48 pages • 1 hour read
James BaldwinA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Here and there a woman passed, here and there a man; rarely, a couple.”
Rufus never fully comprehends his alienation from the society he inhabits. As he passes through the streets, however, the physical distance between the people symbolizes the alienation that everyone in the city feels. Women and men pass each other, drifting through their lives and only rarely forming lasting and meaningful connections with one another. Most people are like Rufus, listlessly searching for something they do not know how to define.
“Without Vivaldo, there was a difference in the eyes which watched them.”
Without Vivaldo present, Rufus is even more keenly aware of his race. He knows that he is being watched and that, as a Black man, the people watching him are harboring negative thoughts. He feels the difference between the times when he is with Vivaldo, when he is with Leona, and when he is alone. Furthermore, the feeling of being watched by the primarily white society makes him resent Leona and Vivaldo as well as society at large. Rufus is unable to escape the feeling that he is constantly being watched and judged to the extent that he discerns different kinds of surveillance depending on his company.
By James Baldwin
A Talk to Teachers
A Talk to Teachers
James Baldwin
Blues for Mister Charlie
Blues for Mister Charlie
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Giovanni's Room
Giovanni's Room
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Going To Meet The Man
Going To Meet The Man
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Go Tell It on the Mountain
Go Tell It on the Mountain
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I Am Not Your Negro
I Am Not Your Negro
James Baldwin
If Beale Street Could Talk
If Beale Street Could Talk
James Baldwin
If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?
If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?
James Baldwin
Nobody Knows My Name
Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son
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No Name in the Street
No Name in the Street
James Baldwin
Notes of a Native Son
Notes of a Native Son
James Baldwin
Sonny's Blues
Sonny's Blues
James Baldwin
Stranger in the Village
Stranger in the Village
James Baldwin
The Amen Corner
The Amen Corner
James Baldwin
The Fire Next Time
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin
The Rockpile
The Rockpile
James Baldwin
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