“The paradox— and a fearful paradox it is— is that the American Negro can have no future anywhere, on any continent, as long as he is unwilling to accept his past. To accept one’s past— one’s history— is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it.” (81)
This passage is taken from the second part of James Baldwin’s book, The Fire Next Time, in which Baldwin states his personal opinion on racism and the hardships of blacks. A sentence before this passage he is says that Negroes have only been formed by the United States and not Africa or the religion of Islam. This fact leads into the passage above where he is explaining that the American Negro, if he wants to create a better future for himself, must accept all his past hardships and use it to better himself. To create the ‘American Dream’ for himself. Baldwin uses diction, rhetoric and theme to explain that anyone can learn from their past experiences.
The diction the author uses in this passage is very noticeable. A paradox is when something seems contradictory or unbelieveable, but may or may not be true. Baldwin uses the word “paradox” to insure that the reader can formulate their own opinion whether they believe accepting one’s past is necessary for a better future to be true. …show more content…
Parenthesis is defined as the insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence. For example, “—and a fearful paradox it is—” is used to explain to the reader that sometimes it is scary to accept one’s past because it might not be a past worth remembering. “—one’s history—” is used for emphasis to show that one’s history and past formulates the person they can become. “One’s history” is different than “one’s past” in terms of the history of Negroes as opposed to that single Negro. Baldwin uses both terms to make it clear to the reader that both can help the Negro achieve
This passage is taken from the second part of James Baldwin’s book, The Fire Next Time, in which Baldwin states his personal opinion on racism and the hardships of blacks. A sentence before this passage he is says that Negroes have only been formed by the United States and not Africa or the religion of Islam. This fact leads into the passage above where he is explaining that the American Negro, if he wants to create a better future for himself, must accept all his past hardships and use it to better himself. To create the ‘American Dream’ for himself. Baldwin uses diction, rhetoric and theme to explain that anyone can learn from their past experiences.
The diction the author uses in this passage is very noticeable. A paradox is when something seems contradictory or unbelieveable, but may or may not be true. Baldwin uses the word “paradox” to insure that the reader can formulate their own opinion whether they believe accepting one’s past is necessary for a better future to be true. …show more content…
Parenthesis is defined as the insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence. For example, “—and a fearful paradox it is—” is used to explain to the reader that sometimes it is scary to accept one’s past because it might not be a past worth remembering. “—one’s history—” is used for emphasis to show that one’s history and past formulates the person they can become. “One’s history” is different than “one’s past” in terms of the history of Negroes as opposed to that single Negro. Baldwin uses both terms to make it clear to the reader that both can help the Negro achieve