Power, Masculinity, and Sexuality: A Need to be in Control
“Going to Meet the Man” is about a man named Jesse, who believes he is a god-fearing man in his community. Jesse, a middle aged white man in the civil-rights era Southern United States, is a Deputy Sheriff in his town, just like his Father was. Jesse grew up during a time when white men were in control of black men. When Jesse was just a child, he witnessed a lynching that he never forget. Witnessing this event and growing up in a racist area has caused Jesse to be a man who needs power, strong masculinity, and hypersexuality over the African American race.
The short story opens with Jesse trying to have sex with his wife. With his inability to get an erection, he gets aggravated …show more content…
Jesse had a little black friend named Otis, who was around his age. “They wrestled together in the dirt,” (Baldwin, 2518) this tells the reader that Jesse has not always been a man driven by the power of his own race. He was once an innocent little boy who didn’t judge people by the color of their skins. He even defends Otis to his parents “But Otis didn’t do nothing!” (Baldwin, 2518) His father explains, “We just want to make sure Otis don’t do nothing.” (Baldwin, 2518) His father is subconsciously putting negative thoughts inside of Jesse’s head that one day Otis will do something …show more content…
“The man with the knife took the nigger’s privates in his hand, one hand, still smiling, as though he were weighing them. In the cradle of the one white hand, the nigger’s privates seemed as remote as meat being weighed in the scales; but seemed heavier, too, much heavier, and Jesse felt his scrotum tighten; and huge, huge, much bigger than his father’s, flaccid, hairless, the largest thing he’d ever seen till then, and the blackest. The white hand stretched them, cradled them, caressed them. (Baldwin, 2522) In Jesse’s description, the sexualized manner and masculinity of the African American is obviously stated with the phrase “much bigger than his father’s” (Baldwin, 2522) Due to the nature of what takes place at the lynching, it further shows us the dominance and superiority of the white man over taking the black man’s masculinity, by cutting away the black man’s penis. Seeing his father act in a powerful and dominant state, “at that moment Jesse loved his father more than he had ever loved him. He felt that his father had carried him through a mighty test, had revealed to him a great secret, which would be the key to his life forever.” (Baldwin,
“Going to Meet the Man” is about a man named Jesse, who believes he is a god-fearing man in his community. Jesse, a middle aged white man in the civil-rights era Southern United States, is a Deputy Sheriff in his town, just like his Father was. Jesse grew up during a time when white men were in control of black men. When Jesse was just a child, he witnessed a lynching that he never forget. Witnessing this event and growing up in a racist area has caused Jesse to be a man who needs power, strong masculinity, and hypersexuality over the African American race.
The short story opens with Jesse trying to have sex with his wife. With his inability to get an erection, he gets aggravated …show more content…
Jesse had a little black friend named Otis, who was around his age. “They wrestled together in the dirt,” (Baldwin, 2518) this tells the reader that Jesse has not always been a man driven by the power of his own race. He was once an innocent little boy who didn’t judge people by the color of their skins. He even defends Otis to his parents “But Otis didn’t do nothing!” (Baldwin, 2518) His father explains, “We just want to make sure Otis don’t do nothing.” (Baldwin, 2518) His father is subconsciously putting negative thoughts inside of Jesse’s head that one day Otis will do something …show more content…
“The man with the knife took the nigger’s privates in his hand, one hand, still smiling, as though he were weighing them. In the cradle of the one white hand, the nigger’s privates seemed as remote as meat being weighed in the scales; but seemed heavier, too, much heavier, and Jesse felt his scrotum tighten; and huge, huge, much bigger than his father’s, flaccid, hairless, the largest thing he’d ever seen till then, and the blackest. The white hand stretched them, cradled them, caressed them. (Baldwin, 2522) In Jesse’s description, the sexualized manner and masculinity of the African American is obviously stated with the phrase “much bigger than his father’s” (Baldwin, 2522) Due to the nature of what takes place at the lynching, it further shows us the dominance and superiority of the white man over taking the black man’s masculinity, by cutting away the black man’s penis. Seeing his father act in a powerful and dominant state, “at that moment Jesse loved his father more than he had ever loved him. He felt that his father had carried him through a mighty test, had revealed to him a great secret, which would be the key to his life forever.” (Baldwin,