20 pages • 40 minutes read
James BaldwinGoing To Meet The Man
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1965A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
For Jesse, violence against black people and sexuality are inextricably linked. How and why is this the case?
Baldwin describes the lynching scene with more graphic detail than any other passage in the short story. Why might this be?
Compare and contrast how white and black femininity are portrayed in this novel.
Why did Jesse's father bring him to the lynching? What was the "great secret" (248) Jesse learned on that day?
Why did Baldwin choose to use Jesse as a narrator for this particular story? What effect does this have on the telling of the story?
Why is Jesse so anxious and paranoid about the events of the present day (i.e. the protest at the courthouse)? What does he fear might happen and how would that affect him?
What are Jesse's fears as a child? How do they compare with his fears as an adult?
Related Titles
By James Baldwin
