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Interracial Relationships In Another Country

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In Another Country by James Baldwin, the main characters deal with the hardships of interracial relationships in New York City. Their difference in race causes a rift in their relationships, and eventually causes the individuals to cheat on one another or result to violent harassment and mental instability. One relationship, between the protagonist of the first half of the book, named Rufus, and his lover Leona ended in an outraged dispute, complete with abuse and Leonas relocation to a mental and psychiatric ward. The other relationship, between Ida, Rufus’s sister, and Vivaldo, his best friend, resulted in infidelity and emotional insecurity. Interracial relationships weren't always tolerated by the general public, and still are controversial …show more content…
In the cases Pace vs Alabama (1883) and Perez vs Sharp (1948), interracial relationships were ruled unconstitutional, and therefore illegal. The same scenario happen again in the Mclaughlin v Florida case, in 1964. These three court cases regarding states segregation and interracial relationships were both deemed unconstitutional until the Loving vs Virginia case in 1967. In the Pace vs Alabama and Perez vs Sharp cases, the judges were all white, and all were influenced by society's point of view rather than the constitutions rules. Even though the cases are separated by 65 years, the parameters surrounding the law originally “violated”, the trial, and the outcome, pretty much stayed the same. Despite this huge gap between 1883 and 1948, the times hadn’t changed much, and the stigma surrounding interracial relationships was great. Slavery had only been outlawed in 1865, and people were still trying to come up with ways to keep the entire African American race down. Right after this victory to abolish slavery, came a series of restrictions, called the Black Codes. Although these “rules” only lasted a year, the premises show how opposed the public still was, and how …show more content…
This limited understanding is what causes the public to not support these interracial relationships. The public might be unaware of the humanity behind it, the normality and domesticality that can come with it. Like any other relationship, these scenarios in the book have issues and bumps along the road, but society from the time of slavery up until 1967 were largely incapable of seeing these imperfections, and instead saw the relations as inhumane and “unconstitutional”. The legal cases that deal with interracial relationships represent the views of the public on the issues at the time. Baldwin wrote about interracial relationships at a time when the views of the public mostly contradicted his point of views. Another Country was originally published in 1962, right before the time of the McLaughlin vs. Florida and Loving v. Virginia cases. At the time he was writing, interracial relationships were very much illegal. This fact impacts the way people interacted with each other throughout the novel, and adds an extra layer of conflict for the interracial couples throughout the book. For instance when Rufus was dating Leona he was intensely aware of people's perception of their relationship. The fears that the general public had about

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