The Fire Next Time Pt. 1

Included in The Fire Next Time is a letter to Baldwin's nephew James entitled My Dungeon Shook and  a second letter entitled Down By The Cross: A Letter From a Region in My Mind. Both letters were written on the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. These letters delve deep into the intricacies of black masculinity, imagined communities, race relations, religion, relationship and the domestic space. Baldwin has a way of creating spaces for self work to be done. His focus on self examination is a constant theme throughout his literary works. He has a way of speaking to "us." Us being Black people, yet his messages are global, universal and futuristic; always seeming as if they are for a time such as this time yet not so much for now. Simply his work is timeless and crosses the boundaries of temporality. He gives one permission to become free and he makes the message of salvation one that is free, yet this salvation is one that is steeped within the self and the ability for one to decide why and how they will live their life. It is not so much tethered to a particular religious doctrine, but it is how one will decide to govern his or herself in order to live a life that produces good in the world.
In My Dungeon Shook Baldwin writes a letter to his nephew James. He shares with him the world as it has been in the past, as it is today and what he ought to do in order to help change the world in the future. Baldwin writes a version of black masculinity that hasn't been seen nor accepted. Here he is sharing with his nephew James about the world and how to not just survive it, but thrive in it. He doesn't force his doctrine or philosophy onto his nephew, but gives him an opportunity to choose. He tells his nephew to trust his experience. Baldwin's nephew is the closest thing to Baldwin having a son and he takes this opportunity to make right almost the wrongs of his own father by sharing with his nephew and giving him the opportunity to choose. Baldwin's relationship to his father was tumultuous and Christianity was forced upon him and Baldwin chose religion as a "safety net" or "gimmick" as he calls it in the letter which he later realizes wasn't for him. There are numerous biblical references and negro spirituals all throughout Baldwin's work, his roots in the church are fundamental to who he is and who he has become. Yet at the same time he is not bound by these roots or no longer immobilized as he stated in his second letter by them.
The idea of critique is interesting as it enables one to see their own beliefs, frailties and failures much clearer. Baldwin makes use of critique quite eloquently as he calls into question the Black church and how complicit the church has become in the continued oppression of Black people. He sees a reproduction of the master-slave relationship within the church and he shares how immobilized he became once he became a preacher at the age of 14. This made me consider what does faith do and what does faith produce? How does ones faith cause one to become immobile and automatic? I think Baldwin makes a good point about the need to critique the things in which we hold dear the most. Those things that make up so much of our identities that apart from them we are lost. Can one critique the very thing they love the most and still be part of that thing. I think that it is the fear of knowing that keeps one immobile. To critique and examine the thing that allows you to believe certain things about yourself and allow you to live life how you choose could be frightening. However, Baldwin is saying the critique is necessary. It is necessary to examine and reexamine and to be certain that one is living the life that will allow them to produce the art, the writings, the works that will allow themselves and others to become free. Becoming free is central to Baldwin's argument and he is combing through ways in which freedom not just for Blacks, but white people can come to pass.