Blood of the Beast, Notes on a Native Son Summary and Analysis

Cleaver says that he was a huge fan of writer James Baldwin. He discusses the author's point of view, including the fact that few are truly liberated - an achievement Baldwin calls revenge. However, Cleaver's impression of Baldwin slowly begins to change and it's not until he reads "Another Country" that he discovers Baldwin's attack on another writer - Norman Mailer - who wrote "The White Negro." Baldwin's writing, according to Cleaver, expresses a hatred for blacks, including him. Baldwin writes a scalding essay that ridiculed the vision of black artists. In his work, "Note on a Native Son," Baldwin explains that he was denied his African heritage as a child, therefore embraced the white. Cleaver says that attitude explains why Muslin leader Elijah Muhammad...