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Podcast: New Books in Literary Studies
Episode: James Baldwinâs Use of Mechanisms of Defense in this Story âGoing to Meet the Manâ
Description: James Baldwinâs âGoing to Meet the Manâ is a powerful short story that describes the life of Jesse, a 42-year-old white police officer whose experiences alternate between his present-day struggles with impotence and his memories of racial violence. As the narrative unfolds a pivotal childhood memory of a lynching, sets the tone and comes to represent the fundamental weakness of white supremacy. His need for racist violence to regain potency suggests that the system of white supremacy requires constant reinforcement to maintain itself. Projective identification, a powerful mechanism of defense, also plays a significant role in exploring the comple...