The Fire Next Time Summary

481 Words2 Pages
Kofi Brinkley English 201 Prof. Jamila Lyn 26 October 2007 Baldwinian Price of American Transformation In the last portion of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time (1963), the author outlines the price of the cultural transformation of America. Baldwin validates his call for transformation saying that if we, meaning Americans as a whole, persist in considering ourselves as an exclusively white country we will condemn ourselves to cultural sterility and decay. Knowing the point of reference, to which the pronoun we refers to is important to understanding the transformation passage. The ‘we’ is actually referring to Americans both black and white. Baldwin goes on to say “if we could accept ourselves as we are, we might bring new life to the Western achievements and transform them.” Baldwin, a man ahead of his time, calls on American cultural renaissance because he sees the potential for a violent civil movement in America and believes it can be avoided if the country would see itself for what it really is and not what it pretends to be.…show more content…
The letter to his nephew James is written as one might write a letter to a mentee. The letter reads like a survival guide to maintaining identity in a white supremacist society and sets the premise for “Down at the Cross,” which is the more substantial part of the book. In the second section of the book, the author details his road to self-discovery and his dealing with those around him. The theme of self-discovery and identity, which is strong in his letter to his nephew, pervades the second part of the text as

More about The Fire Next Time Summary

Open Document