Central Influences In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

Central Influences Throughout our lives something has influenced the decisions we make, how we feel, how we present ourselves to others and how others perceive us. Whether it’s buying groceries from the same store your parents took you as a little kid or the things we tend to eat because that’s what grandma used to make for Sunday dinner after church. In some way, shape, or form our families effect how we are today. When we tell a story to a friend what you believe in or the decision you make you somehow relate to “that’s the way I was brought up” or “my mom” or “my dad taught me that” or even in most cases, “I remember when …” This always gave the person an image of your past so you can prove a point. Sometimes it’s the way to get them to

Throughout the story, Baldwin releases tidbits of information about family members to inform the reader and give an understanding how the characters feeling at any particular time. For instance, the story starts out with the character reading an article in the local newspaper and all we know is he’s upset all day. The reader may wonder why he’s so upset about an article. Come to find out it’s about his brother being arrested and charged for “peddling and using heroin” (96). This would upset and embarrass anyone who read an article about their relative using drugs. This would bring a wide range of emotion to the reader understanding the feeling of the character now. As the story progresses Baldwin used recalls of the character’s memories of his brother and what they used to do. This set the stage to show how he used to see his brother as a young kid and how the drugs affected him later in

In the end, he realizes that Sonny always wanted to play music and he wondered what happened during the time they were separated. As he listened to sonny’s music and the way sonny played, it filled in the missing time Sonny’s gone and what his addiction to heroin did to him all those years. He said “Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did. Yet, there was no battle in his face now, I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth” (117). If Baldwin didn’t use family influences to tell the story, we never could conclude the brother ever being able to understand the trials, pain, and how serious heroin addiction was for