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December 03, 2005
James Baldwin Article
In his article James Baldwin’s writes, “Language, incontestably, reveals the speaker” Through out this semester’s reading and writing and discussions in the course I came to an understanding that language is the most significant way of communication and expression that can be used to state one’s identity, personality and everything beyond. In my opinion, a great illustration of both James Baldwin and Bernard Shaw’s point is played out in “Pygmalion”. In this play Higgins improves not only Eliza’s appearance but he literally changes the way Eliza speaks and behaves. By the time that her spoken language was completely different she had become a different person who used “higher class” English. However, changing her language affected her life. As she describes, she was not who she was, even though she now belonged to better social group. As her language changed, she changed as well. Her language became more and more grammatical, correct, and appropriate for where she was.
In some cases it might be true for people of different races and social level to be able to successfully learn how to speak in different dialect. When Baldwin writes, “Language also far more dubiously, is meant to define the other—and, in this case, the other is refusing to be defined by a language that has never been able to recognize him” he is not talking about language as foreign language. But he is using the term ‘language’ as in language that people in certain groups use to communicate and express themselves. I think that we all have our own languages. How we say things to others may not be repeated. Therefore our speech and language reflect our personalities just as we have our unique version of personalities.
Baldwin also argues that people from different regions have different languages. One would automatically assume that they might have different dialects. But Baldwin didn’t use the term dialect but instead used more broader and general term; language. People have different life styles and realities therefore their expressions and thoughts differ from one another. Moreover, “they each have very different realities to articulate, or control.”
I agree with the author that “language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power”. It seems that one of the most important goals for politicians is to make people to have faith in you and believe what they are saying. Language is a powerful instrument to convince people. Often times the most successful leaders are those who are great public speakers. They find the most “common” language of their people to touch the people’s hearts and connect with them. If the politicians are able to convince their people they have the power in their hands.
Q1: What is Baldwin suggesting by, “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances,”
Q2: Why language might become a political issue in France? What would that issue be?
Q3: What does “Beat to his socks” mean?
Q4: What is Baldwin suggesting by, “Now, no one can eat his cake, and have it, too, and it is late in the day to attempt to penalize black people for having created a language than permits the nation it sonly glimpse of reality, a language without which the nation would be even more whipped than it is”?
Q5: What “understanding” is Baldwin talking about that white men cannot understand and “this understanding would reveal to him too much about himself, and smash that mirror…”
Posted by lcisbold at December 3, 2005 03:18 PM
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