What Are The Similarities Between James Baldwin And Audre Lorde
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James Baldwin and Audre Lorde have shared similar experiences all due to the color of their skin. In their writing they display internal and external conflict. Baldwin contemplates the feelings his father had towards whites and why he had those feelings, and Lorde constructively suppresses her deep anger throughout her essay. In James Baldwin’s “Notes of a Native Son”, the narrator makes the statement, “I learned in New Jersey that to be a Negro meant, precisely, that one was never looked at but was simply at the mercy of the reflexes the color of the one’s skin caused in other people”. This statement brings forth the harsh acceptance of the reality of New Jersey in Baldwin’s Heart. This statement in James Baldwin’s essay most likely means that we cannot control people’s feelings towards us, and that there is often nothing that can be done to truly stop these feelings from arising, we must accept it. Baldwin’s statement may shape his father’s attitude towards white people because his father had already decided that he distrusted white people, which lead to him preaching his hateful beliefs to his children. By expressing these beliefs to his children, Baldwin’s father was already showing signs of acceptance of what was his reality, that white people could…show more content… An example of this was when her family was on a train to Washington D.C., when Lorde was denied access to the dining car of the train due to her skin color and when her parent didn’t give her a direct answer of why this was so. Lorde’s parent tried to hide the harsh reality which they were in, most likely to protect her childhood and so she would enjoy her trip, so they had thought. Her parents were “following the norm” of what a person of color should be, this shows that they felt inferior due to their skin color and that nothing could be done to change the reality they live