The Fire Next Time

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

ESSAY 1: “MY DUNGEON SHOOK”

Reading Check

1. What significant event’s anniversary marks the writing of “My Dungeon Shook”?

2. What is Baldwin’s relationship to James, the recipient of his epistolary essay?

3. What is “the danger, in the minds of most white Americans”?

4. How does Baldwin define the term integration in “My Dungeon Shook”?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is Baldwin’s opinion of his father (James’s grandfather), and what has formed this opinion?

2. When Baldwin says that James must “accept them,” about whom is he speaking, and why does he give his nephew this direction?

3. To what does Baldwin compare the function of the Black man in white society, and what is the impact of that role being deconstructed?

Paired Resource

“How Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Letter to His Son About Being Black in America Became a Bestseller”

• This article from The Guardian explores how both James Baldwin and Coates’s own father inspired his bestselling book Between the World and Me.
• This resource connects to the theme of The Transformative Power of Freedom.
• How does Coates’s reflection on Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time demonstrate its relevance and significance, even decades after its publication?

Paired Resource

“Letter From Birmingham Jail”

• This resource is the epistolary essay written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after he was arrested during nonviolent protests against segregation. In it, he outlines people’s moral responsibility to break unjust laws and take action toward justice.
• This resource connects to the theme of Dismantling the White Power Structure.
• How does Dr. King’s message both intersect with and diverge from Baldwin’s message in “My Dungeon Shook”?

ESSAY 2: “DOWN AT THE CROSS”

Reading Check

1. At what age is Baldwin in the opening of his essay “Down at the Cross”?

2. According to Baldwin, what two options existed for young Black men during his own upbringing in Harlem?

3. What is Baldwin’s response to his father encouraging him to drop out of school?

4. What role does Baldwin step into soon after being saved by the church?

5. What act prompted the “slow crumbling” of Baldwin’s faith?

6. To what other performance space does Baldwin compare the pulpit?

7. According to Baldwin, what other feeling was measured in the passion with which he worshiped God?

8. How does Baldwin define the word “sensual”?

9. What best describes the tone of the end of the first section of “Down at the Cross”?

10. What first caused Baldwin to pay attention to the Nation of Islam?

11. What does the Nation of Islam offer to Black followers that Baldwin agrees is missing from Christian spiritual doctrine?

12. Who is Baldwin reminded of when he is at the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s house?

13. Who does Baldwin see as most likely to lead America to “end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country”?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What emotion does Baldwin say that he became aware of as a young man in Harlem, and what caused that emotion?

2. What are the “rites and customs” of both Black and white churches, as realized by Baldwin, and how does this realization shatter an illusion he held?

3. The reality of Baldwin’s Jewish classmates forces him to acknowledge what question, and how does this ultimately change his relationship to Christianity?

4. How does Baldwin’s increasing skepticism and criticism of Christianity impact him, and how does it change his priorities as a preacher?

5. In what circumstances did Baldwin feel most connected to those around him, and what art form best reflected this connection?

6. What other religious leader does Baldwin introduce in “Down at the Cross,” and what was Baldwin’s first impression of him?

7. What does Baldwin notice when he is invited to meet with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and what belief does this further solidify?

8. Why does Baldwin ultimately reject the philosophy of the Nation of Islam as a viable option for Black liberation?

9. What rumors about the NOI does Baldwin mention, and how does he respond to these rumors?

10. What is Baldwin’s opinion about whether Black Americans will ever rise to power, and how does he contrast the position of Black Americans to that of Black Africans?

Paired Resource

“The White Man’s Burden”

• An excerpt from this poem by Rudyard Kipling is included as one of the epigraphs for “Down at the Cross.” In this poem, Kipling explores the role and responsibility of the white man on a global stage at the dawn of the 20th century and modern imperialism.
• This poem connects to the theme of Dismantling the White Power Structure.
• Why did Baldwin choose to include an excerpt from Kipling’s poem to introduce “Down at the Cross”?

Paired Resource

“Nation of Islam”

• This resource from the Southern Poverty Law Center describes the entrenched antisemitism within the Nation of Islam. Like Baldwin, the SPLC finds many aspects of the NOI problematic and has even classified the NOI as a hate group.
• This resource connects to the theme of The Failure of Religion.
• How does this resource expand upon some of the problematic aspects of the Nation of Islam identified by Baldwin in his essay “Down at the Cross”?

Recommended Next Reads

Blues for Mister Charlie by James Baldwin

• Blues for Mister Charlie is a 1964 play by James Baldwin inspired by the murder of Emmett Till. It centers around the trial of Lyle, a white man accused of murdering Richard Henry, a Black man.
• Shared themes include The Failure of Religion, Dismantling the White Power Structure, and The Transformative Power of Freedom.
• Shared topics include freedom, justice, radical love, and institutional racism.
• Blues for Mister Charlie on SuperSummary

The Fire This Time edited by Jesmyn Ward

• The Fire This Time is an anthology of essays by contemporary Black writers. Edited by Jesmyn Ward, it aims to provide a response to Baldwin’s book The Fire Next Time.
• Shared themes include Dismantling the White Power Structure and The Transformative Power of Freedom.
• Shared topics include institutional racism, the legacy of slavery, hope, justice, and freedom.
• The Fire This Time on SuperSummary