Stranger in the Village Reflective Essay -- Chunked Questions
Chunk 1, Paragraph 1: identify the event and its significance.
Chunk 2, Paragraphs 2-3:
Style: What is the function of the details about the village and its people? How does Baldwin use these details to impact
the reader?
Craft: What is the effect of Baldwin’s syntax in which he juxtaposes simple and complex sentences?
Chunk 3, Paragraphs 4–5:
Identify the following: Baldwin’s response—feelings and thoughts in paragraph 4—and his reflection—insight and learning
in paragraph 5.
Content: What is the significance of the last sentence in paragraph 4?
Content: Discuss the context and significance of James Joyce’s quote at the end of paragraph 5. What does it contribute
to Baldwin’s reflection?
Style: Characterize Baldwin’s tone or attitude as he writes about the village. Find diction that contributes to the tone.
Craft: What is the impact of Baldwin’s use of dashes in sentence structure (see page 26 for reminders on use of the
dash)?
Chunk 4, Paragraphs 6-9:
Content: Discuss the irony of the village’s “custom” as it resonates with Baldwin’s in his reflection.
Style: Revisit the last sentence in paragraph 6 and identify the tone and discuss where and how the tone shifts in this
chunk of text.
Craft: What is the effect of the syntactical structure of the last sentence in paragraph 9? Discuss the analogy Baldwin
makes in paragraph 7.
Chunk 5, Paragraphs 10–13:
Content: How is the stranger in the village theme conveyed here?
Style: How does the author organize this section to advance the theme of the essay?
Craft: What words are repeated in paragraph 10? What new emotional layer is added to the tone?
(Chunk 5 is significant and challenging. It begins a shift in Baldwin’s emotional reaction to his treatment as a
“stranger.” The topic sentence of paragraph 11 begins the shift to his major argument about the black man and
the American experience.)
Chunk 6, Paragraphs 14–15:
Content: Discuss the new description of the village in which Baldwin is a stranger.
Style: How does Baldwin’s diction advance his tone and/or theme?
Craft: Why is Baldwin’s thesis presented in three sentences (paragraph 14)? What effect does the syntax of this
paragraph have on the reader?
Since this paragraph is the thesis of the essay, reread this paragraph to determine its meaning and its
relationship to the whole essay. Paragraph 14 connects the first part of the essay about Baldwin being a stranger
in Switzerland to the second part of the essay about the more complex and nuanced position Baldwin and
African Americans have in American society because they are not “strangers.”
Paraphrase the last sentence. Discuss the placement and effect of this last sentence, which is the thesis of the essay.
Skim the last nine paragraphs and circle the words “America” and “American.”
Chunk 7, Paragraphs 16–24: What does the repetition of “America” and “American” reflect about Baldwin’s purpose and
audience?
Chunk 8: Last Paragraph:
1. Is Baldwin’s conclusion positive or negative? Why?
2. Baldwin’s essay was written almost 60 years ago. Consider the world we live in today. Would Baldwin feel the same
strangeness today? Explain. Would he have the same reactions? Explain.
3. How does Baldwin link his experiences in Switzerland with his reflections about the American experience?
The organization of this essay reflects the incident, response, and reflection structure of a reflective essay. Be
sure to review the incident that inspired Baldwin’s meditation on American race relations, Baldwin’s complex
responses to the incident, and his deep reflections about America’s complex relationship to the black man. This
will be on the test.