Liberation from sort of oppressive force is a key theme in many forms of art, especially literature. It gives the audience a celebratory feeling of escapism when the hero succeeds that may be fulling to many readers. However, centering the entire story around theme of entrapment can also utilized as an obstacle for a protagonist to overcome. Very rarely do authors revolve their entire stories around this idea, often because it is difficult to make a crowd pleasing and optimistic piece of fiction surrounding such a downer subject. Sonny’s Blues, The Cask of Amontillado, and A Rose for Emily all use the theme of ensnarement by internal or external forces to express radically different concepts, which range from creative expression, to …show more content…
Additionally, Sonny’s brother is an external force that seeks to manipulate the course of his life. He is consistently critical of the music he plays and is dismisses it as nothing more than “noise.” From Sonny’s perspective, his music represents an impassioned expression of the suffering that he has experienced in his life. His ability to play the music he likes, in this case jazz, is the one point in Sonny’s life in which he has complete autonomy. This parallels his passion for heroine when Sonny says: “It makes you feel like you’re- in control. Sometimes you’ve got to have that feeling.” (Baldwin Page 86) Fortunately, Sonny’s brother comes to the realization that his brother’s love of his music and the independence it gives him is ultimately beneficial to him rather than problematic. Moving on, The Cask of Amontillado centers almost entirely on the theme of imprisonment. The main thrust of the drama in the story involves a man being chained behind a wall as part of a macabre revenge plot. Poe outlines the goal of the protagonist from the beginning to inform the audience and heighten the suspense surrounding the act. Opposed to the other two stories, the theme of involuntary captivity is represented primarily in the
The underlining main point in this story is hope. There are many factors that challenge the life of these characters in this story, but for me, in much aspect this story was reality. The turning point of this story is when Sonny invites his brother to the nightclub in downtown Harlem. Although Sonny’s brother was hesitant he knew it was needed, if he ever desired to have a strong relationship with his brother. Sonny’s brother says “Yet it was clear that, for them, I was only Sonny’s brother. Here I was in Sonny’s world. Or rather: his kingdom. Here, it was not even a question that his veins bore royal blood” (Baldwin). For once the narrator was able to see that his brother was a changed person, and that he did honestly love music. My comparison to this moment would have to be the moment that I took my mom out to eat last Mothers day.
In the text’s final act, Sonny’s brother agrees to accompany him to see him perform with fellow musicians and as Sonny plays his piece, the brother realizes that through song, he “[hears] what [Sonny] had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth” (Baldwin 140). In this instance, Sonny expresses his pain and frustration through his music, which his brother finally understands that Sonny cares about music because it grants him a voice where he normally would not have one. Again, considering the perspective of the story, the fact that the brother hears Sonny’s pain signals the effectiveness of Sonny’s form of communication. Whereas Sonny was previously characterized as not talkative, this later moment seems to challenge that notion by proposing that although he may have appeared to not be talkative in a verbal sense, Sonny reclaims his voice through music. The text includes this transition to depict how relationships between people can be improved simply by utilizing communication, especially through nonverbal forms. To further substantiate the claim of Sonny’s new voice through music, the text claims that Sonny “began to make [the song] his” (Baldwin 140). By making the song “his,” Sonny attains ownership of his
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 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.
An important element in any story is setting. Authors use setting to convey certain feelings brought on by the character’s surroundings. It also subliminally serves to illustrate the character’s intentions. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe uses the dark, imposing setting to do just that, communicate the underlying theme of the story, being death, revenge and deception.
“Sonny’s Blues” introduces two brothers who have differing mindsets about how to best cope with suffering. The narrator is Sonny’s responsible, unnamed older brother, who follows a very ordered path, using military service, marriage and teaching math to gain stability and escape the downward pull of Harlem. In contrast, younger brother Sonny lives his life like his music hero plays his jazz: improvising. Sonny experiments with drugs, skips school and eventually drops out, all the while feeding his obsession with piano. Sonny’s older brother sees no legitimacy in Sonny’s art and aspirations to become a musician. He disparagingly deems it “to be merely an excuse for the life he led”. The brothers are unable to set their differences aside, and are only reconnected in a time of immense grief, as the brother’s daughter, Grace, dies.
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.
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.
Both short stories “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “A Rose for
As a musician, Sonny speaks through his music the pain and suffering of the people around him. Also, just by listening to other singers Sonny felt the pain of there suffering as well. For instance, as he stood “listening to that woman sing, it struck me [Sonny] all the sudden how much suffering she must have had to go through-to sing like that” (Baldwin 190). Therefore, extremely sensitive to the pain of others, Sonny falls an addict to trying to dull his view of it. He felt it gave him a sense of control of his life but to find out it was controlling him. Sonny believed that heroin helped him not to play well, but “to stand it, be able to make it all”(Baldwin 190) the way. However, knowing the path to stay clean and kick the addiction was going to be difficult. He knew that he has hit rock bottom, Sonny tries to escape and “to get out of Harlem” (Baldwin 185). Thinking that getting out of Harlem will help him get away from the drugs. Although, coming back to Harlem from the Navy didn’t change him. “Nothing changed. I [he] hadn’t changed, I [he] was just-older” (Baldwin 193). However, through music Sonny found it easier to talk about his pain and struggles that he has encountered in his
“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
Initially, he had refused to acknowledge his pain and suffering instead, he choose to ignore them. His suffering was immense and this is evident when he says "A great block of ice got settled in my belly and kept melting there slowly all day long, while I taught my classes algebra. It was a special kind of ice. . . . Sometimes it hardened and seemed to expand until I felt my guts were going to come spilling out or that I was going to choke or scream" (Baldwin 12). After listening to his performance, he was able to uinderstand the power of music and its importance to Sonny in dealing with his addcition problem. From that time, he became more understanding of Sonny and he was able to learn to strugle and endure his pain and suffering. Initially, he never undersatood what pain and suffering was and how it can be overcome. He finally realized that, suffering can be transformed into a communal art like music and from there it dissappears completely. Through Sonny’s music, the narrator was able to understand his life and pain and accepts himself. In addition, their connectiuon in music becomes a catalyst and genuine epiphany for the
Music acts as a psychiatric-therapy session to bring peace to those who suffer. The protagonist implies that he cannot endure the awareness that his brother went to jail for drug use, and also for questioning his friend about being intoxicated. Although Sonny is not present in this scene, the music is a sense of interference for the narrator, and further relates to Sonny avoiding his problems of the cold reality in Harlem.
In the short story “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner (79-84), Emily Grierson has no concept of time. She is living in the past and refuses to accept the death of her father. She lives in an isolated fantasy where she convinces herself that her father is still alive. Emily has no intentions of accepting reality. She refuses to acknowledge the death of her father and also the death of her lover, Homer. Her character could be perceived as psychotic because she has lost contact with reality and murdered her lover. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” (144-149), has many similar themes. The concept of time is prominent because Montresor is telling his story fifty years after it occurred. He is also living with death