Close Reading for Lang

8/10/2019 Close Reading for Lang

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workers, so they can be the

determining factor as towhether or not things actually

can change in the world that

they live in.

Any negro who is born in thiscountry and undergoes the

American educational system

runs the risk of becoming aschizophrenic.

3 This paragraph begins a toneshift. Baldwin is beginning to

establish his true purpose for

giving his speech to theseteachers, to tell them to

change the status quo of the

time.

He pledges allegiance to the

flag which guarantees “liberty

and justice for all”.

3 Again we see the use of an

anecdote. I’m not quite sure

what to call this one. In

addition this is definitely anemotional appeal to the

teachers, who would watchtheir students every day recite

these words. The mere thought

that they’re not being true to

them would be enough to stir aresponse from even the most

conservative of them.

But on the other hand he is

also assured by his country

and his countrymen that hehas never contributed anything

to civilization — that his past

is nothing more than a recordof humiliations gladly endured

3 Baldwin brings up another use

of compound sentence here,

which serves a great purpose,showing how quickly the

history of African Americans

is summed up. That in oncesentence, he can sum up how

they’re told their lives are and

what the history of their race

is.

Happy, shiftless, watermelon-eating darkies who loved Mr.

Charlie and Miss Ann

3 Baldwin uses Colloquiallanguage here,which, as an

African American he is in a

unique position to do, but atan interesting time. He uses itnot to connect with his

audience, but rather to let

them see what a black child

see’s their race as, in theirfeet. At the time, most people

would understand the



reference, but it still would

have been striking to this particular audience.

If you think I amexaggerating, examine the

myths which proliferate in thiscountry about Negros.

3 This is a hybrid logos, pathosappeal. On one hand, Baldwin

is using logical reasoning tosay “it’s only logical that thisis true, all you need is to see

how we treat them”. On the

other hand, Baldwin is usingthis to make the teachers feel

almost guilty, saying that they

are the perpetrators of this,

they’re the ones teaching it intheir classrooms

They don’t have the

vocabulary to express whatthey see, and we, their elders,

know how to intimidate themvery easily and very soon.

3 Again, Baldwin points the

preverbal finger at theteachers, showing them that

they are impregnating theseintercity students with the

same hate and discrimination

that has been taught for

centuries, and though theyhave the power to change it,

they continue to do nothing.

Is aware that here is a reason

why his mother works so hard

and his father is always onedge

3 This can be interpreated as

both a personal anecdote and

another tone shift. Baldwin isusing his personal experiences

in childhood move him to

write these things, which weretrue to him most likely when

he was younger. Also, he’s

now showing what is actually

occurring, rather than showingthat there are ways that the

teachers can change it.

And it isn’t long — in face it

begins when is in school — before he discovers the shapeof his oppression

3 Baldwin has brought it all full

circle now, once againshowing teachers how they’rethe first lines of defense, and

that they have been the ones

who have been allowing this

abuse to occur. It might not be physical abuse, but even a

child who is in the first grade



can see when they’re being

held down

Let us say that the child is 7

years old…though he doesn’tknow why

ALL of para. 4 There is so much meat in this

paragraph, and it’s relativelyshort, but too long that it

would over inflate the amountof pages in this close reading.The entire paragraph is the

beginning of a story going

nowhere. In it, Baldwin uses atremendous amount of both

personal anecdotes and

comparisons. He states that

Harlem is “not New YorkCity”, verbalizing the

separation the blacks feel, as if

they aren’t even part of thecity as a whole. He goes on totalk about how, even though

all the citizens are “proud of

them”, the housing projectsare filled with pimps and

whores, corrupting the minds

of the children who live inthem. He then talks about the

dangers of the ghetto, all the

while knowing that these

school teachers are afraid andintimidated, not knowing what

is really going on out there, all

the while teaching like it isn’treally happening.

No one would dream of building a Tiffany’s on that

Park Avenue

5 Through the use ofcomparison, Baldwin shows

just how extremely different

his life as a black child is tothat of a white child. He

associates Park Avenue with

dirt and grime, while most ofAmerica associates it withTiffany’s, a symbol of wealth

and upper-class living. The

difference is, one street is in

the middle on Manhatten, andthe other is in the ghetto and

projects, where Baldwin lived.



And who is it for and who is

paying for it? And why isn’t itfor you?

5 The use of rhetorical questions

puts the teachers listening tothe speech in the place of

some of their students, who

will invariably ask the same

questions to themselves whenthey walk down the alleyways

that they live on, then walkdowntown and see what the

white privilege is, and why it

separates them from others.

Really hate you because in

their eyes (and they’re right)

you stand between them andlife.

6 Direct accusation to the

audience. These white

teachers would be shocked tohear this, and in addition,

know that some of the pupils

that they have actually hatethem, because of the factthey’re holding them back

from being all they can be in

life.

I was a street boy, so I know 7 Again, Baldwin reminds the

teachers that he is an expert inthis field, building his ethos

over and over again, so as not

to lose their trust they he is preaching without true

knowledge.This is why America has spent

such a long time keeping the

Negro in his place. What I amtrying to suggest to you is that

it was not an accident, it was

not an act of God, it was not

done by well-meaning peoplemuddling into something

which they didn’t understand.

8 The tone of Baldwin is

shifting again. Baldwin is

building tension with thisrepetitive use of “it was not”

to begin to shift from

examples and ethos, to his

main point of giving thisentire speech, to why he’s

there.

And now, in 1963, because we

have never faced this fact, weare in intolerable trouble.

8 Baldwin completes his tone

shift, he now is letting theteachers know that he’s trulythere to tell them that they

have to face facts. It’s time for

them to change what’s going

on, this culminating thoughthas come from a great build of

tension from the previous



stories and metaphors and

finally has climaxed with that bold statement.

What does the Negro want? 9 After all that was just built up,this question, which might

have seemed legitimate to theteachers at the beginning, nowseems, as Baldwin will

describe it, asinine. He uses it

as a tool to show just how blind people are, and that

teachers must be the ones to

see this problem first.

I was not a nigger, even

though you called me one`

10 Baldwin has shifted tones

again, now addressing the

audience directly. Saying that

they personally, even thoughthey might not have known it,

have passed judgment on all black kids who have walked

through their class rooms.

They personally, by not doing

anything, have called him aderogatory term meant for the

lowest.

All this means that there are in

this country tremendous

reservoirs of bitterness.

12 Tone shifting again, only this

time, it serves the purpose to

point something out to the

teachers, that something is

brewing, underneath their

noses, and that there is

something that is about to “boil

over”

The Bible says somewhere that

where there is no vision, the

people perish.

15 The use of religious reference is

supporting what Baldwin has

said earlier about this nation not

truly being a Christian nation.

There is no vision in the county,

Baldwin argues, therefore we

are not following the bible, even

though we like to believe we are.

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Close Reading for Lang