Summary of Class

     “Going to Meet the Man” was published in 1965, one year after the adoption of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited racial discrimination in public facilities. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was created, disallowing prejudice based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex and/or age in the work place. The Voting Rights Act was also adopted in 1965, definitively outlawing states from obstructing minorities’ efforts to vote through the implementation of "voting qualifications" (literacy tests and etc).

     In this fictional piece, Baldwin tells the story of Jesse, a policeman participating in an intimidation campaign aimed at preventing African Americans from registering to vote. Jesse's attitude towards black people reflects the racist prejudices and violence of his society. Baldwin takes the reader back and forth between Jesse's childhood and the present setting; in particular, Jesse remembers the first time he witnessed a public lynching. Baldwin presents this event as traumatic: he demonstrates the seed of hatred being planted during childhood, as cultivation of racial animosity is encouraged by Jesse's parents. Like the other white adults and children around him, Jesse is encourto find pleasure at the sight of the abuses perpetrated against the Black man.

     Baldwin depicts with great acuteness the tormented psychology of this man who appears as a product of his time and society. Despite his hatred for Blacks, Jesse is sexually attracted to African American women who can give him the "spice" his wife cannot offer him. For Jesse, his sexuality and his racism are intertwined. Every act of brutality toward Blacks creates in him a sexual excitement.  Baldwin develops here the theme of surveillance: he shows how violent "watching" can be and how it shapes a whole society's behavior. This theme is projected to apply to the reader. By demonstrating the danger of participating in surveillance, Baldwin forces us to become reflective readers instead of passive ones.

Word Count: 310     

Passages:

"Then he just lay there, silent, angry and helpless. Excitement filled him like a toothache, but it refused to enter his flesh. He stroked her breast. This was his wife. He could not ask her to do just a little thing for him, just to help him out, just for a little while, the way he could ask a nigger girl to do it. He lay there and he sighed. The image of a black girl caused a distant excitement in him, like far-away light; but, again, the excitement was more like pain; instead of forcing him to act, it made action impossible." (2509)

• This quote demonstrates the relationship between sex and race in this story. Jesse, a man still competent for sexual activity cannot sexually perform with his own wife. Instead, he finds arousal through the adulterous thoughts of a black woman. This passage seems to highlight a sort of contrived sexual inferiority that accompanies this societies' racism because Jesse's wife cannot give him  the pleasure he desires. The language of this quote demonstrates that the African American woman may fulfill this sexual pleasure and intimacy but she is viewed without any respect or value. Jesse refers to such a female as "nigger girl" and "black girl" as if they have no womanly tendencies or respectability simply based on their color. Jesse's wife, is described however as a precious and upright commodity with whom he would not dare ask sexual favors. Such line of thought is based on social pressures.

"Well, I told you," said his father, "you wasn't never going to forget this picnic." His father's face was full of sweat, his eyes were very peaceful." (2520)

• This quote foreshadows the traumatic effects the public lynching holds on Jesse's worldview in later adulthood. It is indeed a moment that he will never forget, a moment that will mold his future life, actions and beliefs. The description of his father mirrors the characteristics of a post-orgasmic state; this emphasizes the connection between sex and race and shows the sexual satisfaction that he derives from the sight of the violence perpetrated against the Black man.

"He could not tell whether [Grace] was listening or not; and he was afraid to ask again. [...] "He was lying on the ground jerking and moaning, they had threw him in a cell by himself and blood was coming out his ears from where Big Jim C and his boys had whipped him. Wouldn't you think they'd learn?"" (2511)

• This quote shows Jesse's desire to talk about his trauma to his wife. Trauma is a repetition and Jesse seems compelled to play again and again the traumatic event that he has previously experienced. He wants nonetheless this process to stop: it is as if, in this extract, he wished that Blacks would stop protesting so that he wouldn't have to punish them. This is an example of Jesse's intense traumatic suffering and also of the twisted logic that racism had created.

Key Terms:

Trauma: emotionally painful, distressful or shocking experience which has lasting mental or physical effects on a person.