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.
The first motif that Baldwin uses to show life’s suffering and Sonny’s control over his and everyone else’s suffering is the motif of music. When the narrator writes, “with the immense suggestion that Sonny speak for himself. They all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played... Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life,” (47) the music that he is playing represents his life’s suffering. By saying that Sonny is going to “speak for himself,” he is going to get control of his suffering, and when everyone …show more content…
Near the end of the story, a waitress at the bar where Sonny is playing gives Sonny a glass of scotch and milk, which Sonny sips and puts back on on the top of the piano. The narrator shows this by writing, “he sipped from it and looked toward me and nodded. Then he put it back on the top of the piano. For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brothers head like the very cup of trembling” (48). When saying this, he is showing that Sonny has control over his life’s suffering, and the suffering of everyone else. When the narrator says, “the cup of trembling,” that is a reference to Isaiah 51: 17-23. The cup of trembling hold life’s suffering, and Sonny has just sipped that cup, which is represented as the scotch and milk. The milk in the glass represents that of a child, while the scotch in the glass represents that of an adult. Those two ingredients together represents all of life’s suffering, and when Sonny sips that cup, he is showing that he is in control of his own and the people around him
The first motif that Baldwin uses to show life’s suffering and Sonny’s control over his and everyone else’s suffering is the motif of music. When the narrator writes, “with the immense suggestion that Sonny speak for himself. They all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played... Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life,” (47) the music that he is playing represents his life’s suffering. By saying that Sonny is going to “speak for himself,” he is going to get control of his suffering, and when everyone …show more content…
Near the end of the story, a waitress at the bar where Sonny is playing gives Sonny a glass of scotch and milk, which Sonny sips and puts back on on the top of the piano. The narrator shows this by writing, “he sipped from it and looked toward me and nodded. Then he put it back on the top of the piano. For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brothers head like the very cup of trembling” (48). When saying this, he is showing that Sonny has control over his life’s suffering, and the suffering of everyone else. When the narrator says, “the cup of trembling,” that is a reference to Isaiah 51: 17-23. The cup of trembling hold life’s suffering, and Sonny has just sipped that cup, which is represented as the scotch and milk. The milk in the glass represents that of a child, while the scotch in the glass represents that of an adult. Those two ingredients together represents all of life’s suffering, and when Sonny sips that cup, he is showing that he is in control of his own and the people around him