What is the author's style in The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin?

The first thing to note about the perspective of this book is the use of the terms "Negro" and "black" to identify members of what would, in contemporary language, be defined as the African American community. These essays were written at a time of linguistic transition in this area. The term "Negro", with all its racist connotations, was beginning to move out of common usage and be replaced with "black", which itself eventually moved out of common usage to be replaced by "African-American", a term which had yet to be coined at the time this book was written. The use of both "Negro" and "black" in this analysis reflects their usage in the book, which is in turn reflective of the racist, transitional state of society at the time. It's interesting to consider this variety of terminology in the context of the quotation on p. 98, in which the author refers to his name being originally given to him by the men who owned (as slaves) his ancestors. On the one hand, his identity is literally being defined by whites - as it is, or so he suggests, on the socio-cultural-political level.

Is it possible that the movement of the self-descriptive terms "Negro" to "black" to "African-American" reflects the movement of racial culture from a place of being defined by others to a stronger, clearer, more independent sense of SELF-definition? This is one of the author's key thematic points. Not only blacks, but whites as well, must define their identities and perspectives, not by what they've been told and not even by what they have experienced, but by what they hold as broad, humanist ideals. Is there anything more self-defining than the ideal that every human is equal, wanting and deserving the same rights and freedoms, experiencing the same joys and sorrows? The author's overall perspective, apparent in spite of his evident, perhaps justifiable anger, is that there is nothing more self-defining than an ideal - particularly the ideal of being American. In that sense, in spite of theer being strong evidence that the author is writing for a mostly Negro/black audience, there is also the sense that his ultimate message is intended for both black and white readers.