Analysis of Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin Essay

That's when he started writing to his brother. "My trouble made his real," he said (62). Because the truth is, we are never truly safe from anything. No one and nothing can protect us. This idea is brought out numerous times in the story. Driving past housing projects, where people have attempted to make nice, safe homes for themselves and their children in the midst of Harlem, and noticing the beat-looking grass and the big windows, and the playground, which saw more activity after dark, Sonny's brother notes: "The hedges will never hold out the streets, and they know it" (53). Sonny's brother is taking on the attitude he remembers hearing from their father. " 'Safe!' my father grunted, whenever Mama suggested trying to move to a neighbourhood which might be safer for children. 'Safe, hell! Ain't no place safe for kids, nor nobody!'" (54).

When Sonny moves in with the family, he is given the expectation to finish college and stay out of trouble. Sonny has other ideas though and skips his classes to go to the local jazz club and play music. When the narrator first learns of Sonny’s antics he is very disappointed and is frustrated that Sonny continues to pursue a musical career. He believes it is part of the reason that Sonny has had so much trouble in the past and doesn’t believe it is a positive thing for his brother. Sonny is immediately kicked out and the two go for another extended period of time until talking again. Eventually the narrator has another change of heart and invites his brother to live with him again and Sonny agrees. The two struggle to communicate so one day Sonny invites the narrator to come watch him play at the jazz club and it is then that the narrator truly understands his younger brother. He is watching Sonny play with a group of musicians when he sees “Sonny’s face is trouble” (Baldwin 254) with the difficulty in

The narrator experienced a lot of problems throughout his life but managed to emerge victoriously from most of them. Even with this, he needs to support Sonny because this was his mother's dying wish. "The death of the narrator's daughter, Sonny's failure to fit in with his own family, a stint in the navy all serve to alienate the brothers, even after their mother made the narrator promise to keep an eye on young Sonny" (Smith 22). The fact that they were born in a harsh environment, society's views in regard to their racial background, and the fact that they experienced a lot of hardships during their lives all had a severe effect on the personalities of each of the brothers.

Stuck in his own mindset of what life should be like, he failed to see where his brother was coming from when questioning his future goals and plans. Sonny appeared to be a very sensitive person when the narrator questioned his views and dreams, he took offense and distant himself every time. After their mother died, Sonny was proposed to stay with Isabel (narrator's wife) family, he shot the idea down initially because he really wanted to break out the "trap" that was Harlem and relocate, "Look brother. I don't want to stay in Harlem no more, I really don't." There was something in his eyes I'd never seen before, some thoughtfulness, some worry all his own." (page 58 p11). This showed he knew the outcome if he stayed and didn't leave soon, even opting to join the armed forces if need be. He and his brother came to an agreement with the staying and finishing of school at Isabel's house with the piano. He tried to create happiness through music, which appears to be his escape to the harsh reality they lived in, every day on the piano trying to find an outlet. Eventually, he would stop going to school, and after an intense argument vanished altogether for years making a name for

Jazz music for Sonny meant the exact opposite however, music was more like the light at the end of a tunnel. Jazz music was one of the few positive things in Sonny’s life. Music represented passion and an escape from the world for Sonny. It was where he could do no one harm its where he felt the most free to do as he pleases without being judged. The two brothers were cut from different fabric, and often find it hard to understand one another. Music seemed to be the bridge that managed to fill the gap of understanding between the two, it brought them closer than they have ever been. When the narrator goes to watch his brother perform he learns things he’d never known about his brother before, he then began to appreciate the wonder and terror of becoming a musician.

As well as in the short story Sonny’s Blues, the main character, Sonny, is being criticized by his brother. Since the very beginning, their mother told the oldest one, ‘’ you got to hold on to your brother ’’ and that’s what he wanted to do, but Sonny took a different path than he did. Sonny was the kind of guy that was heroin-addicted and a jazz musician, but his older brother didn’t see all these sides of him. We discover all these sides by the use of flashback of the author throughout the major parts of the story. The author didn’t want us to see Sonny like his older brother was seeing him, he wanted us to see him as a poor, un-accepted guy that needed to be listened by his peers. The brother didn’t accept the journey that Sonny had taken, but if he would of saw the actual Sonny, and stop hiding in the darkness, he would of accepted him faster and understand that Sonny only wanted to show that he could do good things not only drugs. In the middle of the story, there is a flashback were we learn that actually Sonny is more experienced about life than his older brother, because Sonny was in drugs and was really affected by Harlem( the city they stayed in when they were younger). The brother had a pretty easy life; he became a teacher and had a little family. This demonstrates that we need support from our peers, to be able to continue without taking bad choices.

Before passing away, the narrator's mother made him promise to always take care of Sonny: "You got to hold on to your brother," she said, "and don't let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you gets with him. You going to be evil with him many a time. But don't you forget what I told you, you hear?" (14). The narrator's initial lack of contact might seem that he has forgotten his promise and his responsibility as an older brother. Realistically though, the narrator is angry at Sonny's decisions to take heroin and consequently get arrested. This anger that he holds is preventing him from fulfilling his promise and his responsibility; however, when he receives the letter from Sonny stating, "You don't know how much I needed you", the anger dissipates and he realizes that his younger brother is in need of guidance and love rather than anger and ignorance.

With the narrator watching Sonny’s every move for “signs”, he stated, “I was trying to find out something about my brother. I was dying to hear him tell me he was safe.” (Baldwin, 822),that is when he had a flashback about his mother on why his brother might be hiding his emotions. The narrator remembers his last talk with his mother. This conversation happened when the narrator came home for break during the war and Sonny was in college at this time. During this time, his mother told him about the death of his uncle and he said, “I asked her, “What happened to his brother? How come nobody’s ever talked about him?” (Baldwin, 824). The story was about how his uncle got killed in a hit-and-run accident by a group of of drunken white people, one night walking from a club. “They was having fun, they just wanted to scare him, the way they do sometimes, you know. But they was drunk. And I guess the boy, being drunk, too, and scared, kind of lost his head. By the time he jumped it was too late” (Baldwin, 825). Through his mother telling the story, she asked the narrator to keep a promise, “Oh, honey,” she said, “there’s a lot that you don’t know. But you are going to find out.” She stood up from the window and came over to me. “You got to hold on to your brother,” she said, “and don’t let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you gets with him. You

The author also describes Sonny’s walk in a musical way, “He has a slow, loping walk, something like the Harlem hipsters walk, only he's imposed on this his own half-beat” (p. 325).

something for Sonny it was because his mother had wanted him to, not because he

The development of the plot stands out as one of the most crucial elements of the story. From the very beginning, the narrator discovers that Sonny has been arrested for his drug use. This action engenders the narrator to reflect on his relationship with Sonny. The discovery of Sonny 's arrest quickly conveys to us a point that is so central to the story. Following the introduction of plot is the conflict. The conflict of the story centers around the narrator and Sonny arguing about Sonny 's decision to become a jazz musician. This conflict,however, has happened before the situation in the introduction of the story but is mentioned further in the story. Sonny 's desire to become a jazz player is seen as a waste of time by the narrator. Consequently, tension is formed between the brothers because of their lack of agreement on the issue. The tension between the brothers gets even more complicated when Sonny moves into the narrator 's apartment. During this part of the story, the narrator and Sonny try to come to terms with themselves and each other. The climax of the story is when the narrator and Sonny argue in the apartment. This is the most important part of the story because both brothers have a brutally honest argument. The narrator discusses Sonny 's drug use, his misunderstanding of Sonny as a musician, and Sonny 's frustration in life. This argument between the two brothers resolves when Sonny invites the narrator to come hear him play. The

I am more towards James. He didn’t have to give Sonny things while he was in prision . He sent him whatever he could give him, and he Opened his home to him when he had nowhere to go. “So I don’t know why I was sure he’d be dying to talk to me when supper was over the first night.” (4). By the end of the story James realized that Music was Sonny’s passion. He started to accept what he wanted to do. “For me, then as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother’s head like the very cup of trembling.” (15). He was noticing how happy Sonny was when he was playing with his music

The narrator finds it strenuous to look after his brother because Sonny has hit rock bottom and the narrator does not know how he could possibly help. The narrator is debating with himself whether or not he even wants to write to Sonny while he is in prison. The narrator is feeling very consternated about Sonny going to prison because he has always seen Sonny as this bright and

At a young age Sonny and the brother were just normal young brothers and there wasn’t much to it besides that. After their father died the roles seemed to change as shown in the scene between Sonny and his brother. The brother seemed to take on the father role for Sonny being very serious and concerned for Sonny’s future. Sonny on the other hand from his brother’s perspective was just a kid who didn’t seem to know any better yet, and that he needed to grow up and decided on a future. Later on after Sonny’s drug problem surfaced the roles seemed to change again and seemed to be strangers, awkward in their conversation and unwilling to talk to each other aside from mail. Sonny might have seen this a different way and might have just seen the narrator only as his brother the entire

His daughter, Grace, passes away unexpectedly from polio, so he decided that enough was enough and to write Sonny. This was the beginning of many letters back and forth while Sonny is still in jail. Upon his release he goes to live with the narrator and his now smaller family. It is on the first dinner where the brothers and family are together that we flashback to many events of the narrators past that help give valuable background information as to why they live the very different lives that they do. In this flashback we learn that Sonny and his father never got along because of how alike they were.