However, unlike Baldwin, Douglass steers clear of dealing with racial and class struggle. Her exploration of American character constraints stick mainly to the experience of white middle class women in the United States, which is some ways another constriction in itself.
James Baldwin explores how America's rampant racism forbids the essential individualism which is glorified in the United States. Despite believing in the possibilities of American individualism, Baldwin believes that this will never be possible due to racism. He believes that the idea of white purity is constructed based on the notion that blacks are inferior in some ways. This he believes, holds not only African-Americans back from attaining true independence, but also whites. African-Americans are denied the chance to become the real individuals that they are based on social constructions; white Americans he believes are holding themselves back through the "innocence which constitutes the crime," (Baldwin 6). In both...
[ View Full Essay]