In James Baldwin's essay "Notes of a Native Son", Baldwin's father contracted a disease and passed away. Similarly in John Wideman's collection of Homewood stories "Our Time." Wideman's brother Robby had a friend die of a terminal disease. The death of this close relation led both James Baldwin and Roby Wideman into a spiral of remorse and frustration. <Tab/>"The moment I saw him I knew why I had put off …showed first 75 words of 940 total…

…showed last 75 words of 940 total…way was for him to look to the life ahead. <Tab/>Both of these men fell through a spiral of remorse and frustration but in the end realized they themselves where the ones to blame for their agony. Although it is painful to have someone leave your side forever, people must find alternatives to taking the same spiral these two men took In the end it own leads to self destruction.