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A review by asimqureshi
Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin
5.0
There is a constantly hypnotic quality to James Baldwin’s writing that draws you into the worlds he creates.
This book is a collection of short stories, but it’s really the final one I want to focus on ‘Going to meet the man’. I want to think about it because it reminded me so clearly of what Judith Herman teaches us, that when it comes to trauma, perpetrators are sometimes survivors turned perpetrators: “Repetition is the mute language of the abused child.”
SPOILER ALERT 🚨
The sexual dysfunction of Jesse, the deputy sheriff, is so brilliantly written about by Baldwin, because he ties Jesse’s desire to power and control. His physiology is so determined by his need for control, that normal relations with his wife cannot resume without placing himself in the position of raping a black woman. This is closely tied to his abuse of a young black male activist who is protesting, it is only through the harm that he can exert, that Jesse is capable of gaining any measure of excitement. Herman reminds me that sexual violence and political violence are inextricably linked, as they are about coercive control. In order to feel powerful, Jesse must abuse.
Baldwin then messes with us, he provides a glimpse of a younger Jesse, one who wrestles with his black childhood friend Otis. Jesse doesn’t understand that the picnic he is about to partake in, is the lynching of his friend’s father. His own father laughs to his mother about how she shouldn’t get too dolled up for the occasion and the whole scene has a normal quality to it...except at the end the enjoyment is to watch the ‘joyful’ destruction of a black life. Baldwin gives an insight into Jesse’s mind, as he cannot comprehend this execution at the time. As Herman writes:
“By developing a contaminated, stigmatized identity, the child victim takes the evil of the abuser into herself”
Baldwin leaves us confused. We have no time for rapists and racists and hate Jesse for the abuser that he is - this is without doubt. But Baldwin asks us to consider the little Jesse, on the shoulders of his father being forced to watch the lynching of his friend’s father...asking the question why?
This book is a collection of short stories, but it’s really the final one I want to focus on ‘Going to meet the man’. I want to think about it because it reminded me so clearly of what Judith Herman teaches us, that when it comes to trauma, perpetrators are sometimes survivors turned perpetrators: “Repetition is the mute language of the abused child.”
SPOILER ALERT 🚨
The sexual dysfunction of Jesse, the deputy sheriff, is so brilliantly written about by Baldwin, because he ties Jesse’s desire to power and control. His physiology is so determined by his need for control, that normal relations with his wife cannot resume without placing himself in the position of raping a black woman. This is closely tied to his abuse of a young black male activist who is protesting, it is only through the harm that he can exert, that Jesse is capable of gaining any measure of excitement. Herman reminds me that sexual violence and political violence are inextricably linked, as they are about coercive control. In order to feel powerful, Jesse must abuse.
Baldwin then messes with us, he provides a glimpse of a younger Jesse, one who wrestles with his black childhood friend Otis. Jesse doesn’t understand that the picnic he is about to partake in, is the lynching of his friend’s father. His own father laughs to his mother about how she shouldn’t get too dolled up for the occasion and the whole scene has a normal quality to it...except at the end the enjoyment is to watch the ‘joyful’ destruction of a black life. Baldwin gives an insight into Jesse’s mind, as he cannot comprehend this execution at the time. As Herman writes:
“By developing a contaminated, stigmatized identity, the child victim takes the evil of the abuser into herself”
Baldwin leaves us confused. We have no time for rapists and racists and hate Jesse for the abuser that he is - this is without doubt. But Baldwin asks us to consider the little Jesse, on the shoulders of his father being forced to watch the lynching of his friend’s father...asking the question why?