Lee, Dorothy H. “The Bridge of Suffering.” Callaloo, 18 (1983): 

92-99. Print.

Lee claims Baldwin’s work is rooted in suffering.  He creates characters defined by their “capacity for pain,” revealing Baldwin’s opinion that personal suffering is a bridge to awareness.  Lee goes on to use the metaphor of a bridge as a way to describe Baldwin’s theme of connecting characters through their “otherness.”  She notes that the blues offers his characters “momentary triumph over loneliness,” bridging the gap between “artist and audience, races, brothers, and lovers.” Baldwin made use of biblical allusions in his naming of characters, although his work became more secular over time.  Lee concludes with a focus on Baldwin’s meditation on the idea that “love is liberating,” and the act of loving another bridges the gap of otherness.