James Baldwin's Take on the Effects of Prejudice — Quiz
Question 8 • English Language Arts 11
Read the excerpt from Notes of a Native Son . In that year I had had time to become aware of the meaning of all my father’s bitter warnings, had discovered the secret of his proudly pursed lips and rigid carriage: I had discovered the weight of white people in the world. I saw that this had been for my ancestors and now would be for me an awful thing to live with and that the bitterness which had helped to kill my father could also kill me. Which best expresses the connection that Baldwin makes between the historical context of racial prejudice and the physical effects it has on his father?
Answer
A
The tension in his father’s body reflects the tension between oppressor and oppressed in early 20th-century America.
B
His father’s immunity to stress reflects the immunity of Black Americans to the effects of racial prejudice.
C
His father’s premature death reflects the rapid disappearance of racial prejudice in early 20th-century America.
D
The weakness in his father’s body reflects the weakness of the riot against discrimination in Harlem.
Explanation
Baldwin connects his father’s rigid posture and bitter expression to the burden of living under racial prejudice. The passage says that bitterness helped kill his father and could also kill Baldwin, showing how oppression creates lasting physical and emotional strain. Choice A best expresses this connection; the other choices contradict the passage or introduce ideas it does not support.
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