Bladwin, the author, has struggled to establish a connection to his father, as his father was strained from all the bitterness and had strong hatred towards the whites in America. His paranoia came between him and his son, as Bladwin had white friends and a white teacher. Baldwin's father died on the birth of his last son, and the author realizes how him and his father barely talked. Bladwin doubted his father's advice and paranoia towards Europeans, until he moved to New Jersey. In New Jersey Bladwin experiences racism as he gets denied to eat in restaurants constantly and gets treated poorly, unlike how he was treated in his hometown.
On his last night there, he went to a movie with a white friend, and afterwards tried to order some food