"Overcoming Frightening Experiences"

In the essay “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin he describes the relationship between him and his father and relates it to the relationship between black and white America. Baldwin talks about how his relationship with his father was frightening. He also mentions how being in a society where African Americans were hated was frightening. After reading the essay I understood why he related those two relationships and why were they both frightening.

Baldwin was frightened of his dad’s bitterness. He was always frightened of his dad because every day he was bitter. This bitterness was caused by the hating of white people throughout his whole life. Before Baldwin’s father dies his tells him to never trust white people because they would do anything to bring down a Negro. This relates to the relationship between black and white America. Baldwin later on experiences this when he goes to New Jersey. While in New Jersey he experiences segregation. He talks about an experience he had which was that he got chased by a mob of white people and he got frightened. He explains how it was a frightening experience to face segregation. Once he lived through all this himself he became a bitter person towards white people just the way his father was.

Baldwin relates these two relationships because they were both frightening. Everything that was going on inside his household and outside of his household was frightening for him. He makes a really good relationship between both because for him they were both a frightening experience that became hard to overcome.

My choice writing

Over the summer of 2008 I gave birth to a little boy. He was born on July 4, 2008. Half of my freshmen year I spent pregnant. When we came out on break, I felt wonderful because I was really tired already and I didn’t feel like waking up early any longer. Once I was at home I felt great because I didn’t have much to do. I just had to clean my house and that was it.
It was July 3, 2008 and I had gone to my mom’s house to say good-bye to my father because he was leaving on a trip to Mexico. I went late in the afternoon and I stayed there until late at night. Then I started feeling something weird in my stomach. They felt like cramps but a little bit stronger. I told my husband that we should spend the night over at my mom’s house because the hospital was closer to her house. Just in case something happened over the night. Well, just as I predicted, that night I started feeling bad. I didn’t wake anybody up because I knew that I had to wait until the contractions were about one minute apart and I had to have the contractions for at least one hour. So I just waited until I couldn’t handle it anymore. I woke up my husband and my mom and they helped me to get dressed and walk to the car to go to the hospital.
On our way to the hospital I couldn’t resist anymore. I felt like I was going to die. My mom kept on telling me to breathe in and out and try to control myself because I was making my husband nervous. So I tried but when I would feel the contractions I couldn’t control myself. When we arrived to the hospital I had to walk along a long hallway and I thought I was not going to make all the way. Once I was in the labor and delivery room I was told to wait because they were having an emergency. I told them I couldn’t wait any longer. So they took me in a room to check me and then they transferred me to yet another room. They kept telling me that I had to wait and that I was able to because it was my first baby and they always take longer when it’s the first baby. I couldn’t wait anymore so I told a nurse and they checked me again and saw that I had to deliver already. They took me in to the OR room and I had my baby in about twenty to thirty minutes at most. Once he was born my husband came out of the room and told my mother that her grandson was here already. They couldn’t let her see him because they were still checking him, but once they were finished they took us to another room. Once we were in the room my mom called my family most of which came to visit us that same day. Everyone was so happy that there was an addition to our family.
So I spent my Fourth of July in the hospital delivering my baby. Now that date is really important to me not only because it’s Independence Day but because it’s my baby’s birthday.

A Frightening Experience

Writing for me has always been hard. It all started at a young age. When I was in elementary school a teacher told me I did not know how to write and that I needed a lot of help. After that happened I started feeling scared because I did not know if I was writing correctly. Every time I was asked to write an essay or any other type of paper I would always write a couple of drafts before turning it in. I would always read and read the essay and I would start all over again because I thought it was all wrong. I would always be scared to turn in essays because I thought the teachers were going to tell me the same thing my elementary teacher had told me. Later on in high school one teacher told me that I was not as good as other students in writing but the reason why was that I was scared to express my feelings while writing, that I was too scared and did not let myself do what I wanted to do. So now I guess I have gotten a little better but I still feel scared while writing.