In this passage, Baldwin attempts to give James some optimism to hold onto in trying times. By telling his nephew that he arrived in this world “to be loved,” he frames James’s very existence—and, arguably, the existence of any human—as if the very purpose of living is to love and be loved. This is in keeping with Baldwin’s notion that love, unlike power or authority (which are always shifting), is a constant and reliable force capable of sustaining people through difficult times. There is no shortage of difficult times; even when James was born, the boy’s parents and Baldwin were…