Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son

Although Baldwin writes about Norman Mailer with affection and admiration, he also challenges Mailer’s essay, “The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster.” In this essay, Mailer argues that World War II and the atomic bomb have stripped people of their faith in life and death. He proposes that people should model themselves after the bravery of marginalized groups. Mailer endears himself to the Beat generation and hopes to mobilize them to alter the American landscape. Baldwin challenges Mailer’s perspective as a “middle-class Jew” as he speaks about the identity and experiences of Black Americans. Baldwin saw Mailer’s essay as another example of a white person attempting to sexualize Black people and impose upon them their own ideas of racial identity.

This essay may seem like a strange choice to close the collection of essays. Centered on a white author, “The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy” does not center, as much of the work does, on the experiences of the South or Baldwin’s own struggle with identity. However, the message of the essay exhibits Baldwin’s continued devotion to The Importance of Self-Examination and Self-Knowledge. The author regrets Mailer’s choices to enter politics and appeal to the Beat generation because he feels that Mailer is genuinely talented. The essay functions as a reminder to himself to stick to his principles and to continuously challenge his own thinking.