No one can ever say that their life is easy and without any difficulties or hardships. James Baldwin’s short story of “Sonny’s Blues” depicts this correctly. Each character has something happen to them that causes them some sort of grief. Every situation has one thing in common: the location where each takes place. The setting in the hometown of Harlem in the 1950s influences the story’s characters in many ways attributing to some of the troubles and some joys that occur throughout the narrative. Harlem is located in New York. Drugs and alcohol are prominent in the youth that live in the city. The narrator of the story and his brother were constantly faced with these issues ever since their childhood. The narrator never seemed to be greatly affected by the drugs that were available on the streets; Sonny, the narrator’s brother, was however. “He had been picked up, the evening before, in a raid on an apartment downtown, for peddling and using heroin” (Baldwin 123). The narrator did not want to believe the facts he heard. Sonny had always been a good kid; there was no way he “turned hard or evil or disrespectful, the way kids can, so quick, so quick, especially in Harlem” (Baldwin 123). Sonny had been sent out of the city to be in rehabilitation, but once he was released, the only place he could go was back with his brother to the source of …show more content…
He developed a passion for playing jazz music on the piano. During the 1950s, this type of music was popular amongst many people. Sonny was able to find other people that all went through similar situations as he did at the local night club. Sonny became very popular through his music he performs on stage. He captivates many with the songs he chooses and adds his own touch to, such as a popular blues song, “Am I Blue”. As a matter of fact, Sonny’s outlet to this popular genre of music helped the narrator understand him a little
In each of the two short stories, “Sonny’s Blues” and “Everyday Use,” allow people who read these stories to make discoveries of the lives of African American families. These people who are apart of these families have to live in society and be able to deal with struggles and difficulties around them from being equal but separate at the
“Sonny’s Blues” is a short story about two brother’s relationship. The setting of the story is in Harlem, New York after World War II (Shaup). The story starts out with the narrator looking through the paper when he realizes his brother Sonny was in jail for heroin bust. The narrator does not speak to Sonny until his daughter dies. Sonny is released from jail to live with his brother and sister-in-law where he finds his love and passion for music. The narrator left for the Army Sonny realized his love for music has been a burden on the family and joined the Navy. Sonny returned home him and the narrator had a disagreement on how Sonny was living his life and the decisions he had made, and the disagreement ended when Sonny and the narrator go to a jazz club and the narrator sees who Sonny really is and his potential. There are at least three literary devices the author uses to make
For the two young African-Americans growing up in the drug-infested streets, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine the types of dangers that these boys were vulnerable to and it’s admirable to think that the narrator would view Harlem “as a place in which to mature…” (Stark 138). A couple of days before Sonny got released from jail his brother, the narrator, sent him mail in jail to see how he was doing and if everything was going okay, but when Sonny got released “I [Narrator] went to meet him when he came back to New York” (Baldwin 31). The story is mainly set in New York, Harlem but at one point Sonny speaks in a letter from upstate from when he was in jail locked up (Online).
Throughout the story, Sonny suffers from drug abuse. The beginning of the story starts off when Sonny gets sent to jail for drugs. After that, Sonny comes back and reveals the drugs were a way to stop the suffering of his parent’s death, but they caused a whole new kind of suffering. And the fact that the brothers live in Harlem does not help Sonny. As Sonny has said before “You walk these streets, black funky and cold, and there’s not really a living [person] to talk to, and there’s nothing shaking, and there’s no way of getting it out—that storm inside” (434 Baldwin). No matter how hard Sonny tries to escape his suffering, his current environment, the bleak streets of Harlem, does not let him do so easily. Sonny shows suffering in the
In Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin is the story about a musician who is struggling to cope with his depression through his music and drugs. Baldwin writes this story about himself by bypassing any direct notation of him. As he is trying to break the inequalities that the people during that time are facing. Many people like Sonny are having a problem with drugs which ultimately gets him arrested. Now he has to find his place in the world with the many things that he faces in his everyday life. Baldwin illustrates how drugs, music, and the support of family helps Sonny with the depression that he is feeling in his society.
Sonny reaches out to drugs in hopes to escape the sufferings of Harlem. The narrator
The narrator is especially aware that as Sonny seems to be living in the light of the moment, he was once trapped in the darkness. He connects this to the shadows that are taking over the lives of the children he teaches without them realizing it is happening, as seen by the string of wrong choices and missed opportunities. They do not seem to have any way out of this situation because the boys are growing up in Harlem, similar to Sonny, and therefore they appear to be destined for the same future of drug abuse. That is the reality that surrounds them and without a guide, they will not have the ability to escape the darkness as Baldwin tells readers when
Fictional writing is generally done just to entertain readers. Some authors create stories with a singular point of view, while others introduce more complex plots and storylines. When it comes to author James Baldwin’s short story Sonny’s Blues, there is much depth given to the storyline and the characters. Sonny’s Blues has been analyzed by many different people throughout time because the story has many elements. From Baldwin’s skillful use of metaphors and similes to his incorporation of religious references, this story is insightfully and complexly written. A simple story about a man and his brother leaves readers with an inside look into family, drug addiction, socioeconomic struggles in the Black community, and the language of Jazz
As he watches Sonny play, he experiences different emotions. At this point, he realizes and understands Sonny’s love for jazz music and respects his will to do whatever he pleases in his life. He knows that Sonny will probably not become rich or famous, but jazz is what he loves to do every day and is not expecting an outcome out of it. The narrator also experiences flashbacks about his life and the pain he’s kept inside all of these years. As he continues to watch Sonny play, it’s as if his pain gets cleansed out by Sonny.
“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
ntroduction: James Baldwin, author of Sonny 's Blues, once said, "I grew up with music...much more than with any other language. In a way, the music I grew up with saved my life" ("Session 3 Inquiry: Rudolfo Anaya and James Baldwin," 2015). Blues becomes Sonny 's "drug" and his addiction to it his salvation.
The narrator realizes towards the end of the story how much he is separated from his African American heritage and his family. Sonny brother was mad at him for doing the drugs and didn’t trust him, and he wanted to protect him because he felt like that was his duty. The narrator throughout the story isn’t very supportive of Sonny’s ambitions. He wants Sonny to have a normal life. The narrator was being over protective of Sonny and didn’t trust him enough to become a jazz pianist. Because during that time Jazz was infested heroin users especially in Harlem.
In the short story “Sonny’s Blues”, the story takes place in an Urban Neighborhood in Harlem. The narrator is a guarded man who tells a story about his younger brother. Sonny, who is a troubled man who’s trying to seek a way to escape the shameless streets of Harlem. Sonny goes to prison and the narrator doesn’t speak to his brother for a long period of time until after his daughter’s tragic death. Sonny reaches out to his brother to send his condolences. After Sonny is released from prison he returns to his brother and family. Sonny explains to his brother about his passion for jazz music and the narrator is not very supportive or understand how significant it is. But he doesn’t know that Sonny’s music is how he copes and escapes from all the horrible things that has happened in his life. After the narrator sees his brother play one night he realizes Sonny true passion for his music and the real person he is. It even helps the narrator with his own personal problems and he didn’t realize he had until Sonny’s performance.
They are both suffering from the inequalities faced by Americans before and during the Civil Rights Movement. The story starts out with the unnamed narrator, who is the oldest of the two, discovering his brother, Sonny, has been arrested for heroin usage and drug dealing. Understanding the relationship between the brothers, Sonny’s and other musicians drug use and the historical setting of the story are all important to understanding James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.”
The central idea in the story “Sonny’s Blues,” by James Baldwin, is that it is hard to understand someone’s struggles without truly understanding whom he or she is. The narrator learned that his brother, Sonny, was arrested for using heroin. He revealed that they have become very distant, which he then explained with flashbacks. He thought he understood Sonny and falsely assumed his reasons for what seemed to be poor choices only to learn that they saved his life.