He expresses self-love, which was not an easy journey but his strength to accept and acknowledge his identity for his sexual orientation makes Eric another prime character in the midst of New York City in the 1950s. However, Eric Jones, a homosexual male, learns to accept and define himself as he rises above the social constructs of race and sexual orientation.
SEX IN ANOTHER COUNTRY BY JAMES BALDWIN FREE
These artists in the novel feel as though they need to free themselves from the positions that are socially constructed in their society. The concept of whiteness is a theme throughout the novel which eventually is one of the main reasons of the death of the character, Rufus Scott. The characters fear life because of their differences. Passion and pain is exerted as their social relations turn into those that are sexual and they live in a society which they feel is against them rather than with them, due to their race or sexuality. All of these characters are struggling and are hopeless to find love and are involved with one another mostly to find themselves in a physically sexual act. He abuses the fact that Eric is homosexual and treats him as a woman, and criticizes his openness of sexuality, something he struggles with himself.
SEX IN ANOTHER COUNTRY BY JAMES BALDWIN SKIN
Rufus’ physical and sexual abuse of these characters is their skin color and their whiteness which is the source of it all. Their relationship is a sexual one which eventually destroys the both of them. Relationships with his white girlfriend, Leona, ultimately becomes abusive and is a result of his madness. He is constantly surrounded by white folks and he eventually succumbs to the power of the whiteness in New York City. His powerlessness and internal struggle bleeds into his relationships with lovers and friends. Rufus is lost as a person, and it leaves no room for any other aspect in his life because of the consuming anger. Ida expresses her rage towards the unjust stereotypes and blames the white characters for her brother’s death and turns it on them. Both characters cannot escape their stereotypes as African Americans, and are still seen as their respective roles in their society. Both Id and Rufus Scott are attempting their goals in the middle of Manhattan, in Greenwich Village. Love between the women and men, heterosexuals and homosexuals, and blacks and whites are all shown through the constantly shift and cycling of relationships and sexual contacts.
Ultimately, Vivaldo is able to accept his pleasure but Rufus does not. Characters like Rufus and Vivaldo struggle with accepting and acknowledging their sexuality among their masculinity and have a hard time facing what they find their pleasure in. The characters on their journey to finding their own identity use sex as a form of pleasure, but also as finding themselves in their private lives, which opposes what their public lives show. Emotional and physical abuse takes place as a result of struggling identity. Sexual and racial assumptions that are made are highly rejected as the characters struggle to make connections to what they truly desire and want to pursue.
The book is split into three different sections. These troubled characters face the harsh reality of social constructs that are made due to their races and sexualities. Three major themes that are woven throughout this novel is sexism, racism and sexuality as they are key structures in the characters relationships. It’s story is about struggling artists who face issues in their love lives among the many issues and complexities that take place in New York.
The characters in this novel are from various backgrounds coming from different races and sexualities. James Baldwin’s novel, “Another Country” is a story based in New York City in the 1950s.
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