Tanya Lee

ENGL 101 HYB

10/11/11
Critical Response

“Stranger in the Village” is one of the many essays written in the book Notes of a Native
Son by James Baldwin in 1955. In this essay, James Baldwin is miles away from America, but he
talks about how he still experiences certain cases of racism even in a tiny Swiss village. This
particular essay discusses the issues of white superiority over Blacks in American history and it
also examines the historical relationship between the blacks and whites at the time. He explains
these points with personal experiences, historical context and with his own opinions of the
subject.
In the beginning of the essay, Baldwin describes the Swiss town that he is in. He explains
that it is an extremely small town. Only about 600 people live there. There are not any movie
theaters, no libraries, no bank, but most of all no one of his race. He then makes an assumption
that of two religions, the people in the town are mostly Catholic because the Church is open all
year. The town is a quite, quaint town that. Baldwin explains that not much happens around there
especially in the winter. Baldwin is in this town for work because of the town’s situation. He
explains that he has been in the village before and has come back because the town had no
distractions and was very cheap. When he is in the town, children should out “Neger!” people
stare at him and touch his hair as if they had never seen someone like him before. Baldwin does
not think of himself as a different kind of person in America, however coming back to the village
made him notice that although the town was small, people in America knew about it. The village
and America have some similarities. He remembers the times where Americans were just as
amazed as the villagers upon seeing black people. On his return to the village, Baldwin verified
the fact that even if he could no longer be considered as someone that was different by the
villagers, they will still treat him as a stranger and thus racism still will exist in the village.
Although he states this, he says that each time he goes there; they treat him as a stranger in a
different way every time. Baldwin then goes to relate the village and villagers to early America
and early Americans. When he was in America, people would shout out “nigger” which has
translated to “neger” in the small Swiss Village. People in America and here would stare at him
on the streets and be disrespectful. He starts talking about rage and the reader can tell that he is
getting worked up with what he is saying. Baldwin is almost fed up with how Blacks are being
treated all over the world. Baldwin wishes the world could just see everyone as equal but knows
that the initial invention of racism will never go way. Racism will forever be a part of people’s
lives. He also realized that the ideas which American beliefs are based on, originated from
Europe.
Throughout the entire thing Baldwin makes it apparent that he has a strong opinion, but
manages to do with maintaining a calm, fair tone. By using personal stories to outline the main
idea, observations and historical references, I believe these helped him make a very convincing
and believable argument. I believe that Baldwin seems to develop a deeper understanding of
racism against blacks and where it originated from in the end of his essay. Baldwin thinks that
because of Americans, Blacks were looked down upon and sought as people that don’t have the
same rights. I think that his ending message that he wanted to leave his audience was that Black
and White people who are alike will never be the same and racism has forever changed the
world.
 In spite of this and the negative experiences he had there he still returned for what he calls to
be tranquility and affordability
Baldwin does not regard himself as an alien in America , however coming back to the village
made him conscious of the fact that there were times in America which showed that the
Americans were not as immune to the presence of the village as he first thought. Americans are .
In fact , there are instances where in the Americans were just as astounded as the villagers upon
seeing black people . On his return , Baldwin verified the fact that even if he could no longer be
considered as an alien by the villagers they still treat him as a stranger and thus racism still
prevails in the village "But some of the men have accused le sale ne 'gre - behind my back- of
stealing wood and there is already in the eyes of some of them that peculiar , intent , paranoic
malevolence which one sometimes surprises...