The Fire Next Time Book Review
James Baldwin was an African American author born in 1924 and died in 1987. He was an accomplished novelist, poet, social critic, and author in American society during the mid-twentieth century. He authored more than twenty books. Baldwin became renowned for his anti-racial views and works, which influenced the civil rights movements at the time. His book, the fire next time, is one of the books that speak against the racial experiences that African Americans experienced during Baldwin‘s time. He first published his book, the fire next time, in 1963. By then, he had established himself in the American novel industry as a respected civil rights advocate. Yet, he faced racial and homophobic discrimination, which led him to move to France in 1948, where he settled in 1970. Since his death, many authors have reproduced his books because of the remarkable influence they had on American society, including the 1990 reproduction of the fire next time by Penguin Books Limited.
The book contains two essays that describe the personal account of the writer with racial discrimination in the USA. In the book, James Baldwin gives an emotional and impassionate plea to American society to end the racial discrimination against African Americans. The two essays in the book are “My Dungeon Shock” and “Down at the Cross” that Baldwin narrates a personal account of racial relations while in America. The two essays have two main running themes, which are racial discrimination and religion. Baldwin describes the role that religion played in sanctifying racial discrimination in the 1960s. The author examines how religion and inter-generational influence play a major role in propagation discrimination towards what the racists referred to as a ‘negro problem’ (Baldwin, and Martin).
In the first essay, “my Dungeon shock” letter, Baldwin writes a letter to his nephew. In the letter, Baldwin pleads with his nephew to seek a new way of life away from other black people’s urge for vengeance against white supremacy. Baldwin explains to his nephew that neither separation from the whites nor their elimination can be a viable or feasible option. Therefore, Baldwin suggests that he and his nephew must adopt a new way of perspective towards white people. He suggests to his nephew to accept the racist faction with love. He explains that choosing love over simmering anger would help his young nephew transcend the expected failure set for all blacks by white people. He explains that changing black people’s mindset towards whites is the only way to show the racist faction that blacks are not inferior to them, which would then bring social change.
In the second, “Down at the Cross” essay, Baldwin narrates an experience of having dinner with Elijah Muhammad, a Negro leader. The essay is also a letter. However, Baldwin addresses this second letter to a part in his mind or memory. He recounts his experiences as a boy preacher. In the narration, Baldwin criticizes the ignorance and delusion of the younger version of him towards Christianity. He then describes a dinner event with Muhammad, who is the leader of Islamic fronts in the USA. He also criticizes the Islamic mindset for being less appreciative of racial challenges facing black Muslims. Finally, Baldwin criticizes both black and white perceptions towards racial differences in America. Baldwin views racial difference as an opportunity for American society to forge a great social and political spectrum. However, he argues that achieving this strong social cohesion requires that both black and white people transcend beyond their ignorant views of the nature of life.
Works Cited
Baldwin, James, and Jesse L Martin. “The Fire Next Time”. Pdfs.Semanticscholar.Org, 2008, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/21ca/be3cca546aab5725afdb9aa743a96093caba.pdf.
Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. Penguin Books Limited, 1990.