Advanced English
《高级英语》
（第三版）
第二册
主编：张汉熙
外语教学与研究出版社
Lesson 10
The Discovery of What It Means to Be
an American
by James Baldwin
Teaching Points
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I. Warming up
II. Background knowledge
III. Language points
IV. Text Analysis
V. Rhetorical devices
VI. Questions
Pre-reading Questions:
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1) In what way does this title impress you?
Have you ever thought of what it means to
be a Chinese?
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2) In some people’s eyes, to be an
American means to enjoy more freedom.
Do you share their view?
Background
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Knowledge
James Baldwin
--a leading Negro novelist and essayist in the
50’s
--a major spokesman for his race in the Civil
Rights movement of the 60’s
James Baldwin
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James Arthur Baldwin was born in Harlem,
New York City, Aug. 2, 1924 and died on Nov.
30, 1987.
The eldest of nine children, his stepfather
was a minister.
At age 14 , Baldwin became a preacher at
the small Fireside Pentecostal Church in
Harlem.
After he graduated from high school, he
moved to Greenwich Village.
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In the early 1940s, he transferred his faith
from religion to literature.
His major books:
Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953)
Notes of a Native Son (1955)
Another Country (1962)
Going to Meet the Man (1965)
Nobody Knows My Name (1961)
Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
(1968)
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From 1948, Baldwin made his home primarily
in the south of France, but often returned to
the USA to lecture or teach.
In 1957, he began spending half of each year
in New York City.
In 1983 Baldwin became Five College
Professor in the Afro-American Studies
department of the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst.
He spent his latter years in St. Paul de
Vence on the Riviera, France, where he died
of stomach cancer on November 30, 1987.
Henry James
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Henry James, (15 April 1843 – 28 February 1916)
was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the
key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was
the brother of philosopher and psychologist William
James and diarist Alice James.
James alternated between America and Europe for
the first 20 years of his life, after which he settled in
England, becoming a British subject in 1915, one
year before his death. He is primarily known for the
series of novels in which he portrays the encounter
of Americans with Europe and Europeans. His
method of writing from the point of view of a
character within a tale allows him to explore issues
related to consciousness and perception, and his
style in later works has been compared to
impressionist painting.
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James contributed significantly to literary
criticism, particularly in his insistence that
writers be allowed the greatest possible
freedom in presenting their view of the world.
James claimed that a text must first and
foremost be realistic and contain a
representation of life that is recognisable to
its readers. Good novels, to James, show life
in action and are, most importantly,
interesting. The concept of a good or bad
novel is judged solely upon whether the
author is good or bad.
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His imaginative use of point of view, interior
monologue and possibly unreliable narrators
in his own novels and tales brought a new
depth and interest to narrative fiction. An
extraordinarily productive writer, in addition to
his voluminous works of fiction he published
articles and books of travel, biography,
autobiography, and criticism, and wrote plays,
some of which were performed during his
lifetime with moderate success. His theatrical
work is thought to have profoundly influenced
his later novels and tales.
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Grave marking
Henry James in
Cambridge
Cemetery in
Cambridge,
Massachusetts
Victor Hugo
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Victor Hugo, in full Victor Marie Hugo (26
February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet,
novelist, and dramatist who was the most wellknown of all the French Romantic writers.
In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his
poetry but also rests upon his novels and his
dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of
poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des
siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem.
Outside France, his best-known works are the
novels Les Misérables, 1862, and Notre-Dame de
Paris, 1831, (also known in English as The
Hunchback of Notre-Dame).
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Though a committed royalist when he was
young, Hugo's views changed as the
decades passed; he became a passionate
supporter of republicanism, and his work
touches upon most of the political and social
issues and artistic trends of his time. He is
buried in the Panthéon (a building in the Latin
Quarter in Paris).
Le Panthéon national
Lev Tolstoy
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Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (September 9,
1828 – November 20, 1910) was a Russian
writer who primarily wrote novels and short
stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and
essays. Tolstoy is equally known for his
complicated and paradoxical persona and for
his extreme moralistic and ascetic views,
which he adopted after a moral crisis and
spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which
he also became noted as a moral thinker and
social reformer.
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His literal interpretation of the ethical
teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon
on the Mount, caused him in later life to
become a fervent Christian anarchist and
anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent
resistance, expressed in such works as The
Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have
a profound impact on such pivotal twentiethcentury figures as Mohandas Gandhi and
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Tolstoy is one of the giants of Russian literature. His
most famous works include the novels War and
Peace and Anna Karenina and novellas such as Hadji
Murad and The Death of Ivan Ilyich. His
contemporaries paid him lofty tributes.
Anton Chekhov, who often visited Tolstoy at his
country estate, wrote, "When literature possesses a
Tolstoy, it is easy and pleasant to be a writer; even
when you know you have achieved nothing yourself
and are still achieving nothing, this is not as terrible
as it might otherwise be, because Tolstoy achieves for
everyone. What he does serves to justify all the
hopes and aspirations invested in literature."
Language points
1. “It is a complex fate to be an American,”
Henry James observed… (Para. 1)
Henry James pointed out that the fate of
an American is complicated and hard to
understand. Beginning an essay with a
quotation lends authority and force to what
one intends to say. But to be effective the
quotation must be as apt and well-chosen
as this one is.
2. I was as isolated from Negroes as I was from
whites… about him. (Para. 2)
At present Baldwin feels himself isolated
from blacks because of his writer’s status and
also from whites because of his racial identity.
This is what happens to the blacks when they
begin, at bottom, to view themselves from the
perspectives of the whites.
3. There, in that absolutely alabaster
landscape.. in flight. (Para. 6)
In the beautiful and snow white landscaped
of Switzerland, I often listened to the songs
sung by the black American singer, Bessie
Smith, and with my typewriter I tried to write
about the life that I first experienced as a
child and which for many years I had tried
very hard to forget.
from which I had spent so many years in
flight: Metaphor. He tried for many years to
run away from (to forget) the life he had first
known as a child.
4. … writer, when he has made his first
breakthrough … unpredictable battle. (Para.
9)
Metaphor, comparing a writer’s realization
of self and identity to winning a crucial
skirmish and a writer’s life and task to a
dangerous, unending and unpredictable
battle. A writer ,when he discovers his
specific identity in Europe, has only just
managed to make a breakthrough, has won a
small but crucial victory in the dangerous and
unending struggle whose outcome cannot yet
be foreseen.
5. It is not until he is released from this habit …
has been. (Para. 10)
A metaphor, comparing a display of strength
to flexing one’s muscles. In America a writer
gets into the habit of making a special effort
to display his strength to defend himself or to
avoid being attacked; and the is always trying
to prove that he is an ordinary person, the
same as any other person. This habit makes
him unable to act or function effectively. He
realizes all this only when he gets rid of this
habit in Europe.
6. Whatever the Europeans may actually think
of artists … businessmen. (Para. 10)
A simile, comparing the artists to rain, snow,
taxed or businessmen. They all exist and are
real and will never disappear. No matter that
the Europeans may actually think of artist,
they have killed off enough of them to know
by now that artists are rain, snow, taxes or
businessmen.
The word “kill” is used figuratively meaning
to destroy the vital or active qualities of
something.
7. On the contrary, we have a very deep-seated
distrust … so desperately. (Para. 12)
The phrase “on the contrary” introduces a contrast
between Europe and America. People in America
have a very strong distrust of people engaged in
real intellectual work and the distrust is hard to
remove. This is probably because the American
people are afraid that real, honest intellectual work
will destroy that myth of America to which they cling
so desperately.
myth of America: belief that America is a land of
freedom and opportunity where anyone, through
sheer hard work and determination, can become
rich and successful and rise to the top of his
profession.
8. He probably has been a “regular fellow” …
lukewarm bath. (Para. 12)
A metaphor, comparing being a “regular
fellow” to being in a lukewarm bath. The
writer, for much of his adult life, has probably
been trying very hard to appear and behave
like an ordinary person and it is not easy for
him to change his habit now.
9. It is as though he suddenly came out of a
dark tunnel .. open sky. (Para. 16)
A simile, comparing the sudden realization
of the writer’s own importance and value to
coming out from a dark tunnel into the open
sky. An American writer in Europe get rid of
his doubts and rears and suddenly realizes
who he is and what he can do. It is like a man
suddenly coming out of darkness to see the
bright light.
10. Even the most incorrigible maverick has to be born
somewhere. (Para. 22)
A metaphor, comparing a person who travels a lot,
a person who leaves the place or country where he
was born, to a maverick. A person has to be born
somewhere; even a person who is in the habit of
changing his place of residence constantly has to be
born somewhere.
maverick: (Americanism) (after Samuel Maverick,
Texas rancher who did not brand his cattle) an
unbranded animal, especially a strayed calf,
formerly the legitimate property of the first person
who branded it.
11. The time has come, God knows, for us to
examine… happening here. (Para. 27)
It is high time for us American writers to
examine ourselves. But we will only be able
to do this if we are willing to liberate
ourselves from the myth of America and try to
find out what the reality is in America. “God
knows” is for emphasis .
12. He needs sustenance for his journey and
the best models he can find. (Para. 28)
A metaphor, comparing a writer’s work or
life to a long arduous journey. A writer needs
spiritual and intellectual nourishment to give
him strength to carry on his work and also the
highest standards of excellence that he can
follow. Therefore he runs off to Europe where
the can find these things.
13.In this endeavor to wed the vision of the Old
World … strongest arm. (Para. 29)
A metaphor, comparing the uniting of the
two visions to a marriage. In this attempt to
unite the vision of Europe and that of America,
it is the writer who can exert the strongest
force and not the statesmen.
Old World: the Eastern Hemisphere (often
used specifically with reference to European
culture and customs)
New World: the Western Hemisphere,
America
14. Though we do not wholly believe it yet …
on the world. (Para. 29)
The spiritual and intellectual life of the
people is a real life and the vague dreams of
the people have a perceptible effect on the
world. This is true, though we do not
completely believe it yet.
Text analysis
1. Type of literature
--- a piece of expository writing
2. The thesis expressed by the title of the essay:
--- The Discovery of What It Means to Be an
American
3. A brief discussion about the title of this
essay:
 --The Discovery of What It Means to Be an
American or
 --The Discovery of What It Means to Be an
American Writer or
 --The Discovery of What It Means to Be an
American Negro Writer
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4. Discoveries made in Europe:
--- five points
1) American is different from the European.
2) It is a complex fate to be an American.
3) All Americans, white or black, loved their
country and were not at home in Europe.
4) Americans knew more about each other
than any European ever could.
5) Europe was part of their identity and part
of their inheritance.
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5. A profound impact of Europe on Baldwin:
-- he was free of being a discriminated Negro.
-- he was forced to reassess and reconsider
many things he had always taken for granted.
-- the acceptance of his Negro origins
Organization of the text
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Part One: Para.1-9
——Mainly focus on what Baldwin, as an
American Negro have found out in Europe.
1) Beginning with the quotation of famous
American writer Henry James lends authority
and force to what one intends to say
2) In Europe, the author makes an principal
discovery of how complex the fate to be
American.
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Why does the author leave America?
1) afraid of being unable to live through all
the furious struggle brought by racial
discrimination in America;
2) wanted to prevent himself from becoming
merely a Negro; or even, merely a Negro
writer.
3) wants to find out in what way he could
make use of his special experience to bring
him closer to other people instead of driving
him farther apart from them;
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What is the “fury of the color problem”?
(Para.2)
It means the furious struggle brought by
racial discrimination in America.
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Para. 3-8: The experience in Europe exerts a great
impact on Baldwin. There He realized that:
1) He was a very patriotic American. All the other
American writers in Paris also shared this patriotic
feeling.
2) Americans, both white and black, were all trying
to find their own special individualities.
3)The fact of Europe was part of their identity and
part of their inheritance.
4)He had accepted his American Negro status
without feeling ashamed and no longer hated
America.
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Para.9The author discovers his specific identity
which encourages him to fight in the
dangerous and unending struggle whose
outcome one cannot yet foresee.
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Part Two : Para.10-16
——The experience of staying in Europe
helps Baldwin realize his own faults , his
own identity and his own value.
Para.10
In Europe, Baldwin realized it’s the high
time to get rid of some habits, because
these habits make him unable to function
effectively.
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A sense of relief from:
1) Finding reason or excuses to explain
why he is a writer;
2) Displaying his strength to defend himself
or to avoid be attacked;
3) Trying to prove he is an ordinary person;
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Para.11：The difference between Europe and
America results in author’s realization of his
own identity and value
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Europe:
1) European society has always been divided into
classes.
2) European writer is a part of an old honorable
tradition — of intellectual activity
3) European society is more stable and everyone
there has a fixed status
4) There is a freer and more genuinely friendly
relationship in Europe
America:
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1) American people have a very deep-rooted
distrust of real intellectual effort and they
cling desperately to that myth of America;
2) American writer’s status is lowest in
American society.
3) American society is more mobile but no
one has fixed status or no one knows what
his status is.
4) Social paranoia
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Question : “… It was borne in on me —
and it did not make me feel melancholy …”
What is the implied in this sentence?
The shortness of his own life did not
make Baldwin feel melancholy. No matter
how long he stays in this world, he will
make best use of his brief opportunity to
implement his responsibility as an
American Negro writer.
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Part Three: Para.17-22
——The perpetual contact with
European people and gradual
understanding of them shatters
Baldwin’s preconceptions he had
always taken for granted.
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The crucial day may be :
1) An Algerian taxi-driver tells him how it
feels to be an Algerian in Paris.
There also exists racial discrimination
2) He catches a glimpse of the tense,
intelligent and troubled face of Albert Camus.
Something cause him uneasy wonder
3) Some one asks him to explain Little
Rock and he begins to feel that it would be
simpler…
The fight and struggle for racial
discrimination exists everywhere in the world.
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He realizes ?
1) His entire sojourn has been tending to
this personal day, terrible day.
2) There are no untroubled countries in this
fearfully troubled world.
3) The freedom that the American writer
finds in Europe brings him, full circle, back to
himself and his responsibility for his
development is in his hands.
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Part Four: Para.23-29
——Baldwin realized that his
responsibility is to find out the hidden
laws to govern the American society
and unite the vision of Europe and that
of America together.
Some methods of developing ideas:
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a point by point analogy
simultaneous comparison
alternating comparison
Language Features
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1) Writing with both strength and delicacy,
Baldwin has made the essay into a form that
brings together vivid reporting, personal
recollection and speculative thought.
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2) One great merit of his essays is their
honesty in reflecting his own doubts and
aggressions, and in recording his torturous
efforts to find some peace in the relations
between James Baldwin the lonely writer and
James Baldwin the man who suffers as a Negro.
Rhetorical Devices
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metaphor
simile
transferred epithet
Questions for discussion:
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1) What is the central thesis? Where is it
stated?
2) Comment on the first sentence of the
essay. Is it an effective way of beginning this
essay? Give your reasons.
3) What is the paradox mentioned in Para. 13?
How does the writer explain this paradox?
4) What does the writer say about “ social
status” in Europe and America?
5) How does he discover “what it means to
be an American?”
Assignment:
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Draw a picture in circle to describe writer ’s
realization of his identity and his responsibility.