It’s worth noting that, until this point, Baldwin refers to white Americans simply as James’s “countrymen.” These countrymen, he argues, are supposedly innocent (by which he means, for the most part, ignorant). He tells young James that the country into which they were both born is rigged against them, such that they are-from the moment of birth-set up to languish under white oppression. But James is not religious, Baldwin points out rather, he represents a new era and a new way of thinking, and the author encourages his nephew not to make the same mistake as his grandfather by believing what white people say about him.īaldwin’s advice to his nephew has much to do with the past, both in terms of their family lineage and in terms of the historical injustices woven into the very fabric of America. It is for this reason that the man became religious. After making this comparison, Baldwin tells James that his grandfather was ultimately undone-destroyed-by believing that he actually was what white society said he was: subhuman. He points out that James’s grandfather even had a similar personality to the boy’s, a certain strong-willed and assertive manner that Baldwin believes is designed to avoid looking weak or soft. Baldwin tells James that when he imagines the boy’s face he also sees the face of his brother (James’s father) and the face of his own father (James’s grandfather). The Fire Next Time opens with a short letter to Baldwin’s fourteen-year-old nephew, James, commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

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