logo

45 pages 1 hour read

James Baldwin

The Fire Next Time

James BaldwinNonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 1963

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Symbols & Motifs

White Devil

When Baldwin is invited to meet Elijah Muhammed, he finds the authoritarian structure, including the subjugation of both women and men to Muhammed’s authority, disturbing. Certainly, Baldwin does not agree with any power structure within which others are oppressed; even if they seem to acquiesce to their own subjection. Additionally, White people and their many crimes, not the concerns or needs of Black people, are the sole topic of discussion. Similarly, Baldwin decries the demonizing of White people as “white devils.” For Baldwin, such demonization seems not only impractical, but dangerous, in the sense that it blinds Muhammed’s followers to the real dangers and complex operation of African Americans’ systematic socioeconomic and political oppression.

Fire

Fire appears throughout the essays as a powerful embodiment of the dangers inherent in the oppression of African Americans within American society. Baldwin himself exemplifies the overarching theme of the work with the title of his book and its epigraph: “God gave Noah the rainbow sign / No more water but fire next time,” from the spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep” (F.W. Dupee, “James Baldwin and the ‘Man,’” New York Review of Books, 1 June 1963). He also compares America to a burning house.

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
Unlock IconUnlock all 45 pages of this Study Guide

Plus, gain access to 8,450+ more expert-written Study Guides.

Including features:

+ Mobile App
+ Printable PDF
+ Literary AI Tools