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CHAPTER II
THE HUMANISM OF JAMES BALDWIN
The intellectual atmosphere of man is now rapidly changing
and is becoming charged with new interests. More and more
people, oppressed with the stale skepticism of the post-war period,
are beginning to grow skeptical. They are looking for a new set of
controlling ideas capable of restoring and retaining value to human
existence. Certain forces are making for order and for new
objectives. One of these forces is known as humanism. In its
broadest sense, it denotes a belief of Pope, expressed in his Essay
on Man:
Know then thyself, presume not god to scan:
The proper study of mankind is man (1733:1 -2).
This study should enable mankind to perceive and realize its
humanity.
Humanism is a term that implies interest in man and his
values. Humanism is not a descriptive word but a prescriptive
word. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English
defines humanism as “a system of thought that considers that
solving human problems with the help of reason is more important
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than religious beliefs” (2000: 635). It expresses a nonnative ideal,
which is offered to guide and direct our conduct. It is not the
description of what is the case but what ought to be the case. It
shows how one ought to treat human beings, or interpret social
institutions and what general model one ought to use for the future.
F.
J.
Neithamner
coined
the
term
"humanism"
(Rahman 2002:1) in 1808 for the development of the Greeks and
Latin classics. It was claimed that these studies contributed to the
education of a desirable human being and hence it was a vital
concern for man. Paul Oskar Kristeller states, "Thus they indicated
a basic concern for man and his dignity”(l 961:125). The word
'humanism' has been used to signify a concern for the mundane
world, an interest, which has found expression in the desire to
accomplish the good life here and now. It suggests not a doctrine
but an attitude; it is an organic attitude towards life; it has not been
a sectarian battle cry, but a word connoting a concern for man and
his earthly welfare.
New humanism is not to be identified with this or that body
of traditional preceptor. It is one of the laws unwritten in Heavens.
Walter Sultan quotes Babbit that Humanism is interested in "the
perfecting of the individual rather than in schemes for the elevation
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of mankind as a whole" (1963:28).
Humanism believes with
Goethe, as quoted by Normen Foester in Humanism and America:
...every one must form himself as a particular being,
seeking, however, to attain that general idea of which
all mankind are constituents (1930: xiv).
Humanism has much to say of discipline, order and control. It has
inner diversity, but central unity. Its central order is discipline.
Humanism focuses on the general attitude of the human
beings. It is an emphasis on the qualities it considers to be
essentially humane. It is in defense of human dignity and of human
possibilities; it is in opposition to all the forces that threaten them,
whether these forces be religious, social, governmental, economic,
or those of an anti-human philosophy. This attitude received its
name during the Renaissance, when it was revived as a result of the
study of Greek and Roman antiquity.
Humanism is the awakening of the individual to a sense of
freedom. It expresses a worldly concern for human happiness and a
just human society. It advocates a sensitive regard for each man as
his own end and for man as responsible for man. This notion of
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human responsibility is the nucleus of humanism. It is a philosophy
for those who are in love with life.
Humanists take responsibility
for their own lives. Humanism places an emphasis on the power
and dignity of man and on the worth of human personality. It
considers man's supreme ethical aim as working for the welfare of
all humanity in this one and only life, using the method of reason,
science and democracy for the solution of problems. It is a
philosophy of reason and science in the pursuit of knowledge. The
ideas are assessed rationally to solve the problem. So humanism is
in tune with the science of today. Also it is in tune with new
technological developments especially in the interest of protecting
environment.
Humanism focuses on human means for comprehending
reality. It is a philosophy for the here and now. It is never new. It
must constantly confront new problems in time and place. It may
have one problem in France and another across the channel.
Humanists regard human values as making sense only in the
context of human life rather than in the promises of a supposed life
after death. It is in tune with today's enlightened social thought.
Humanists are committed to civil liberties, human rights, church,
state-separation and the extension of participating in democracy,
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not only in government but also in the work place and education. It
is an expression of global consciousness and exchange of products
and ideas internationally, and an open-minded approach to solving
social problems, an approach that allows for the testing of new
alternatives.
The word humanist was applied first in Italy during the
fifteenth century, and later in other European countries, to the type
of scholar who was not only proficient in Greek and Latin, but who
at the same time inclined to promote the humanity of the great
classical writers. The word humanist has two main meanings - a
historical meaning in its application to the Middle Ages to Greeks
and Romans, and a psychological meaning that derives directly
from the historical one. The former has been more interested in
concrete knowledge and in general ideas. Humanists in this latter
sense are those who, in any age, aim at a balanced state of mind
through a cultivation of the law of measure.
The Humanist asserts freewill as a fact. The freedom of the
individual is the keynote of the humanist's way of life. Humanists
keep an open mind. They deem no opinion as truth without
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verification. Humanism is necessary for the success of democracy
and to banish the sectarianism of the political party system.
In modem times humanism has taken various forms,
including secular, religious, radical, literary, ethical and scientific.
There are different kinds of humanists too. "...liberal humanists
believe in 'human nature' as something fixed and constant which
great literature expresses" (Barry 2002:3). All declare that they are
for man. They wish to actualize man's potentialities, enhance
human experience and contribute to happiness, social justice,
democracy and a peaceful world. They say that they are opposed to
authoritarian or totalitarian force that dehumanizes man. They
profess compassion for human suffering and commitment to the
unity of mankind. The final appeal of the humanist is not to any
historical convention but to intuition.
Baldwin is a secular humanist when he puts faith in man
rather than in God. He is an ethical humanist who enhances the
areas of human freedom in the world and recognizes the existence
of moral dilemmas and the need for moral decision-making. He is
termed as a scientific humanist who supplants religion and makes
scientific knowledge the instrument of freeing man and enhancing
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his life. He is a modem humanist who rejects all supematuralism
and relies primarily upon reason and science, democracy and
human compassion, both secular and religious.
Above all, he is often categorized as a radical humanist who
is concerned with radical changes from a subjectivist viewpoint.
The radical humanists share a view of the world that society should
be reorganized, even overthrown, to allow individuals maximum
freedom. They believe that society is governed by 'deep' structure
or 'super' structures that keep humans from fulfilling their potential.
Such humanists strive to articulate ways in which human beings
can transcend their spiritual bonds and fetters by means of which
they are tied to the existing social pattern.
Baldwin’s approach to the socio-economic and political
problem is basically humanistic. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s passion
for justice and humanism as stated in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
also has a deep impact on Baldwin's mind. She has championed the
cause of the abolition of slavery. Her evangelical temper and
emotional extravagance have moved his tender mind. In order to
explore the perspective of Baldwin’s humanism in his fiction, it is
pertinent to know about one of the incidents that has happened in
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his life. Regarding the occasion, when once he was caught by the
police, he says:
Especially cops. I knew that they knew that I was
seven or eight or nine and they were just having fun
with me. They wanted me to beg. And I couldn't beg,
so I got my ass kicked. But I learned a lot, a lot about
them.
I learned there were very few who were
humane; they just wanted you to say what they wanted
you to say (Troupe 2000:95).
The idea of Baldwin is that the dehumanizing oppression, brutality
and treatment of the Blacks as second-class citizens can be rooted
out through the practice of love. Baldwin realizes that the message
of love and compassion can restore peace and happiness in the wartom world. His insistence on the dignity of man, irrespective of
race, creed and wealth, his plea for the practice of love as a living
value, his crusade against imperialism are some of the chief
characteristics of his humanism.
Baldwin, like most other humanists, starts with a declaration
of his immense faith in measuring the values and all actions in
relation to human personality. Man is the maker and breaker of
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worlds. His admiration of man does not blind him to man's
weaknesses. He does bring to light man's greed, lust, and
selfishness, cruelty and insensitivity. He firmly believes that the
Black man is potentially capable of rising from these lower
passions to magnificent heights of splendor. Men must realize and
accept the profound importance of man. The most vital need of our
troubled times is to engender among men a genuine respect for
man, love for him, and faith in his ability to live a life full of
dignity.
His ordeal of spiritual rebirth takes place in the
temple of 'fire baptized.' There is evidence for his conversion in
the church of his salvation. Turning to Gabriel, John smiles but
receives no smile in return from his stepfather. John knows that he
has not won Gabriel's love. Then John hears his mother calling him
and answers " 'I'm on my way'" (Go Tell It on the Mountain; 291).
Baldwin seems to say that the 'way' is the way towards progress
and redemption, as he says to Elisha ' "remember—please
remember—I was saved. I was there' [sic]' " (290). John Grimes
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goes through a harrowing experience in an attempt to reconcile
inner conflicts. The idea of viewing man as the center of universe
and as an entity capable of improvement is a point of view, which
is genuinely shared by all humanists. Baldwin believes that man is
the master of destiny and man is the center of all things.
Baldwin's humanism has faith in the ethical equality of all
men. Therefore, it cannot accept any distinction between men.
Distinction in division of race, according to Baldwin, is a positive
obstacle for human beings to grow to their full height and dignity.
He views the racial problem as human problem. He is interested
in the human aspect of the racial problem. The problem of human
relationship is well portrayed through Vivaldo and Ida in Another
Country (1962). Vivaldo is all the time aware of the failure of their
love. There is a feeling of racial prejudice weighing heavily on
Ida's mind. Vivaldo too is groaning under the weight of this racial
prejudice, causing the horrid love-hate tangle as he puts it:
'I don't see how I can live with Ida, and I don't see
how I can live without her. I get through everyday on
a prayer. Every morning, when I wake up, I'm
surprised to find that she's still beside me. ... And yet
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... sometimes I wish she weren't there, sometimes I
wish I'd never met her, sometimes I think I'd go
anywhere to get this burden off me. She never lets me
forget I'm white, she never lets me forget she's
colored. And I don't care, I don't care__ ’ (Another
Country: 340).
In Ida's point of view, some of her statements ring familiar
and typical in their bitter truthfulness. She says to Vivaldo in a
breezy argument:
But I'm black, too, and I know how white people treat
black boys and girls. They think you're something for
them to wipe their pricks on (324).
Only brotherly love among Americans, Baldwin says, can solve it.
Black man
He writes about what it means to be a
4 • and at the same time,
about what it means to be a man. He comes back to the United
States from Paris because he is trying to penetrate the secret of
human nature in race relations.
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Baldwin strongly feels that the state and government can
justify their existence only as long as they promote the liberty and
equality of all their citizens. He says categorically that a state that
acts against the freedom and justice of men should quit. This
conviction makes him take part in the Civil Rights Movement. All
his life Leo in Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone (1968) is
a moderate 'middle grounder' who tries to work within the existing
social situation to attain what for him is good life.
When he succeeds he looks at the socio-economic condition of
other Black men. He realizes that because of defects in the system,
no significant changes in the direction of equality and justice are
likely to occur during his lifetime. He feels that he has done
nothing to promote change. He says that the city is stricken with
the plague. Realizing that drastic and curative method is necessary
he decides to take up a role in Civil Rights Movement. Baldwin
says that all people must have freedom socially, politically,
economically and intellectually. But it should not encroach upon
each other's freedom.
Baldwin has repeatedly tried to convince his readers that
there is finally no difference between the dilemma of his Black
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characters and that of just about everybody else in the corrupt
society. He constantly understates the horror of his characters'
situation in order to present them as human beings whom disaster
has struck rather than as Blacks who have, typically, been
victimized by Whites. He is only against the inhuman behavior of
the Whites and not against the Whites. He has many White friends.
His work contains many sympathetic portraits of White people. In
Giovanni’s Room (1956) all the characters are Whites. He talks
about human weakness and not the weakness of the Blacks or
Whites He treats the theme of homosexuality in this novel. The
ability to relate, to reveal, to communicate constitutes in Baldwin's
works the basic premise of satisfying heterosexuality; and the lack
of such ability impels men to be able to communicate with others
in the exercise of homosexuality. Both Giovanni’s Room
and
Another Country (1962) treat the matter of homosexual relations
with intensity and force but not repulsion.
Giovanni believes that love, even physical love, has the
redemptive power. He strongly feels that two men can derive from
each other an essential joy, which Hella could never begin to
comprehend, let alone give. He says to David
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'If you cannot love me, I will die. Before you came I
wanted to die, I have told you many times. It is cruel
to have made me want to live only to make my death
more bloody' (Giovanni's Room: 137).
Baldwin seeks to create a highly personal literature dealing
less with social conflict than with the complexity of human
motivations. He states, "I wanted my people to be people first,
Negroes almost incidentally" (T.E. Cassidy 1953:186). Lee Daniels
quotes Baldwin in New York Times:
I was a maverick, a maverick in the sense that I
depended on neither the white world nor the black
world, ... That was the only way I could've played it. I
would've been broken otherwise. I had to say, 'A curse
on both your houses.' The fact that I went to Europe so
early is probably what saved me. It gave me another
touchstone— my-self (1987:1).
Baldwin emphatically insists on the concept of the whole
man. In fact, the most significant contribution of Baldwin to the
philosophy of humanism is perhaps his theory of the whole man,
which forms the keystone in the arch of his comprehensive
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historical humanism. In Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
(1968) Baldwin again and again emphasizes
the simple basic
human relation* of child and parent, male and female, friend and
lover, i
Basically, the story is of Leo Proudhammer's struggle to become
what he regards as a man. Baldwin makes his hero live with dignity
and with possibility for self-fulfillment. For Leo, his heart- attack
is an experience, the door to maturity. Leo's recollection of the
past, of how he rose to prominence and became the sort of man he
is, are interspersed throughout the novel with his recovery from
illness. Baldwin pleads for the all-round growth of man, for the
development of all his faculties, and this in turn should serve the
total development of other individuals in society. So it can be
rightly said that for Baldwin, humanism is illumination or
enlightenment in the interest of man, true to his highest nature and
his noblest vision. Humanism is concerned with the whole man.
The individual's development is inextricably bound up with the
development of the society as a whole.
Baldwin's works present an important aspect as it is situated
on a historical, social and literary plane as well. His fiction derives
much meaning and depth by his commitment to humanist
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philosophy. He stresses that man is a creature who needs to care,
be cared for, to give and receive love. His humanism recognizes
man as unity. Man's reasons and emotions are inseparably linked.
Baldwin emphasizes the importance of a better understanding,
hannony in society and love among men. He thinks in terms of
freedom and dignity. Rufus in Another Country (1962) is able to
identify with the mood of desperation because he wants someone
to understand his crucial need to receive love and save him from
destruction.
Rufus' White friend, Vivaldo Moore, may also have
served as the instrument of his salvation. But Vivaldo cannot bear
to face Rufus' reality. Shortly before his death, Rufus begins to
listen to the whistle of the riverboats, and he thinks,
'... wouldn’t it be nice to get on a boat again and go
some place away from all these nowhere people,
where a man could be treated like a man' (Another
Country : 68).
Rufus longs for another country where his dream of love can be
fulfilled but in vain.
Baldwin's main concern is that the Blacks
should be treated as a human being. He says that the Blacks want
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to be treated like men. He portrays the life of the Blacks in
America realistically.
It is necessary to note that Baldwin's humanism is opposed
to the White Christian God. He believes in a religion that teaches
humanity and love. In If Beale Street Could Talk (1974) Sharon,
like Ernestine, believes in human action, not in waiting on the
Lord. Fonny's father Frank is a defiant disbeliever:
'I don't know' Frank said, 'how God expects a man to
act when his son is in trouble. Your [sic] God crucified
His [sic] son and was probably glad to get rid of him,
but I ain't like that' (If Beale Street Could Talk: 71).
Baldwin’s concept of religion transcends all barriers of race, color,
and creed. He condemns religion because Christianity has been
used as a tool for enslaving his people to the White majority who
pretend that God has willed their superiority. This practice of
religion leads to his rejection of Christianity.
The characters
in Baldwin's
novels fail to establish
meaningful personal relationships and find sustenance for their
lives through the exhilarating power of love. Each of the major
characters in Another Country (1962) suffers from isolation,
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estrangement and alienation. This becomes too heavy to bear, and
they cry out in agony, as they search for the redeeming power of
love. Rufus struggles amidst feeling of frustration and hostility,
waging what he senses to be a losing battle with the establishment
for survival. Frustrated over the condition of the Blacks, Rufus
gives vent to his feelings of hatred:
'You got to fight with the landlord because the
landlord's whitel [sic] You got to fight with the
elevator boy because the motherfucker's white [sic].
Any bum on the Bowery can shit all over you because
may be he can’t hear, can’t see, can’t walk, can’t
fuck—but he’s white! [sic] (Another Country: 68).
Thus the search for love and the struggle for survival give rise to
the haunting question “Do you love mel [sic]": 8).
Baldwin seems to have a similar idea as that of Hartley
Grattan. Hartley Grattan believes that the interior life of a man
should be organized in a fashion so as to bring his personal life to
perfection. He says: "... it is only after we have ordered the
environment that we can have orderly interior lives..." (1930: 9).
Neither Richard in Another Country (1962) nor Gabriel Grimes in
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Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) sets their “ 'house in order' ”
(Go Tell it on the Mountain: 255). Richard is so absorbed with the
trappings of success that he becomes oblivious to Cass’s urgent
need to be loved. Cass is unable to suppress her yearning for selffulfillment. She turns away from Richard and accepts Eric. Cass’s
great yearning is to be a woman and she has been denied the
realization of that hope.
In Go Tell It on the Mountain Gabriel has no love for his
bastard son, John Grimes. John fails to get love and tenderness
from his father despite attempts to please him. Ready to love, John
encounters hatred that forces him to hate in return, in order to
survive. He becomes the Devil’s son and Gabriel becomes the
antifather. To his question, " ' ... is Daddy a good man?' " (21),
Elizabeth's mouth is tightened and her eyes grow dark. She cannot
conceal the truth. She says, "That ain't no kind of question, ... You
don't know no better man, do you?" (21) Her thoughts are bitter.
Gabriel sows only fear and hatred. Roy, who is the legitimate heir
to the royal line, is unconvinced by his mother's attempted
assurance of Gabriel's love. In the case of Florence, it is ironic that
in the midst of her own pain and suffering, her sole reflections are
those of inflicting anguish and distress upon others.
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The artist as humanist is an artist who stands at the center of
the human experience and derives his strength from it. Baldwin
seems to derive strength from his experience. In Tell Me How
Long the Train's Been Gone (1968), Leo and Caleb are stopped by
vicious White policemen and painfully humiliated.
Black' boys
have plenty of reasons to hate White cops. Here Baldwin
impressively portrays the experience of a ] Black boy.
Caleb took out his wallet and handed it over. I could
see that his hands were trembling. I watched the white
faces. I memorized each mole, scar, pimple, nostril
hair; I memorized the eyes, the contemptuous eyes. I
wished I were God. And then I hated God.
'Caleb',
I
asked,
'are
white
people
people?'
'What are you talking about, Leo?' 'I mean - are white
people - people ? [sic] People like us?'— . . . 'All I
can tell you, Leo, is - well, they [sic] don't think they
are'. (Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone:
58-60).
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In later novels, If Beale Street Could Talk (1974) and
Just Above Mv Head (1978) Baldwin shows the Black family as
the place for understanding and reconciliation. He writes about the
entire Montana family. The parents are wise, forgiving, and every
one
is uniformly resilient
and 'caring'.
Baldwin
shows in
Just Above Mv Head, parents and children exchanging gifts at
Christmas or during a reunion. The family members have tears in
their eyes, not of regret but of anticipation, not of loneliness but of
love. Such moments in Baldwin glow with the steadiness and
clarity of a flame within a glass globe.
In If Beale Street Could Talk (1974) Baldwin asserts that
love exercised in the crucial situations can force men and women
to see themselves as they are. It ceases to be free from reality and
begins to change it. Baldwin recognizes the fact that pain and
oppression are two serious maladies of the world. But he believes
that they are avoidable with the practice of love. It is the love of
Frank towards Tish and Fonny that makes him utter:
'I just know we have to do it. I know you ain't scared
for you, and God knows I ain't scared for me. That
boy is got to come out of there. That's all. And we got
to get him out. That's all' (If Beale Street Could Talk:
204).
At any cost he wants Fonny to be out of jail as he feels sorry that
" 'They been killing our children long enough' " (204). Love can
reduce; even remove most of man's misery and unhappiness. He
firmly believes that one of the most urgent needs of mankind today
is to infuse love into the hearts of all men.
A strong distrust of orthodox religion, a deep disgust for
cruelty, a genuine compassion and love for the lowly and the lost,
the ignorant and the exploited, a tendency to disbelieve in the
traditional concept of God, hatred for the imperialism and several
other factors go to make Baldwin's philosophy of humanism. To
sum up the important tenets of Baldwin's humanism the following
salient features can be considered:
• Love is a powerful agent to root out inhuman activities.
It has a redemptive and reconciliatory power.
• Any obstacle in the way of religion of love must be done
away with.
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• Man is the master of his destiny and he is the measure of
everything.
• The highest potential of man is his own sanction, not
God.
• The evil in human nature should not be confronted
through Christianity whose doctrine tends to be perverted
tool of the ruling classes and groups.
• Oppression is a fundamental evil of the universe. But it is
avoidable.
• Racism is a heinous crime and a severe blow to the
concept of the dignity of man; so it must be rejected.
• All people must be treated with dignity.
• Belief in the brotherhood of men is a great virtue, which
need to be sincerely practiced by all.
• All people must have liberty and equality; true and
profound love can only exist between two equals
• Human
depravity,
which is
progress, must be rejected.
detrimental
to human
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• It is the responsibility of the state and the government,
and the mankind as well, to promote humanism.
Baldwin’s humanism has an inexhaustible sense of sympathy
and a deep-seated love for the oppressed. Universal brotherhood
and restoration of fundamental human values are the basic
concerns of the writer. Such a vision emanates from human
and
suffering,A poverty-stricken life,
Baldwin's fiction seems to point out the validity of effort to
achieve a genuine sense of self only through one's identification
with the humanity. His novels thus contribute a magnificent
assertion of the oneness of the human spirit that unites the family
of mankind. On the whole, his works imply in them a message the message of love.
They echo a sense of
rebellion and hatred against the way of life, which is not tolerable.
He wants to restore human values and meaning of life.
The next chapter Early Phase discusses the quest for love: a
study of Baldwin's humanism in his early two novels, Go Tell It on
the Mountain (1953) and Giovanni's Room (1956).
The narrator
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David in Giovanni's Room tells the story on a single night. In the
other novel Baldwin has adopted stream of consciousness method
through different characters. While Go Tell It on the Mountain
(1953) uses religious experience as a prime metaphor for the search
for identity, Giovanni's Room (1956) uses sexuality, particularly
homosexuality as the metaphor. The search for love is equally
imperative in both the novels. David finds it in Giovanni’s room
but loses it again because of his failure to commit himself totally.
John never finds love in his father Gabriel.
Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) is an honest and intensive
study of society and mankind as a whole. Quest for love ends in
futility except for John. Using the fictional character John Grimes
as a surrogate, Baldwin expresses his own frustrations, and the
shortcomings of his family as a whole. The main goal of humanism
is acceptance of oneself and each other to maintain good
relationship and understanding. Here, in Go Tell It on the
Mountain there is no complete acceptance of one’s self, through
loving commitment to another.
Characters in this novel find it
difficult to identify with their community too. As a result one is not
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able to develop a healthy ability to commune with another. There is
a desperate quest for love in almost all the characters. Baldwin
proves through this novel that the loss of humanism is the keyfactor of the frustrated life.
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