Examining Arguments of James Baldwin’s Critique of Protest Literature

Abstract

James Baldwin is a magnate name of the African American literature. He is oftencouched as the titan spokesperson of the Black community in America. He ferociously used his pen to argue and criticize the racial bigotry that grips American society and polity. His arguments and views are still deemed notably worthy in both literary and political world and are often quoted by contemporary artists, writers, activists, and politicians. He authored several books and published essays on a wide range of subjects throughout his literary life. Baldwin enunciated and sustained various protests through his realistic literature – both fictional and non-fictional. However, he ardently refused to be named as a ‘protest literature author.’ He has repeatedly repudiated this title along with several others like ‘spokesman of the Black Community.’ He vehemently refused to accept social protest novels as an appropriate literary genre. He loudly vocalized his opinions in his one of the first and intensely polemical essay