Sonny's Life Quotes And Analysis

Music especially jazz is one of Sonny’s motivation in life. He loves the way it feels when he plays for hours on a piano, is like telling a story through his finger movement on the pianos note. His heroin addiction has made him one of the most loneliest person in the story, especially because he was incarcerated due to his addiction and was away from his brother which was suppose to be his support in life. Although his brothers views Sonny’s heroin addiction wrong, Sonny overcomes his addiction and shows he can cope by other means. He proves his brother that he can come out of his addiction and use his music to help him get out of it.

Ever since Sonny was little he had this passion about music, he is able to express through it all his feelings
even his frustration about life. Sonny states that his brother thoughts about him liking jazz music so much makes him doubt about Sonny been someone big in life. His brother was always giving him his back on that and many other things. That is why he wanted to move out of Harlem the little town he lived in. Sonny wanted to move on and try to change his future from what other young guys were doing there were he lived. Unfortunately that fails and Sonny enters in this hole of darkness where he tries to do things on his own and ends up trap in the addiction of heroin and living life like the corrupted neighbors of his.

After been incarcerated due to his heroin use, Sonny tries to get back to normal life and tries to break his addiction letting his feeling flow though his fingers and playing piano at certain places of Harlem. Sonny and his brother try to get back together and be close again after been separated for years. Still Sonny’s brother does not believe that Sonny has change his life and still treat him like a drug addict going through his stuff and watching him closely. Instead of helping him and been a support he is not even accepting him. Sonny expresses himself and states “the terrible feeling of walking the streets black and funky and cold, and there’s not really a living ass to talk to” (450).

Sonny’s brother focus more in his life and tries to make the best out of it.
He goes through some hard times especially because he faces the loss of his daughter Grace. This is one thing that makes him realize that he still has his brother out there and that Sonny needs him. In the other hand Sonny now feels that he has accomplish so much in his life that he doesn’t really need his brother anymore, especially when he has left him alone for so long. He has been able to overcome his heroin addiction and even though he goes down at times and feels depress he still brings himself out and moves on. Sonny has struggle in life but he knows that he already felt in that black hole of prison and doesn’t want to experience that again. Sonny tries hard in his life to preserve his freedom and stay away from anything that can cause him any trouble, after the bad experience he had. At last Sonny’s brother finally try make things work out with his brother and decides to accompanied him to one of the places that Sonny would go and play jazz. He wasn’t to sure about going but he ends up accepting Sonny’s invitation. Once they were there Sonny’s brother notice how all of Sonny’s friends knew him so much better than him that is his
brother.

Sonny realizes how he makes his brother proud at the end when he plays with his group the “Sonny Blues“(453). This group is what makes Sonny accomplish one of his dream as far as been someone big in a jazz music band. He is very happy that he has been able to do all this things on his own, and was able to overcome his addiction. Even though he didn’t have his brother to support him when he needed him the most. Sonny was able to do it at the end, he doesn’t see himself as a failure anymore if not as someone that was down a couple of times but was able to get up and stand up at last.