he tries to operate. “The man who was almost a man” is about a young Negro,
Dave, trapped in a world that strips him of his personal and economic power. He wanted
to own a gun because he believes a gun in his hand would give him, more control over
others. The gun later gets him into trouble.

“Man of all work” simply portrays life of a trained Negro cook who in other to get a job
dresses up in his wife clothes, so as to save their home.

“The man who killed a shadow” describes the murder of a librarian. This becomes an
exposure of the impact of the shadows white world have on a Negro struggling to find
his place.

The second part of the chapter “The exile” describes the relationship between Baldwin
and Richard wright. It is more of a “father and son relationship”. It also portrays how
Negroes who were unable to cope with the hostility in America fled to Europe for safety
as Richard and Baldwin did. This made Richard called Paris “city of refuge”

The last chapter, “The black boy looks at the white boy” gives a proper
description of the complexity of a relationship between whites and black Negroes. It is
a profiling of Norman a white Jew and also a writer who was friends with James
Baldwin a Negro from Harlem. They were very close until the differences in their racial
background caused them to split apart.

THEMATIC CONCERNS

Baldwin explores several themes in this novel as he attempts radically to fight

against the ills of his society and project the suffering of blacks

1. RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

This is one of the major themes of the novel. Baldwin addresses the issue of racial
discrimination which was a major ill in the America and society where black are treated
less than human. Blacks are being dehumanized just because of the color of their skin,
in response to this, Baldwin says “Negroes wants to be treated like men” (pg 62). From,
the sublime segregation in the north, Baldwin captures the cause and effects of racial
discrimination on the blacks. He attributes racism mostly to “social paranoia” which
makes the whites maltreat the black.
2. IDENTITY CRISIS

One of the most gruesome things the blacks in America had to face was the
search for their identity. Blacks are being judged based on the color of their skins
and displaced mentality. The psychological effect of this is that blacks crave for a
place to belong, the freedom they long for is the ability to discover who they are.
Baldwin himself was a victim of this. He says

“I left America because I doubted my ability to survive the fury of the color
problem here” (pg 17). Although he later discovers that the color of his skin actually
has nothing to do with who he is. In France he was able to relate with everyone and
discover who he really is.

3. POVERTY

After the great depression severe hardship set in. the blacks suffered under
acute living condition which was worsened by the neglect by the society.
Baldwin captures this in the description of Fifth Avenue in Harlem where he
grew up. Baldwin writes: “walk through the streets of Harlem and see what we
this nation has become”. He goes further to describe the street of Harlem as
“colorless, bleak and revolting”. In the fifth avenue, blacks lived on menial jobs
and could hardly feed themselves. Baldwin portrays the intensity of their poverty
thus: “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely
expensive it is to be poor” (pg 59).

4. CULTURAL INVENTORY
This is the major focus of the Negro-African conference held in Paris. The blacks
lost their culture with the emergence of colonialism, however culture is not
something you can take away and replace, it is an inherent part of the people. In
view of this Baldwin follows the attempt of the conference to revoke the cultures
and traditions of the black people.
5. HATRED

One could see through the words of Baldwin, the hatred he faced before the white
because of the pigmentation of his skin. An instance of this hatred is seen in the way
 G. a black boy was blocked from entering the school by the students and when the
principal tries to help him, they called him (the principal) “Nigger lover”. Also on
his way to Georgia, Baldwin recounts how blacks are hanged and their sex cut off
and how they are brutally maimed and sternly discriminated. Baldwin sees hatred as
the fuel that burns the ember of racism.

6. HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the major issues addressed by Baldwin is the issue of homosexualism.
The twentieth century American society frowned at gayism, this probes
challenges for homosexuals. Baldwin being a victim of this admits that
homosexualism is not natural, it is something that grows from within. He
describes the complex feelings of homosexuals using Andre Gide and portrays
how women who are married to them suffers a great deal.

RELATIONSHIP OF THE WORK WITH THE SOCIETY

James Baldwin’s Nobody knows my Name is a non-fictional portrayal of the

twentieth century American society. It mirrors the social ills in the society especially
the plights of the blacks who are socially, economically and mentally subjugated by the
subduing force of racial discrimination.

Some of the issues raised by Baldwin which includes, identity crisis, culture
clash, racial segregation, poverty, homosexuality, and so on are still rampant within our
society. This has made the work relevant even up till today.

Baldwin tries to paint a certain part of the society which most writers might
ignore due to its ugliness. He is a realist who has no luxury of time to sugar coat the
truth, this is why his works have been points of attractions to critics.

Baldwin boldness is commendable as he returns to America to face the oddities

of his being, embrace the fact that he is black and create awareness of the hardship of
the blacks. He exposes the dichotomy between the south and the north, unveiling that
there is formal segregation in the south and informal social and economic segregation
is imposed in the north.

The book helps us to understand how our society functions taking a cue from
the past. It retells the history of the blacks in very realistic way that so much challenges
the present day to embrace who they are regardless of their cultural background and the
color of their skin.

CONCLUSION

James Baldwin has successfully portrayed the situation in America during the
twentieth century pertaining to what the blacks were facing then. This is a common
attribute of the twentieth American literature, especially those written by blacks. He has
given the readers not just his own view but an insight into the rotten American society
and how Negroes seem to be lost in this endless cycle of racism.
 `CONTENT

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND STUDY OF THE WORK

PLOT

THEMATIC CONCERNS

i. Racial discrimination
ii. Identity
iii. Poverty
iv. Cultural inventory
v. Hatred
vi. Homosexuality

RELATIONSHIP OF THE WORK WITH THE SOCIETY

CONCLUSION

REFRENCE
 UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA

FACULTY OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

COURSE TITLE: TWENTIETH CENTURY

AMERICAN LITERATURE

COURSE CODE: ENL301

GROUP: GROUP 6

QUESTION: Analyze the book “NOBODY KNOWS MY NAME”

by James Baldwin

LECTURER: Dr. (Mrs) Nonyelum Chibuzo Mba