Sonny's Blues Draft Analysis
Essay One
David Gomez
June 12, 2013
I find there are two major themes that Baldwin is trying to convey, suffering and irony. The first theme that he brings out and tries to get the reader to understand is the theme of suffering. The second theme that the author illustrates is the theme of irony. James Baldwin writes about two African-American brothers growing up in Harlem, a black ghetto in New York, during the 1950's. During this time black people were forced to live in a world of discrimination, poverty and suppression.
After reading Baldwin's Sonny's Blues, I couldn't stop thinking about how it had affected me even though I had not gone through a similar experience myself. I just kept wondering what Baldwin had meant his story to be about. I would dare say that his main interest laid in showing the complecity of human relationships.
Sonny got arrested for “peddling and using heroin.” He didn’t want to believe that his brother was in trouble. While teaching his algebra class he was thinking about the past. He remembered when he first suspected Sonny using Heroin. “He was always under the impression that Sonny was, “wild, but he wasn’t crazy”.
Sonny is a musician who has lived most of his life surrounded by pain and he uses his music as a way to communicate with the outside world. He eventually fails in this attempt and turns to heroin. Sonny sees that his efforts to grow up, to do something good with his life are not appreciated or understood.
James Baldwin uses the image of darkness quite frequently. He uses it first when the older brother (main character) talks about his younger brother Sonny. “He says that when Sonny was younger his face was bright and open. He said that he didn't want to believe that he would ever see his "brother going down, coming to nothing, all that light in his face gone out." Meaning he had gone from a good guy to a bad guy”.
Sonny's brother has pain too but he has learned to deal with it by interactions with others and his
David Gomez
June 12, 2013
I find there are two major themes that Baldwin is trying to convey, suffering and irony. The first theme that he brings out and tries to get the reader to understand is the theme of suffering. The second theme that the author illustrates is the theme of irony. James Baldwin writes about two African-American brothers growing up in Harlem, a black ghetto in New York, during the 1950's. During this time black people were forced to live in a world of discrimination, poverty and suppression.
After reading Baldwin's Sonny's Blues, I couldn't stop thinking about how it had affected me even though I had not gone through a similar experience myself. I just kept wondering what Baldwin had meant his story to be about. I would dare say that his main interest laid in showing the complecity of human relationships.
Sonny got arrested for “peddling and using heroin.” He didn’t want to believe that his brother was in trouble. While teaching his algebra class he was thinking about the past. He remembered when he first suspected Sonny using Heroin. “He was always under the impression that Sonny was, “wild, but he wasn’t crazy”.
Sonny is a musician who has lived most of his life surrounded by pain and he uses his music as a way to communicate with the outside world. He eventually fails in this attempt and turns to heroin. Sonny sees that his efforts to grow up, to do something good with his life are not appreciated or understood.
James Baldwin uses the image of darkness quite frequently. He uses it first when the older brother (main character) talks about his younger brother Sonny. “He says that when Sonny was younger his face was bright and open. He said that he didn't want to believe that he would ever see his "brother going down, coming to nothing, all that light in his face gone out." Meaning he had gone from a good guy to a bad guy”.
Sonny's brother has pain too but he has learned to deal with it by interactions with others and his