Music In Sonny's Life Essay

When his brother asked him what he wanted to do, he quickly responded “I’m going to be a musician.” There wasn’t any thinking needed; he knew exactly what he wanted in life. Though the brother’s point of view we get to see how unimpressed he was that Sonny wanted to be a musician. “It seemed -beneath him, somehow,” Sonny’s brother wrote. Though the story is well written in the point of view that it is told in, the weaknesses are that the readers don’t get to see everything through Sonny’s eyes and see his struggles.

Sonny and his brother disagreed on Sonny’s dreams to become a jazz musician. Yet, it is what brings them back together. Eventually, the narrator came to the realization that he should understand and accept Sonny for who he is and what he wants to become. “I simply couldn’t see why on earth he’d wanted to spend his time hanging around nightclubs, clowning around on bandstands, while people push each other around a dance floor” (pg.28).

Sonny had learned his own ways to deal with the “ambiguity and irony of Negro life” since leaving prison. Sonny had discovered a way to find his freedom that worked best for him and that was through music. He started to play Bebop. By playing his music he let go of his frustrations that came with being another unsafe black person living in this place. His father would always be negative to his mother when she would bring up the idea of wanting to move to another neighborhood. He would think that any place they could move to would be the same and all be unsafe for children and for anybody. Through playing and being a part of music Sonny had discovered a solution to his marginalization and being left alone from his own society. Sonny was able to reconnect with African Diaspora by learning to play blues music and Bepop. He was then able to escape the social and economic issues that he faced living in the ghetto which also allows this reconnection to represent his roots. This music was his solution and only way that Sonny could feel free. When Sonny would play blues, his brother and many other people were able to understand and also through his music he could help them be free too.

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.

Perhaps one of the strongest demonstrations of the power of music in “Sonny’s Blues” is the street revival. Everyone has seen these types of revivals before. Every song has been heard by the crowd, but when the music starts everyone stops, watches, and listens. “As the singing filled the air the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing on something within; the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them; and time seemed, nearly, to fall away from the sullen, belligerent, battered faces” (57). The music from the street revival helps lifts the hopelessness from the crowd and provides a sense of relief. Music is able to bring people from all walks of life together. It gives them a sense of calm and ease, an assurance that something is there to help. Music listens.

What: Sonny gets caught with Heroin and goes to jail. Then he gets out and decides to become a Jazz musician and he is able to pour himself out into the music.

The pain that Sonny undergoes is only satisfied when he is playing his music, and it is through this that the narrator accepts Sonny as a person and as a musician. Acceptance of Sonny's profession is extremely difficult for the narrator because he has always associated Sonny's music with darkness and drugs. Nevertheless, the darkness of the night in the jazz club illustrates the complication and wonder of jazz to the narrator. In the jazz club, there is a struggle with light and darkness. This is exemplified when Sonny and the rest of the musicians wait to go on stage and the narrator notices

At the end of the story we see how Sonny’s brother is finally seeing how much music means to him, but its sad

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.

“Sonny’s Blues” illustrates the ability to stay sane through the power of music. Sonny’s father died when he was fifteen and sadly “He and Sonny hadn’t ever got on too well. And this was partly because Sonny was the apple of his father eye. It was because he love Sonny so much and was frightened for him, that he was always fighting with him” (Baldwin 298). Sonny lost both his parents at a young age, which left him with his older brother as his only family. Sonny’s brother leaves for the army and “…already decided that he’d have to move in with Isabel and her folks” (Baldwin 302). Sonny was not in favor of the arrangement but he really did not have much of a choice. Sonny’s brother cheered him up by saying, “They got a piano at Isabel’s. You can practice on it” (Baldwin 303). Sonny stayed with Isabel and her folks, who tolerated him out of respect for his brother. Sonny’s loneliness caused him to seclude himself from everyone around him. Sonny used music to overcome the loneliness he felt. The music was how Sonny adapted to the new unfamiliar environment. Sonny played the piano every day until supper time. His brother says that “At first, Isabel

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

Sonny’s passion in life was his love for music. This kept him going through his difficult times, “sometime you know, and it was actually when I was most out of the world, I felt I was in it, that I was with it, really, and I could play or didn’t really have to play.” He invited his brother to watch him play at a nightclub. Through the music Sonny played his life’s obstacles and triumph. His brother finally understood what Sonny went through and will continue to go through.

"Sonny's Blues" opens with news that Sonny has been recently apprehended during a drug bust, which establishes that Sonny has had an ongoing problem with drug addiction, specifically heroin. While the narrator is apprehensive about contacting Sonny after this incident as the brother have lost touch over the years, he eventually reaches out to Sonny and gains insight into what Sonny has been doing during their estrangement; it is also during this time that the narrator recognizes that music is not only an artistic outlet for Sonny, but also provides an emotional and psychological catharsis for him and those that listen to his music. Sonny best describes his dependency on music as he talks to his brother after an old-fashioned revival meeting during which there was much singing. Sonny states,

Another lyrical feature is that Sonny constantly practices the piano to become an experienced musician. The narrator sends Sonny to live with his wife, Isabel, since her family has a piano in their living room. Sonny is passionate about enhancing his musical artistry that he buys a record player and records, and begins to play the piano by ear when he the music turns on. Whatever Sonny does for the day, he always recurs to the piano. It was as if Sonny was caught up in “some vision all on his own” (21). Sonny has the aspiration to become a skilled musician like his admiration and musician role model, Charlie Parker. He wants to be able to use music to regain his identity and make him whole again. Sonny desires to communicate who he truly is through the beauty of song, instead of having the streets of Harlem, or his brother, define who he really is. Furthermore, Isabel’s family grows tired of hearing Sonny play the piano constantly, therefore, when they confronted him about it, they “penetrated his cloud” (21) of vision. Since Sonny

Sonny’s character in this story is very adamant about wanting to be a musician, and how he copes