Sonny's Blues Essay

The narrator recalls his drive through Harlem, “So we drove along between the green of the park and the stony, lifeless elegance of hotels and apartment buildings, toward the vivid, killing streets of our childhood” (Baldwin 117). Harlem is a predominantly African American neighborhood in New York known for its violence, poverty, and cultural aspect to the African American community. Growing up in Harlem kids usually never leave and live of life of tragedy. In the story Baldwin while the narrator is discussing Harlem, Baldwin writes, “Some escaped the trap, most didn’t. Those who got out always left something of themselves behind, as some animals amputate a leg and leave it in the trap” (Baldwin 101). Baldwin uses Sonny as a metaphor for the life in Harlem. His struggles represent the struggles of the people living in Harlem. Although Sonny does leave Harlem he is still stuck with the struggles that comes up with growing up there which also represents the sort of paralysis the people of Harlem face. Even if they find a way to escape they are still stuck with the sense of poverty and tragedy that comes with living in such a bad neighborhood. When the people of Harlem were struggling they found peace in playing music which is where Jazz became a very big part of the African American

Discuss place and how James Baldwin uses elements of setting to convey Sonny’s Blues’ larger message or theme.

“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 the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin a schoolteacher from the city of Harlem struggles with life and figuring out how to helped his troubled brother. All though named Sonny’s Blues the main character is actually Sonny’s brother who is the narrator and goes through his life and how he reacts to the many problems his younger brother has come into. The brothers grew up in the poverty stricken city of Harlem where the brothers had to avoid drugs and violence constantly. Growing up, Sonny struggled to stay out of trouble and ended up making some bad decisions throughout his life and ends up landing him in jail and addicted to heroin. The un-named brother of Sonny who is the narrator of the story begins to

The narrator goes to a club to watch Sonny and his band play. He begins to understand how deeply his brother feels and thinks, “I had never before thought of how awful the relationship must be between the musician and his instrument. He has to fill it, this instrument with the breath of life, his own.”(Baldwin 102) The music gives Sonny a chance to release his hopelessness and depression. Even though the narrator believes Sonny could have done more with his life if he had turned to classical music, he understands that Sonny is being true to who he really is. The anonymous brother, however, has not found

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of revival and awakening in which the African American community produced a new form of cultural identity. After years of oppression and slavery, African Americans struggled to discover their own distinctive culture. It was through the literature and artistry of the Harlem Renaissance that the African American community began to express the suffering and resentment they truly experienced. In addition, the movement allowed them to find a way to escape their hardships. James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” and Langston Hughes’ “The Weary Blues” address the addiction, poverty, and violence that surrounded African Americans and the triumph of life that was captured in their attempt to escape the suffering.

In the first paragraph the ambiguousness comes to light as he states "Creole began to tell us what the blues were all about." It could have a literal meaning in the sense that Creole could be singing of the blues, actually speaking the words and the definition. It could also mean that the music itself tells the story of the blues. The notes and the melody intertwine to hit a chord as no words ever could. To convey a meaning as no tale ever could. To truly bind the narrator to his brother as no conversation ever could. It is with this paragraph that the narrator really begins to understand his brother and perhaps begins to understand a little more about himself. Baldwin uses this paragraph to describe the affect of music on a human in terms of finding the good in the bad and embracing life as it is. He chooses words in his description commonly associated with music, such as "beat" with"He hit something in all of them, he hit something in me, myself, and the music tightened and deepened apprehension began to beat the air.' In fact the sentence itself seems to move in "beat." He uses colloquial language that you would expect to hear from someone in a jazz joint with phrases such as "he and his boys" and "keeping it new." The last few sentences intricately weave together the ideas of the music and its parallel in life.

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

Her older son has difficulty with her legacy because he chooses not to see. Where his mother was vigilant and quick to identify the weak areas in her family, her son is blind to them. The beginning of "Sonny's Blues" marks an awakening for him. He is faced with a printed truth about Sonny's drug addiction, and suddenly his world is penetrated from all directions. His own grief for the loss of his daughter focuses this new perception. "My trouble made his real" (429); he needs to reach out to Sonny in order to begin to resolve his own pain. Yet as he narrates the story, it becomes apparent that he has perceived very little along the way. Thoughts like "I had never really noticed it before," and "strange, suddenly, to watch, though I had been seeing... all my life" indicate the surprise that the narrator feels as he encounters his life on a new level (430-431). Eventually he comes to understand more clearly when Sonny says, "It's to stand it, to be able to make it at all. On any level" (432). However, he must first find a way to listen.

His mother shared a story with him about his father and his uncle. She wanted him to promise to take care of his brother. She may have had an idea that Sonny was in trouble. After their mother died Sonny told his brother that he didn’t want to stay in Harlem anymore. His brother wanted him to finish school and stay another year. He saw the worry and concern in Sonny’s eyes, but dismissed it. This was Sonny’s way of telling his brother that he needed help before it was too late. Sonny pulled away from him and stated, “I hear you. But you never hear anything I say.”

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

The title used by James Baldwin, Sonny’s Blues, according to John Reilley, can be interpreted in two ways (Reilly, 56). The first interpretation is the state of unhappiness and discontent amongst the Black community and the music played by Sonny, or rather his depression (blues).

“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

The blues is a musical style of feeling, a style about playing what comes from your heart. It came from work songs, field chants, spirituals, field hollers and revivalist hymns from the African American communities. Blues is associated with the sad times