— Anonymous
While reading the essay we can see that the family troubles and the relationship between Baldwin and his father as well as the challenges of racism in the American society during the 1940s. Usually, father and son relationship are close to each other but for Baldwin it was opposite. As his father was a first free black man in that period of time he witnessed how the white mistreated slaves which warns his son to be careful of the white people. He really dislikes his father thoughts and he felt that his father was a complicated man.
However, Baldwin began to witness racism against the black people when he moved to New Jersey. Basically, the town was dominated by white people and black people were treated as minority. In one instance, he found himself to be the only black person in a restaurant where everyone else was white. Further he faced a same situation when it comes to bars bowling alleys, residential places, restaurants etc.
I found one of the instance from the essay very interesting when Baldwin was not allowed inside the restaurant where the waitress stood behind him repeating same sentences “We don’t’ serve negroes here.” This sentence made him furious and when he lost his cool and threw a mug of half-filled water against her but fortunately the mug scattered against the mirror on the wall and not the waitress. After facing numerous time of racial discrimination changed Baldwin’s perspective on white people. He began to understand the reality of racism and the reality of life his father had taught him. He started to have a bitterness and hatred towards white people as his father did. In a way, it gave us the sense that his father lives inside of him.
