A Spiritual Housing Crisis: Home and Exile in Non-white American Modernist Writing

Considering the role of ‘home’ and ‘exile’ in Modernist writing, Harjo’s poetry and Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time focus on the feelings of spiritual homelessness felt by non-white Americans in their own country during the Modernist to Post-Modernist periods. Both writers hold a narrative voice which expresses a palpable racial ‘otherness’ when discussing their position in their country. Harjo’s poetry, through voice, structure and language, tells a story of fragmentation in her identity. Meanwhile, Baldwin’s book of essays attempts to repair this fragmentation by preventing it from continuing in the future. Both writers approach the issues they write about as spiritual exiles, made homeless by their own nation.

Beginning with Harjo, I intend to discuss her poems in this order: ‘An American Sunrise’, ‘Ah, Ah’ and ‘How to Write a Poem in a Time of War’. While this is not the order these poems were written in, I believe that, by reordering them, they tell a story of spiritual fragmentation. ‘An American Sunrise’ represents a desperate attempt to find a spiritual home. The narrator of this text clings to a vague, unspecified ‘we’, using a plural pronoun to connote a collective spiritual identity. Yet, who the ‘we’ is remains vague. The blocky structure exacerbates this; the lack of stanzas displays the words trying to stick together on the page. Metaphorically, this poem symbolises the difficulties of the non-white writer faces connecting to a spiritual home.

Moving into ‘Ah, Ah’, this poem can be interpreted as a point between the narrator’s search for a spiritual identity and their fragmentation into exile. Rose-Vails notes that Harjo’s poetry discusses ‘moments of hope and renewal’ (‘Joy Harjo’s Poetics of Transformation’, p. 44). I would both agree and disagree with this statement; while the language in ‘Ah, Ah’ illustrates feelings of hopeful unity between the narrator and setting, the structure of this poem adds layers of exile. In language, the narrator infuses themself into the setting, attempting to find a home there: ‘the hull of my soul’ (13). Yet, in structure, the short couplets divide the poem. This represents a spiritual splitting of the self. As an American, Harjo’s narrator wishes to find a home in her country. However, the country represses her, rather than welcoming her.

`In ‘How to Write a Poem’, the narrator’s spiritual identity has been fully fragmented by their nation; they do not possess a spiritual home. Structurally, the words of this poem refuse to sit together on the page, which opposes the blocky structure of ‘An American Sunrise’. This could represent the non-white American’s feeling of national exile. Their country is not a welcome place for them; they do not possess a spiritual home there. Furthermore, the narrative voice has been split into two, which creates conflict in the poem itself. There is no attempt at collective identity, the narrative voices argue with each other: ‘No. Not here./ You can’t begin here’ (25-26). This could represent the internal spiritual conflict felt by the non-white American; they are a citizen of a nation which oppresses and exiles them.

Comparing this to Baldwin, The Fire Next Time focuses on comparing the fragmentation of the past to the prevention of non-white national exile in the future. ‘Down at the Cross’ discusses Baldwin’s past and his feelings of spiritual homelessness. Specifically, the theme of institutional othering in this chapter brings attention to the non-white American as being on the irrefutable side of alienation and oppression. When Balwin discusses his encounters with police, he recalls the decisive and objective tone they adopt when instructing him to go ‘uptown where you belong’ (p. 19). Exploring this feeling of belonging (or lack thereof), Baldwin’s recollections represent a fragmented dichotomy between the non-white American and their home. Despite living in his hometown, the institutions of his ‘home’ do not welcome him, instead spiritually exiling him.

On Baldwin’s view of institutional racism, Larsen notes that ‘Race, once confected, can be reified, stigmatized, treated as a burden, and then blamed for social ills’ (‘James Baldwin, Christian Ethics, and the Recovery of Tradition’, p. 539) For the non-white American, the goalposts are deliberately and consistently changed to keep them displaced, both spiritually and physically. Baldwin emphasises this forced, continual displacement of black Americans in ‘Down at the Cross’, recalling how ‘many of my friends fled’ (p. 20). Here, the physical exiling of black Americans mirrors their spiritual exile, as their nation refuses to accept them.

‘My Dungeon Shook’, Baldwin’s other chapter, writes towards the future. As he writes to his nephew (and, by extension, his nation), Baldwin acknowledges the continued injustices caused by white Americans to spiritually displace and alienate black Americans. In an attempt to prevent the continuation of racial and spiritual fragmentation, he forces his nation to acknowledge the tears ‘shed invisibly’ (p. 5) in the present. Here, Baldwin writes to the past, present and future of America, urging his nation to give its citizens a spiritual home. Particularly, the line ‘I accuse my country and my countrymen, and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them’ (p. 5) recognises the complexities of racial exile. Baldwin adopts an accusatory tone here. Yet, by referring to white Americans as ‘countrymen’, he brings a sense of reluctant unity. This demonstrates Baldwin speaking both to his nephew, imploring him to remember his nation’s past as his nation moves forward, and to the American public, confronting them and holding them accountable. Here, Baldwin attempts to repair the fragmentations caused by institutional and national racism, offering potential for a spiritual home in the future.

Overall, both Harjo and Baldwin’s writing connect ‘home’ and ‘exile’ to the spiritual homelessness felt by non-white Americans in the Modernist to Post-Modernist periods. Harjo’s poetry describes the feelings of clinging to a spiritual identity, before having it fragmented by her own nation. While Baldwin also brings attention to this issue, ‘My Dungeon Shook’ offers hope in the form of repairing racial and spiritual fragmentations in America. For this text, spiritual homelessness and exile can be prevented by acknowledging and confronting racial injustice and alienation.

Authors note

Hello and welcome! In my first article, I wanted to introduce myself through two writers that I have a lot of passion for: Joy Harjo and James Baldwin! These guys are amazing and they write so evocatively. I love how both capture such a complex feeling; while physically present in their nation, they're spiritually exiled by the racial injustices surrounding them. If you have any thoughts on this article then hit me up @nectarineblog on Instagram!