James Baldwin was 24 years old when he first moved to Paris in 1948 and stayed for nine years, returning intermittently until his death in 1987. He had felt oppressed in America - his family had expectations of him, his friends were judgmental, and society was moralistic and prurient. As a result, he felt like he was constantly being watched and commented upon, like he was in prison.
In Paris, Baldwin was able to escape the expectations of his family and society and be free to create, take risks, make unusual friends, and become himself. He had no interest in assimilating into French society, but rather sought a state of “Exile” - a state of freedom from belonging to any particular group, of being unobserved, anonymous, and detached.
Though we may not all be able to become literal Exiles, we can strive to become internal Exiles - people who can behave like visitors in their own lands, who are not bound by local idiocies, who can cut themselves off from the narrow and restricted views of their friends and families, and who are indifferent to provincial competition and grandstanding. James Baldwin and his fellow Exiles serve as a reminder of our longing for freedom.