As personal and as emotional as James Baldwin’s “A Letter To My Nephew” is, I have been led to believe that this publication was not written solely for his young nephew but for an audience much greater. From the way he speaks to what he actually says, Baldwin makes a grand statement in this piece on the extent to which present-day America (at the time) suffered under the “black and white” divisional mindset and conditions that haunted both sides of society, whether or not the individuals were specifically conscious of it (whites). Made with both heartfelt hope for the future and contempt for the poor fate that seems to loom over the entirety of his race, James Baldwin includes feelings and thoughts pleasing and understood by anyone so as to be read by as large an audience as possible: a plea for effort from all, one less matter of segregation.

At the start of the essay, Baldwin humanizes himself. Though he defines himself as an educated writer he has also made clear his role as the everyday man; a man with a brother, a man with a mother, a man with past experience, a man that virtually all others could connect to. Through his own stories and memories and position to give advice as an uncle writing to his nephew, Baldwin demonstrates his credibility as a black writer and on his ability to speak on such a level, thus proving his ethos. In a world, as he has witnessed, of such shallow hatred towards the whole of the black community, Baldwin preaches the idea that love will suffice for growth and unification of a world meant to work together, not against itself. He brings such confidence in and longing for better days for his young nephew, for the black population, and for humanity as a whole, for “great men have done great things here and will again and we can make America what America must become.” Logos is built within the entirety of the piece, in its message, as each claim Baldwin makes is sensible, reasonable, and has potential in the hands of the right people. To one, to all, take his words and take them strongly, for such a credible and mighty soul, hurt by society, still had the drive to fix it.

Emily Weiss

02.23.2016