Read the excerpt from Notes of a Native Son.
A few hours after my father's funeral, while he lay in state in the undertaker's chapel, a race riot broke out in
Harlem. On the morning of the 3rd of August, we drove my father to the graveyard through a wilderness of
smashed plate glass.
Baldwin describes a personal event taking place amid a race riot to
symbolize his detachment from the racial prejudice existing in society.
symbolize the destructive impact racial prejudice has on individual lives.
emphasize the contrast between his father's experiences and his own.
O emphasize his amazement with the events taking place around him.
