“Sonny’s Blues” is a story of disorientation at first; it tells a story of a young man named Sonny and his older brother who is the narrator. Sonny is a young boy who in fact grew up in a world of abandonment. He suffered from drug addiction, being a school dropout, and personal desertion issues. As the story unfolds from his brother’s point of view, it explains how the older brother wished he had been there for his brother throughout his hard time of growing up.…
The Characters In “Sonny’s blues” represent a wide range about human nature. For example, Sonny is a character with very non serious sense of humor and he is drug addict his brother (narrator) is character with good sense of humor and he was not drug addict. Sonny is the musician But he cared mostly about himself and not about the nation but narrator he cared about the nation and place where he was more then just himself. Furthermore most of the other people in Harlem were drug addicts and had no reason to live, this is the reason why Sonny wanted to leave Harlem just…
James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” explores the narrator’s and Sonny’s roles in their fraternal relationship. After their mother’s death, the narrator assumes a parental role while Sonny matures and grows more independent. This causes Sonny to run away from home in search of control over his own life. Baldwin puts his characters through immense suffering.…
“Sonny’s Blues” is a short story by the author James Baldwin. It is a story about two brothers and `their severe struggles in Harlem and the different ways in which they handled them. The author shows through the narrator and his brother Sonny how two individuals can follow two totally different life paths, be distant for most of their lives, but in the end find common ground through a shared understanding of the pain of human struggle, which this case expressed by Jazz. Through giving the main character specific character traits, the author shapes the central conflict that gives meaning to the story. The central conflict follows the formula person vs. self, because the narrator struggles between feeling the desire to take care of Sonny and the impulse to throwing Sonny to the curb because of his always values and bad decisions. The narrator starts to realize many things starting after the death of his daughter Grace and culminating with him finally listening to his brother play music. The central idea resolves it self by the Narrator empathizing with his brothers struggles in life and finally understanding through Sonny’s music how he dealt with that suffering. This allows him to realize that he must embrace the conflicting nature of his feelings for Sonny and that the bonds of brotherhood should transcend these things.…
These articles summarize the character view points from the narrator and his brother Sonny. It helps to sum up the main events in the story “Sonny’s Blues”. I am going to use this article to help support my points in how the character begins to change his view point on his brother Sonny, and how the character meets that change he needed to find to keep his promise to his mother and to regain faith in his brother.…
The feelings of helplessness, confusion, and failure are all feelings expressed in the short story “Sonny's Blues”. “Sonny's Blues” is a story about two brothers trying to help each other out as they face many problem in their life and the story uses imagery of darkness and light to express certain situations. Darkness was used to mostly express Sonny's addiction but also the narrators personal life. The narrator was constantly surrounded by darkness even though he thought he was living a bright and successful life. The imagery light was noticeable in Sonny's physical character and early childhood. Light was strongly present in the final scene of the story when the brothers when at the bar and sonny was playing his music.…
James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” is a story about two brothers who grow apart and reunite after many struggles. The narrator, Sonny’s brother, tells the story through his point of view regarding their issues, heartache, and finally their acceptance. The brother has the knowledge of the past from his mother that helps to shape the story and makes his point of view credible. His point of view, knowledge of the past, and his own experiences help to give the reader clarity of the overall meaning.…
The story Sonny’s Blues was a very interesting to read with the talking about the brothers with more of the story being about the older brother who is the narrator. Sonny comes from a family that lived in what people sometimes call squalor. The narrator talks about how Sonny and his brother did not see eye to eye with him playing music in the bars and night clubs, also talking about the addiction to drugs. Within the book it can be seen that unspoken approval while at the bar from the narrator and Sonny when he sips the scotch and milk; and places it back on the piano to play the next song. The reader can see how the older brother being the narrator has such a hard time with his brother’s choice of life till after he comes to terms with his mother’s death, his daughter death and having a father who was a drunk. The reader can see the ups and downs of Sonny’s addiction to a good obsession being jazz, and the bad device being drugs.…
James Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues" explains how the narrator does not trust his brother, Sonny after learning that he is going to jail for the use and sale of heroin. Just after the death of their mother, Sonny expresses to the narrator that he has a passion for playing jazz music. The narrator does not agree with this which causes a strained relationship between the two brothers. After watching Sonny perform one night at a nightclub, the narrator realizes that Sonny is a person who has been through pain and heartache, but also that he has a wonderful soul. The two brothers learn to overcome thir differences, even when one is an algebra teacher and the other is a musician. Baldwin tells the story through the use of flashbacks,…
Sonny’s Blues was first published in 1957 by James Baldwin. The story takes place in Harlem, a historically African American neighborhood in New York City. This story was the start of Baldwin commitment to the civil rights movement, and he became a spokesman for African Americans during the 60’s. Sonny’s Blues is about two brothers, Sonny and the narrator, that suffer in multiple ways that involves music, drug abuse, the way the interact with each other, and even nightmares. Suffering can cause a human to change their point of view drastically. Only a few can overcome the curve balls life decides to throw at one. “Sonny’s Blues” is a fantastic example about how suffering can change a person, but…
Sonny’s Blues shows a theme of salvation, or being saved. Not only do the two brothers need salvation from the world but they need salvation from their inner beings as well. Their world is filled with drugs, imprisonment, and the evil that resides around them. Salvation comes in many forms in this short story. The narrator is haunted by the thought of not responding to his brother, a failure that continues to haunt him because he denied all his obligations to his brother, Sonny and his dying mother. Also the death of the narrator’s daughter, Grace, is actually a form of salvation. It makes the narrator write a letter to his brother in search of forgiveness. This serves as salvation for Sonny who had just got out of jail, and wants to be…
In Sonny’s Blues the theme, symbols, characters, and motifs all combine together to create a literary masterpiece that describes the importance of unity amongst family and the turbulent life of African-Americans living in Harlem, New York in the 1950’s. This story is written in a chronological thought process of experiences the narrator has seen while growing up and the memories of his family, mostly of his brother Sonny. The story is about Sonny’s journey, told and seen through the eyes of the narrator. The narrator, who remains unnamed, is a black man teaching algebra in Harlem and Sonny, his younger brother, is a blues pianist struggling…
The narrator states, “ I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in Earth[...]And he was giving it back, as everything must be given back, so that, passing through death it can live forever (47).” Sonny uses his blues as his personal form of expression. His blues gives back the memories he grips so that it can still feel alive though, it may be gone it will never be forgotten. Sonny’s music helps his brother understand his choice to be musician. It also gives his brother the gift of being able to see his mother's face again, to feel the hard times his mother encountered in her life, to see the road where his grandfather had died, and also he to see his daughter again, as well as feeling his wife's tears again (47-48). Sonny's blues weren't just blues, the idea of his blues being much more than that is expressed as he let go of his feelings it brought back the impossible feelings and images that were once gone for his brother. Under this circumstance, the narrator finally realized Sonny’s way of communicating was through his blues and all he had to do was listen. All along he wanted Sonny to go to school and become his perception of someone though, Sonny told him plenty of times he knew what he wanted to do. What he didn't realize was that he just needed to listen as seen in the line “he would never be free until…
When it came to social inequalities, the African American community relied on drugs and music to overlook their struggles. “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin was a short story about living in poverty in Harlem. In the beginning of the story, the narrator discovers that his brother Sonny was imprisoned for selling and possessing drugs and mentions the lack of communication between them. The narrator begins to have flashbacks of their childhood and his parents throughout the story. Before Sonny’s imprisonment, his brother feared Sonny’s desire of becoming a musician and tried to lead him to a better path. Overwhelmed, Sonny departed and began to use drugs to escape his reality of his suffering. After being released from prison, Sonny was picked…
In Sonny’s Blues, the narrator is self-reflecting his experiences with various family members such as his mother and his younger brother, Sonny. Sonny and the narrator are brothers with a 7 year difference between them. The narrator was disappointed with Sonny at first due to his interest in becoming a musician. He thought it was a phase he was was going through and maybe it would pass. The older brother patronized Sonny with his insincere interest in music at first until it angered Sonny and he told his brother “don’t do me no favors”.…