Going to Meet the Man

James Baldwin, the author of Going to Meet the Man, explores on racial and sexual issues. The author analyses how a white man deals with ethnic issues. The author assists the readers to visualize everything that the white man goes through in his life. Furthermore, Baldwin, discusses the ability of Jesse to act in brutality towards the African Americans. Flashback is one of the literary devices in James Badwin’s short narrative. The main theme of the story is based on a transformation of a young child into a stereotypical Black Southern American.

Baldwin analyses the mindset of a white Southern American officer; and how he hated the Black Americans. The scenario was an example of how the White-Americans are brainwashed to hate people from the minority races. Baldwin influences the readers of the story to fantasize on what the white man goes through in one night. Baldwin structures the story to portray the man in the modern times during the night (229). The author analyses the night after he harassed a black boy to almost death earlier that day. The man, Jesse is living during the period of advocacy for the civil rights of the blacks.

Jesse feels offended after realizing that the whites could not win the civil rights war against the black people. He recalls the good times before the African Americans had grown up. During that time, the white would do anything against the black people without questioning. In fact, the white person would sexually abuse the blacks without experiencing any issues from the local authorities. Jesse feels that he had total influence over the black people in the old times. It is apparent that the blacks were living at disadvantaged conditions as compared to the whites.

Work Cited

Baldwin, James. Going to meet the man: Stories. Vintage, 2013.