Living in another country gave him the remove to look at America, his
homeland and himself in a way he might not have been capable of
accessing otherwise.
6. How does the experience of living abroad as an expatriate shape
Baldwin’s relationship with the United States and his own identity?
Baldwin grew up in New York and has been isolated from the society with racial
discrimination as a black people. He wanted to leave America and went to Paris in
order to find place where there is less discrimination as he stated “I wanted to find in
what way the specialness of my experience could be made to connect me with other
people instead of dividing me from them.” (Baldwin, page 17) Also, He doesn’t want
to be judged and recognized by his skin color, mentioning like merely a Negro writer.
Contrary to the life of America, the experience of living in Paris is totally different.
In Paris, “A man can be as proud of being a good waiter as of being a good actor, and,
in neither case, feel threatened.”(Baldwin, page 20) Also, these experiences have
made Baldwin have open–minded perspectives to everything and even discovery his
own identity, as mentioned “I love to talk to people, all kinds of people, and almost
everyone, as I hope we still know, loves a man who loves to listen.” (Baldwin, page
21)
Hi, Hilbret,
I also enjoyed reading your response since i did same question like you.
Especially, the interesting thing of your response was that your personal
experience has reflected on Baldwin’s experience of living abroad. I also
came to NYC as an expatriate like you and Baldwin. I totally
understand about your feeling when you have lived abroad for over a year.
As you mentioned above, living abroad away from our own country has