Question

james baldwins take on the effects of prejudice or equal power: that one must never, in one s own life, accept these injustices as commonplace but must fight them with all ones strength. this fight begins, however, in the heart and it now had been laid to my charge to keep my own heart free of hatred and despair. this intimation made my heart heavy and, now that my father was irrecoverable, i wished that he had been beside me so that i could have searched his face for the answers which only the future would give me now. read the excerpt from notes of a native son. in that year i had had time to become aware of the meaning of all my fathers bitter warnings, had discovered the secret of his proudly pursed lips and rigid carriage: i had discovered the weight of white people in the world. i saw that this had been for my ancestors and now would be for me an awful thing to live with and that the bitterness which had helped to kill my father could also kill me. which best expresses the connection that baldwin makes between the historical context of racial prejudice and the physical effects it has on his father? his father’s premature death reflects the rapid disappearance of racial prejudice in early 20th - century america. his father’s immunity to stress reflects the immunity of black americans to the effects of racial prejudice. the tension in his father’s body reflects the tension between oppressor and oppressed in early 20th - century america. the weakness in his father’s body reflects the weakness of the riot against discrimination in harlem.

Explanation:

1. Analyze Option 1: Racial prejudice was widespread in early 20th - century America, not rapidly disappearing. So this option is incorrect.
2. Analyze Option 2: The text shows the negative impact of prejudice on the father, not immunity. So this option is wrong.
3. Analyze Option 3: The father's "proudly pursed lips and rigid carriage" show tension. In early 20th - century America, there was tension between oppressors (white people) and the oppressed (Black Americans) due to racial prejudice. This option matches the connection.
4. Analyze Option 4: The text is about the impact of racial prejudice on the father, not a riot in Harlem. So this option is incorrect.

Answer:

The tension in his father’s body reflects the tension between oppressor and oppressed in early 20th - century America.