Preview

Sonny's Blues: The Inevitability Of Suffering

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1325 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sonny's Blues: The Inevitability Of Suffering
Sonny’s Blues
Explanation of Theme
The Inevitability of Suffering

Clyde Farmer
UMUC
Eng. 102 The Inevitability of Suffering
In the story Sonny’s Blues, James Baldwin uses many themes for the reader to explore from art, to imprisonment to being safe and redemption. The over arching theme however seems to be suffering which will be the focus of this essay. Suffering is a constant presence in "Sonny 's Blues" starting from Sonny 's drug addiction to the death of the narrator 's daughter to the brutal murder of the narrator 's uncle, suffering is a constant presence in their environment. Suffering is, as Sonny so strongly argues, inescapable. This suffering is symbolized throughout the story by darkness, which constantly revolves …show more content…
Although suffering causes so much pain in each of the characters lives it is essential for both art and redemption. Sonny comments on how much suffering the revival singer must have had to go through in order to sing so beautifully. One can imagine that Sonny 's music comes from similarly dark experiences however, suffering and darkness, if used creatively can inspire works of beauty. Suffering also confers the ability to understand and feel true compassion for others, which is essential for redemption. An example …show more content…
Sonny leaves and gets into trouble and maybe the narrator felt that if he couldn 't keep his brother safe, then he would protect himself and his family by not contacting Sonny while he was in prison. The narrator soon realizes that he couldn 't protect his little daughter Grace from dying and this seemed to be the motivation he needed to pick up the pen and write his brother "My trouble made his real," he said (What is Baldwin saying) The truth is people are never truly safe from anything no one and nothing can protect any person. This idea is brought out numerous times in the story, while driving past housing projects where people have attempted to make nice, safe homes for themselves and their children in the middle of Harlem, and noticing the grass, big windows, and the playground, Sonny 's brother thinks to himself about the hedges and how they will never hold out the streets, and the people know it. Sonny 's brother is taking on the attitude he remembers hearing from their father " Safe! my father grunted, whenever Mama suggested trying to move to a neighborhood which might be safer for children. 'Safe, hell! Ain’t no place safe for kids, nor nobody! '" (Mays, 2014,
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Comparing Sonny's Blues 'And The Things They Carried'
    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Comparing Sonny's Blues 'And The Things They Carried'

    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…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Social And Internal Issues In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin
    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Social And Internal Issues In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

    The short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin exposes and explores many social and internal issues. The story is told by an unnamed, self-loathing narrator living in Harlem during the middle of the 20th century. He is an everyday family man and school teacher who does not like to expose his emotions and the pain that he’s dealt with in his life. Much of this pain has come from his brother Sonny, the main character in the story. Sonny is a long-time heroin addict that has just recently been released from prison, and his brother feels as though he has had something to do with Sonny’s addiction. I believe that this feeling could come from the fact that even though they both have come from the same racially-oppressed…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin: Literary Analysis
    • 1653 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin: Literary Analysis

    “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin is about two brothers, Sonny and the unnamed narrator. The story chronicles a part of their lives. It begins with Sonny’s drug arrest. The tale then travels back to Sonny’s teenage years and ends up with Sonny living with his brother after his arrest. The story uses imagery throughout the tale. One of the most used is that of the contrast of light and darkness. This becomes the theme of the story. Even though Sonny has struggled with a drug problem and arrest readers may wonder who is in more darkness.…

    • 1653 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Suffering In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin
    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Suffering In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

    James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues” exemplifies suffering as the major theme depicted through the struggle of two brothers as they try to understand one another. Baldwin’s underlying message deals with the hardships that African-Americans endured through the mid twentieth century, a time when race determined your status in society.…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sonny's Blues-Light Vs. Dark: Battle Or Balance?
    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sonny's Blues-Light Vs. Dark: Battle Or Balance?

    James Baldwin’s authorial attitude in “Sonny’s Blues” represents his view that in order to escape the metaphorical darkness and reach the light, Sonny must strike a balance between his personal lightness and darkness. James Baldwin uses powerful diction and the narration of Sonny’s escape to prove this.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of Darkness In Sonny's Blues
    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Examples Of Darkness In Sonny's Blues

    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.…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sonny's Blues Literary Analysis Essay
    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sonny's Blues Literary Analysis Essay

    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.…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Theme Of Suffering In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin
    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Theme Of Suffering In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

    Baldwin’s choice of the motifs of music and shaking or trembling reveal and reinforce the theme that life is full of suffering and show that Sonny has control of his and other people’s suffering by using those motifs to show the control in which Sonny has recently gained.…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sonny's Blues Thesis
    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sonny's Blues Thesis

    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…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Compare and Contrast of “Sonny’s Blues” and “Everyday Use”
    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Compare and Contrast of “Sonny’s Blues” and “Everyday Use”

    In the story “Sonny’s Blues,” Harlem was the home and place where Sonny grew up. In Harlem most people lived very poor lives and were consumed by drugs and addictions. In this place the people lived life struggling socially and economically. Sonny felt trapped within his neighborhood, this was a place where people did not have much of a chance to succeed. Sonny proclaimed to his brother from his heart how he did not want to live in Harlem anymore. He did not want to stay and live in this place where he would be tempted to do drugs. He felt that he would find temptation with drugs in his life because he was constantly surrounded by people who were doing drugs and had become addicted to them. The political system brought upon Sonny lots of frustration and anger which prevented him from…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sonny's Blues Literary Analysis Essay
    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Sonny's Blues Literary Analysis Essay

    Looking at the housing project, it creates a great imprisonment of the idea that never worked. The project shows a symbol of how Harlem has been imprisoned by its own decline and fall. This is because it was a noble project that was out to provide affordable housing, but people like drug dealers, moved in to the projects, causing awful conditions for living. For Sonny these conditions are what lead him astray. When going back to the housing projects with Sonny, the narrator, notices the tension between Sonny and the projects, “the moment Sonny and I started into the house I had the feeling that I was simply bringing him back into the danger he had almost died trying to escape.” (Baldwin. 605) Understanding that these conditions can hinder the way a person is brought up, family must stick together and support one another, when the narrator noticed the uneasiness that Sonny was exuding the readers can portray this as a rising arc in the relationship between the…

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sonny's Blues Literary Analysis Essay
    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Sonny's Blues Literary Analysis Essay

    “Sonny’s Blues” is a short story, written by James Baldwin, about two brothers from Harlem, NY. The story is told in the first person perspective by one brother about is younger brother, Sonny. The narrator, who remains unnamed throughout the story, is Sonny’s older brother and no other siblings are mentioned, so it is safe to assume it is only the two of them. The narrator remains unnamed simply because his name is not relevant. The story is told by him, from his perspective, however, it does not matter who he is exactly. The narrator is a representation of the few black men in that time that were able to overcome the effects of…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sonny's Blues
    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sonny's Blues

    The short story “Sonny Blues” express the benefits and life of an artist. An artist has the responsibility of catering to the people and making sure that they connect to your art piece. In Sonny’s story we learn how individuals connect to a musician. Sonny expressed his life story through his music, the audience relates to the music and an emotion is triggered in them, and at the end you experience hope because the music provided the light at the end of the dark tunnel that an individual is experiencing throughout…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sonny's Blues Speech
    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Sonny's Blues Speech

    “As it rained the evening when you left, and I was sad” you told me that, or perhaps you sang those words while your mind deranged was looking for an inspiration, a light, or just the right words to define your tormented and noisy soul, you looked the perfect way tell me that you would leave me, that you would lose yourself in the way of your follies where others were already sailing aimlessly, and I couldn’t rescue you from that place. You sang until the end of your moons, the end of your emotions, those emotions that we never shared, and we never will. However and after your heartless speech I told you a story, the story of two brother who were lost in the incomprehensibility of one of them and the intolerance of another, I told you the story of Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, but you stayed singing “This is my punishment, crazy little heart, It kills my soul so little by little I lose sleep, it has never hurt so much, and this suffering is killing me”. (Concha Buika-Culpa Mia Song)…

    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Inevitability Of Suffering Analysis
    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Inevitability Of Suffering Analysis

    Life is full of ups and downs, twists and turns, and suffering and enjoyment. We must be ready to face the challenges of life because no one knows what future is in store for us. Most of life is full of pain and suffering that most of us would not choose if we ultimately had the choice. Whether you suffer from private pain, public or national pain with your communities, or conflict inside of your workplace. “In some form, suffering touches each of us, and all our organization's” (Hall). So, how do you choose to deal with the inevitability of suffering? Do you let it make you stronger and build you up, or do you let yourself hit rock bottom and camp out there?…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More