Reflection Of Sonny's Blues

Because of human nature, every person alive will experience suffering. Suffering is unavoidable, undeniable, and a part of every person’s life. Suffering is often an idea explored in literature, and in the short story Sonny’s Blues, by James Baldwin, the narrator is faced with the darkness and suffering he has dealt with throughout his life, along with the struggles of dealing with his brother, Sonny. The narrator, in denial about the suffering he has become accustomed to in Harlem, can deny it no longer after the literal and metaphorical death of his daughter Grace, and only find salvation after listening to, and comprehending his brother Sonny's music. The darkness of Harlem has always brought suffering to it’s residents, and it is often

“Sonny’s Blues” is an emotional story written by an amazing author, James Baldwin, who has come to be one of my favorite writers. This particular piece talks about the troubles of African American freeing themselves from the mental bondages of their surroundings, the ghetto. The title is significant, and helped me to understand the underlining meaning of the story. The title can be divided into two main reasons, the first, “Sonny’s Blues, meaning the music he plays. Second is the reference to his life, his feelings, his style, and most importantly his way of life.

In James Baldwin’s short story, Sonny’s Blues, he describes a story of pain and prejudice. The theme of suffering makes the readers relate to it. The story is told in the realistic point of view of Sonny’s brother. The setting and time of the story also has great significance to the story. From beginning to end, the story is well developed.

In James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues” there is a constant contrast between light and dark. Baldwin uses this theme to highlight the struggles that the Narrator and his younger brother, Sonny, both face. Light represents all of the positive aspects of life. Meanwhile, the darkness represents the constant struggle that threatens the characters in the story. Light and dark has a presence in both characters. The narrator lives his life in the “light”. He is a teacher, middleclass man, a man who has a wife and family. For the narrator, the darkness is his constant reflections on his brother, and his sense of guilt or blame for being the reason why Sonny turned to a life of drugs. The darkness represents Sonny in a way. He is a

Making connections and listening to others can help alleviate one’s suffering. In Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, two brothers are trapped in the poverty and racism of Harlem. The Narrator can no longer deny the suffering he has become customary to in Harlem after the metaphoric and literal death of his daughter, Grace, and it is not until he listen’s to Sonny’s music that he can finally redeem himself. On the way back from the prison, the Narrator begins to question his idea that he has escaped the suffering of Harlem. The death of Grace makes the Narrator’s own suffering apparent, and opens the idea of listening to the Narrator. When at the Narrator’s apartment, Sonny and the Narrator discuss

The writer was a poor boy growing up. He was also a Negro, so things were bad for him and his family in white America. He probably felt sad every day of his childhood so he turned to books for entertainment and maybe escape. When he started reading, he found that he liked it and wanted to create stories for other people to enjoy, but he was a poor Negro boy who could not expect help from the whites, so he taught himself to write. That is similar to Sonny, who taught himself to play the piano.

The short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, is the tale of two brothers who grew up in Harlem. One brother is a school teacher, husband, and father, whom was left with the responsibility of looking after his younger brother Sonny. Sonny a troubled young man, struggling with his demons and his desire to be a musician. The brothers, born seven years apart, have a complicated relationship. That make it difficult to understand each other; however, the love and bond between them outweigh their differences. The diverse settings throughout the story positively and negatively influence each of these characters, in a plethora of ways.

“Sonny’s Blues” is a narration about two siblings – brothers - who choose very different routes in life in order to accomplish the zenith of individualism, expressionism and recognition. In doing so, they take a glimpse into one another’s spheres and learn to assent and appreciate each other for who they are. In 1951, Baldwin wrote Sonny’s Blues, a story of the ills that Harlem provided its youth. In Baldwin’s telling of the narration, it forms a nous of liberation, an atmosphere of therapeutic acceptance for the author, in which Baldwin develops to express his own state through his virtuoso of storytelling. To put it inanely, Baldwin has such a fine grasp of the linguistic and such great urge to interpret that he can move even his stoutest detractors to emotion and response.

In “Sonny’s Blues”, the two brothers grew up in the ghetto of Harlem show “two sides of the African American experience” (the influence of drugs and the resilience of character). Sonny had tried to escape the Harlem, but had instead fallen; “I was all by myself at the bottom of something, stinking, sweating and crying and shaking” (Baldwin 34). On the other hand, his brother, the narrator, had become a school teacher and had become successful. This represents the way the narrator acts in a white society and how Sonny acts; the narrator assimilates into the society, rebuking all the negative influences, whereas Sonny alienation in that society caused him to succumb to the negative influences, and uses them to escape the pain of not having a voice in the society. But, when the narrator had become more open minded, he was able to understand why Sonny had allowed himself to be influenced by all the negativity, he became less judgmental and more understanding Sonny himself underwent a change as well, he became stronger and more vocal about his opinions. In a similar way, the speaker from “Theme for English B” changed as well, just like the narrator had changed in “Sonny’s Blues” from very close-minded to very open minded and understanding. In the beginning of the poem, the

Mama asked that her strength remain to support the family when she told her older son to watch out for his little brother saying, "I'm telling you this because you got a brother. And the world ain't changed" (421).

In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, the author uses the setting to create a feeling of entrapment and suffering by limited possibilities. The setting of this story sets the scene for what the characters have to endure on a day to day basis. The suffering of the people from poverty, prostitution, drugs, crime, and lack of opportunities is something the characters must face daily. Harlem is described in the story like one of the main characters. There is always darkness and inherent danger lurking just below the surface.

Combining a love for music with a personal history of living through racism, segregation, poverty, and drugs; James Baldwin pens “Sonny’s Blues”. In this story the reader learns about the burdens of characters living in a post-World War II Harlem. Accordingly, the narrative is told from the perspective of a man dealing with the struggles of his younger brother, Sonny, a blues-loving composer with a dark history. As Sonny grows up in a racially charged borough of New York City he learns how to play the piano and to use that gift to channel his loss and suffering into music; while the narrator grows up trying to live up to the responsibilities of raising a younger sibling with deceased parents. Subsequently, through his use of symbolism,

James Baldwin's, the short story "Sonny's Blues", is among one of the examples of the struggles, that African-Americans faced in Harlem during the 1950s. The main characters, the narrator, and his brother Sonny are two black men living in a predominantly poor community in Harlem. In this story, the two men struggle to find their self-identity and overcome personal struggles. Although, the narrator takes on the responsibility of taking care of his brother, he was not able to live up to the promise to keep him out of harm's way in the bleak area of Harlem, which caused conflict between the two brothers because Sonny, was the type of person who was going to do what he set his mind to, and follows his passion for music, which ultimately, brought

“Sonny’s Blues” is a touching story of transformation for the narrator and his brother. After spending time in prison for possession of heroin, Sonny comes back home to meet a very hostile and unforgiving brother. The story is set in the predominately African American projects of Harlem, New York where drug abuse and violence are quite rampant. The projects according to Baldwin are: “rocks in the middle of a boiling sea” (112). This description highlights the awful state of affairs. Life conditions in Harlem are worsened by the fact that there are no opportunities for Blacks to empower themselves economically and to liberate themselves from

In Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, race, drugs, class struggle and family are some of the issues addressed in the story. Race is addressed when the narrator and his family are categorized by the author as African Americans. In addition, the narrator’s unfamiliar uncle was killed by intoxicated white men. Ever since that night, every white man that his father would see was the man who killed his brother. His mother implied the world hasn’t changed and feared for Sonny’s life.