Come Out the Wilderness by James Baldwin
"Come Out the Wilderness" by James Baldwin explores the complex emotional landscape of Ruth, a young African American woman grappling with issues of love, identity, and self-worth. Set against the backdrop of her tumultuous relationship with her white lover, Paul, Ruth experiences a deep dependence on his affection while feeling the weight of his perceived condescension toward her race and gender. As she navigates her day as a secretary in an insurance company, she becomes embroiled in a mix of longing and despair, particularly when her hopes for a stable future with Paul seem increasingly elusive.
Ruth's internal struggle is exacerbated by her past traumas, including shame and guilt instilled in her by family dynamics that equate her desires with moral failing. Despite her desire for a loving relationship and a family, she feels trapped and silenced, unable to express her true feelings for fear of abandonment. The narrative culminates in her frantic search for direction amidst the bustling streets of New York City, symbolizing her broader quest for self-acceptance and freedom from the burdens of her past. Baldwin's work highlights themes of race, gender, and the psychological impacts of societal expectations, inviting readers to reflect on the intersections of love and identity.
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Come Out the Wilderness by James Baldwin
First published: 1958
Type of plot: Psychological
Time of work: About 1960
Locale: New York City
Principal Characters:
Ruth Bowman , a twenty-six-year-old African American secretary for an insurance companyPaul , her white lover, an aspiring painterMr. Davis , an African American executive at her insurance company
The Story
Ruth Bowman, a young African American woman, begins her day by talking with and making love to her white lover, Paul. She feels desperately dependent on his affection, but also senses that he is slipping away. After she gets to her job as a secretary for an insurance company, she tries not to worry about Paul but fails. Her grim day is relieved when Mr. Davis, an African American executive who is about to be promoted, offers to make her his personal secretary. At noon a chance encounter leads to Ruth's lunching with Davis. It is the beginning of a friendship that Ruth wants to welcome, but which she resists out of distrust and feelings of unworthiness. Her despair returns when Paul fails to return home that night as he has promised, and she is left alone, worrying.
Ruth wants to marry and raise children, but Paul seems to assume they will never marry. Ruth loves him, and he treats her kindly and seems to be concerned for her welfare; however, she also hates him, especially when she detects his unconscious condescension toward her gender and race. As she grows more sure that she is losing him, her reflections become more bitter. Although she wants to believe that love will release her from guilt and terror, loving Paul imprisons her in guilt. She also feels imprisoned in silence; she cannot tell Paul what she really thinks, thus calling him to account for his failures, because then he certainly will leave her sooner, as no marriage promise holds him.
Ruth's deepest and most pervasive source of suffering is undeserved guilt. Although she knows that her feelings are unfair, she cannot escape the conviction that she deserves to suffer and is unworthy of love and happiness. She ran away from home after her older brother caught her with a boyfriend in the barn. Although she had not yet done anything worthy of blame, everyone assumed that she had and that what she wanted must be evil. Her brother called her "black and dirty," linking her sexual desires with evil, family betrayal, and skin color. She has since spent her life trying to escape these labels and undo these connections. So far, however, she has failed and all of her relations with men seem to be poisoned.
The story ends as she walks briskly through the crowded New York streets, trying to hide from herself and others the fact that she does not know where she is going.
Bibliography
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