"Previous Condition": Music as a Tool for Characterisation
James Baldwin's "Previous Condition" has a deep theme of internalised racism running through the story. The main character, Peter, rejects his African-American heritage and actively seeks to distance himself from it. This is portrayed in many different ways throughout the story, such as his refusal to live in Harlem ("I can't stand niggers" (Baldwin 91)). But I think one of the more subtle and interesting ways that Baldwin presents Peter's hatred of black culture is through the simple and sparse use of music in the story.
Music is mentioned just twice throughout "Previous Condition": once when Peter listens to Beethoven in the apartment building, and again when he goes to the pub at Harlem. We can gain the most insight into Peter's internal biases by examining his response to both instances as well as examining the circumstances around them. First: when Peter listens to Beethoven in the apartment. When he listens to this music, he describes the feeling it gave the room. He says that "[Beethoven] shook the little room like the footsteps of a giant marching miles away" (Baldwin 90). He then reminisces about the first time he listened to Handel's Messiah: "my blood bubbled like fire and wine; I cried; like an infant crying for his mother's milk; or a sinner running to meet Jesus" (Baldwin 90). He uses deep evocative imagery and makes it clear how much this music moves him. However the music is undercut with a sense of fear and urgency. Peter is in an apartment building trying to stay hidden from the landlady as long as possible: "Now below the music I heard footsteps on the stairs... My heart was beating so hard I thought it would tear my chest apart" (Baldwin 90). Peter is trying desperately to find a place in the culture that he prefers, but everything around him is pushing him away. The second instance of music is in the bar at the end of the story, and this one is a much briefer reference to music. The only notes on music were acknowledgements that there was music: "The juke box was letting loose with 'Hamps' Boogie'," "The juke box was playing something else now, something brassy and commercial which I didn't like," and "They were playing Ella Fitzgerald, 'Cow-Cow Boogie'" (Baldwin 99- 100). As opposed to a page-long digression, these are sentence-long acknowledgements. This music causes nothing in Peter. It is important that this takes place in the bar in Harlem. Peter tries to fit in with black culture here but feels nothing, empty: "I didn't seem to have a place" (Baldwin 100).
The music acts as a great metaphor for the important thread of internalised racism and rejection of black culture in the story. Peter enjoys and relates to the more Classical/Romantic music like Beethoven, but this is a part of a more white culture, something that rejects him and refuses to give him a place. On the other hand, black culture offers Peter a normality and an exceptance, but Peter finds no joy in this, emphasised by his apathy for the music in the bar. No matter how open black culture is to Peter, he does not have a place there.
Music is mentioned just twice throughout "Previous Condition": once when Peter listens to Beethoven in the apartment building, and again when he goes to the pub at Harlem. We can gain the most insight into Peter's internal biases by examining his response to both instances as well as examining the circumstances around them. First: when Peter listens to Beethoven in the apartment. When he listens to this music, he describes the feeling it gave the room. He says that "[Beethoven] shook the little room like the footsteps of a giant marching miles away" (Baldwin 90). He then reminisces about the first time he listened to Handel's Messiah: "my blood bubbled like fire and wine; I cried; like an infant crying for his mother's milk; or a sinner running to meet Jesus" (Baldwin 90). He uses deep evocative imagery and makes it clear how much this music moves him. However the music is undercut with a sense of fear and urgency. Peter is in an apartment building trying to stay hidden from the landlady as long as possible: "Now below the music I heard footsteps on the stairs... My heart was beating so hard I thought it would tear my chest apart" (Baldwin 90). Peter is trying desperately to find a place in the culture that he prefers, but everything around him is pushing him away. The second instance of music is in the bar at the end of the story, and this one is a much briefer reference to music. The only notes on music were acknowledgements that there was music: "The juke box was letting loose with 'Hamps' Boogie'," "The juke box was playing something else now, something brassy and commercial which I didn't like," and "They were playing Ella Fitzgerald, 'Cow-Cow Boogie'" (Baldwin 99- 100). As opposed to a page-long digression, these are sentence-long acknowledgements. This music causes nothing in Peter. It is important that this takes place in the bar in Harlem. Peter tries to fit in with black culture here but feels nothing, empty: "I didn't seem to have a place" (Baldwin 100).
The music acts as a great metaphor for the important thread of internalised racism and rejection of black culture in the story. Peter enjoys and relates to the more Classical/Romantic music like Beethoven, but this is a part of a more white culture, something that rejects him and refuses to give him a place. On the other hand, black culture offers Peter a normality and an exceptance, but Peter finds no joy in this, emphasised by his apathy for the music in the bar. No matter how open black culture is to Peter, he does not have a place there.
I also found the use of music in these stories really interesting. Music is a really good way of representing someone's culture, and Baldwin uses this to great affect in both of these stories. We can see this in Sonny's Blues as well, when Sonny really wants to get back into the music scene after he gets out of jail so he can reconnect with the culture he was forced to leave. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI didn't really notice the idea of music in the story except for the beginning and ending scene like you described. I agree that in a sense, Baldwin uses the music to portray the narrator's different moods and emotions. This was particularly apparent to me in the end scene when he expresses his dislike for the music playing on the jukebox (like you mentioned). He feels isolated and even depressed about his own situation and the his taste for the music reflects this discomfort.
ReplyDeleteThe use of music in this story is one I admittedly didn't even notice until you pointed it out in class. This blog post does a really great job of highlighting the significance of the types of music being played as well as the settings they were played in. The thorough description of the effect the earlier classical pieces had on him did not seem to fit to me the first time I read through the story but now it makes so much sense and I think really adds another layer to this story. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't paid attention to the importance of music in this story until I read your blog post, but I've realized that it's actually a very important part of the story. You do a good job of explaining Peter's reactions to different types of music and how they're symbolic of his rejection of black culture and how he doesn't really fit in.
ReplyDeleteIt was really cool that you brought this up in the discussion we read. I hadn't really thought of the music having any significance, so I'm glad you noticed this as you were reading. Peter's reaction to hearing Messiah and Beethoven almost seems fake, like he's trying to hard to connect to their music. It seems as though he is really trying to latch onto white culture, and he ignores the potential community and identity that black culture offers.
ReplyDeleteBaldwin really does do a lot with music. You can tell when music is really reaching out to someone in his stories, and it tells a lot about the characters. It's extremely subtle as well - I hadn't really thought about how comparatively dismissive Peter is with the other music in this story, and it really shows us a significant aspect of his character.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't paid much attention to Baldwin's use of music in this story, but I think you make a really compelling point in bringing that to light, and I like that it adds another layer to think about.
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