Notes of a Native Son Lesson Plan

Within the first paragraph of “Equal in Paris,” how does Baldwin contextualize the events that will follow later in the essay? What details, in this exposition, later prove relevant, and how are these details introduced? Why are they relevant to Baldwin’s experience?

Students may point to the evocation of old and “long long dead” wealth in Baldwin’s description of the hotel, or the allusion to the tricoteuses of the French Revolution and the beheadings they were known for attending, and they may distill the essence the author seems to wish to convey with these details (aristocracy; oldness/antiquity; cold-blooded violence). They may also note Baldwin's artfulness—for...