If Beale Street Could Talk and Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin

In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” the reader meets Sonny, a recovering addict, and his older brother, a high school teacher. Although these two brothers have completely different lives and personalities, the author’s use of symbolism brings them more tightly together like a real family. Baldwin uses symbols such as ice, lightness and darkness, and jazz music to add more depth and meaning to “Sonny’s Blues.”

“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, is a short story that takes place in Harlem. It is told through the perspective of his brother, who is the narrator. The story is focused on Sonny and his music, more specifically, how the music was redemption for Sonny. For Sonny, the music helped establish his identity while also helping him find a place in society. Thus, a kind of reconciliation occurs among various conflicts, which is symbolized by the drink his brother sends to him at the end. Music is crucial to Sonny’s identity and that is because it was a means for him to escape the life of drugs. Based on his brother’s perspective a fair representation of Sonny’s relationship with music, a picture of Sonny’s struggle for redemption becomes clear.

James Baldwin’s, “Sonny’s Blues,” illustrates the story between two different brothers as they struggle to discover the character of one another. “Sonny’s Blues” is narrated through the older brother’s point of view, as he portrays their difficulties in growing up, separation, and reunion. Baldwin purposely picks to tell the story in the first person point of view because of the omniscient and realistic effects it contribute to the story overall. The mother, father, and Sonny all express their accounts to the older brother, making him the perfect character to tell the story. In addition, the first person point of view allows the reader to experience the vicarious feelings that the

The story, Sonny’s Blues, describes the lives of two brothers growing up in Harlem in the early 1960’s. Sonny and his brother are different in the way the go about life in general. They were both raised in the same household, yet they grew up to be totally different people. As the story progresses we see that both brothers have troubles in their lives and we get to see how each thinks and acts when facing such ordeals. While the brothers differ in the way they internalize and cope with their problems, they both show selfish characteristics, but ultimately feel remorseful for not being in each others’ lives.

The story “Sonny’s Blues” By James Baldwin is about a jazz musician and his brother in 1950’s Harlem. The story centers on Sonny who uses jazz music as an escape from his depression. James Baldwin captures the art of jazz during this time period. The themes in this short story are perhaps varied, but all of them revolve around some form of suffering. One theme shows how music can promote change and understanding within relationships. A second theme reveals suffering caused by guilt. Yet another theme references the results of suffering brought about by searching for ones’ identity and how that leads to misunderstanding. There are also subthemes concerning racism and poverty.

The experience of using music as an emotional escape when one is experiencing frustrating times is one that is almost universal. This application of music, more specifically the blues, is especially true for the title character in James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues.” Told from the perspective of his older brother, the writing depicts the hardships that Sonny has been through, including the loss of both of his parents and the ordeal of going to jail for drugs, all of which result in a strained relationship between him and his brother. In "Sonny's Blues," Sonny has a deep dedication and emotional connection to the blues. The author depicts this through the continuation of an extended metaphor, the description of music being played, and the application of blues as a narrative device.

Sonny’s actions were highly influenced by his environment, whether it be the struggles of the streets, his relationship with his father or the dark side of being a blues musician in the 50s. The Narrator explains the lifeless environment he grew up in and the constant struggle of finding light in such a dark enviroment “God knows the people who live in it do their best to make it a parody. The beat-looking grass lying around isn't enough to make their lives green, the hedges will never hold out the streets, and they know it. The big windows fool no one, they aren't big enough to make space out of no space. They don't bother with the windows, they watch the TV screen instead. The playground is most popular with the children who don't play at jacks, or skip rope, or roller skate, or swing, and they can be found in it after dark” (255). One of the significant elements that the author writes about is darkness, he makes it clear about how harlem is a cloak of darkness, and unfortunately people do not know any other shade of life. Both brothers come from the same environment but they cope with their struggles in a different manners: “Thus, in the story of Sonny and his brother an intuition of the meaning of the Blues repairs the relationship between the two men who have chosen different ways to cope with the menacing ghetto environment, and their reconciliation through the medium of this AfroAmerican musical form extends the meaning of the individual's Blues until it becomes a metaphor of Black community” (Reilly 230). African Americans have pioneered many different genres of music that the american society can now claim as their own. What is often not appreciated or shown is the spiritual connection that they have with the music that they create. This sense of finding identity in the music is

In the short story, Sonny’s Blues, by James Baldwin, there are two brother that live in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. The older brother, whose name is never mentioned, was given responsibility of Sonny by their mother before she passed away. Sonny is the younger of the two and wants to be a jazz pianist, but his older brother does not understand this, while he is an algebra school teacher. Sonny and his brother stop communicating. Later, the older brother is going to his job when he sees in the newspaper that his younger brother, Sonny, had been arrested for selling and possessing cocaine, or as it is called in the story, horse. Sonny’s brother never writes Sonny in jail until his daughter, Grace, died of polio. After Sonny gets out of jail, they begin to get close and his brother starts to appreciate Sonny’s love for jazz.

Everyone is born in different times with different opportunities. Some of us have to struggle to make ends meet and others are born with money at their feet already. “Sonny’s Blues” opens up in Harlem with the narrator on a bus reading a newspaper learning that his brother, Sonny, has been arrested for selling heroin. Sonny’s brother takes him in after he is released from jail. However, his brother is scared if he lets him back into his home he will fall into his old ways. Sonny’s true passion in life is to become a Jazz musician but his family doesn’t believe in what he wants to do. Sonny want’s his brother to go with him to a jazz club to see how he actually is and not just seeing him as a dope selling drug addict. At the end of Sonny’s set, he realizes that Jazz has helped Sonny to stay free and express himself. Through Marxist criticism Baldwin highlights the power struggle of the main characters and the world in which they live.

Sonny's brother is mired in silence. He attempts to shield himself from the realities that make up his existence, but

Sonny’s Blues is a novella with Sonny and his brother a teacher as main characters; Sonny engaged in drug use and peddling an act that landed him prison where his brother visited him and eventually on release he lived with him. Sonny’s parents died at different times during the racial segregation epoch in America, they were African-Americans who suffered victimization. Before her mother’s death, she had instructed Sonny’s senior brother - a teacher- to take care of him because the surrounding world was dark symbolic for unfriendly. The theme of brotherly love begins when their mother requests them

Andrew Bernstein, an author and professor of philosophy, once said, "Nothing is given to man on earth – struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible – the hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen." Although many people transform into someone they are not and forget what they believe in during challenging times, the true man fights to remain loyal to his morals in the toughest of times. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s quote about the true neighbor exposing his real character and virtue in times of challenge and controversy is revealed in James Baldwin's novel If Beale Street Could Talk and John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. In Baldwin's novel, Mr. Hayward sticks to his principles in a time of controversy as he risks his reputation for the good of others; in Steinbeck's novel, Jim Casy sacrifices his life for the welfare of others, while refusing to give up his beliefs. As readers witness characters remaining true to themselves during hardships, as well as risking a part of themselves to benefit others, they are reminded through the powerful messages in literature to be cautious of their own reactions to distress and obstacles.

James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” tells the tale of a young jazz musician by the name Sonny who gets caught up in the ghetto life and decides to abuse and sell heroin. The story is told by the narrator, a high school math teacher, who happens to be Sonny’s older brother. The two siblings have a somewhat cold relationship that is worsened by the suffering that both brothers have had to endure living in an impoverished area. By presenting events that transpired in the past and relating them to the present, the narrator allows the reader to create his or her own understanding of the two characters through the various themes and literary styles. “Sonny’s Blues” is not merely the story of the narrator’s experiences; it is the tale of his inner transformation and spiritual growth which his earlier experiences of death and loss have motivated.

“Sonny’s Blues,” which is an outstanding short story by James Baldwin, describes many obstacles in lifestyles and relationships of African-Americans in the influential time of post Harlem Renaissance and discrimination in the 1950s. In the end of the story, the nightclub setting is the most important and emotional turning point of the brotherhood between narrator and his young brother, Sonny. After many conflicts and arguments about their different ideals and lifestyles, Sonny tries to open his heart to let his brother understand him by inviting the narrator to come to his jazz music performance at a small nightclub in Greenwich Village. At this place, he meets friends of Sonny, acquaint himself with jazz music and tries to get into Sonny’s world. He carefully observes any changes of his brother on the stage. Sonny is nervous and has trouble in the beginning of the performance. However, Sonny quickly gets back on track. His music seems to touch everyone, including his brother, by its beauty and freedom. The narrator becomes proud of Sonny. Eventually, he recognizes his brother’s talent and understands that Sonny was born to be a real musician.

Suffering is something that everyone has to persevere at some point in their life. One thing makes us unique is how we deal with these hardships. The characters in “Sonny’s Blues” endure many difficult situations. How they choose to deal with these situations effects their entire life. To begin the story, we see that the narrator’s brother Sonny has already dealt with his suffering by using heroin. Then the narrator’s daughter dies of polio, but his pain helped him reach out to Sonny. He brought Sonny into his home to live. The story then takes a turn, and it jumps back to before the boys parents died. Their mother tells a story to the narrator about his father. His father’s brother was hit by a car of white men and he died right in front of him. He never was the same after the incident. Then she made him promise to take care of Sonny and not let him fall no matter how hard it is. After the death of their parents Sonny expressed his yearning to be a musician to his brother, and he shot the idea down. Sonny pursued his dreams anyway, but went down the wrong paths. By the end of the story when the brothers are reunited the narrator finally