The second essay-“Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in my Mind”-is addressed to a broader audience, and its tone is reminiscent of a preacher’s sermon. In this letter, Baldwin urges his nephew not to allow himself to become enraged over the systemic, legal, and socioeconomic discrimination meted out by the White elite power structure, but instead to adopt a more universal, even compassionate, view of racial tensions.
The reader immediately becomes a stand-in for the addressee-James, a proud, intelligent, and angry young man, beloved by his uncle. This strategy is particularly effective in the first essay-“My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation”-addressed to Baldwin’s nephew, James, named after the author by the author’s brother.
These epistolary essays co-opt the letter format to create a sense of immediacy and connection between the writer and the audience.
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