Character Analysis: Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

My Brother’s Keeper?”
When you think of the first relationship of a brotherly bond, you think of Cain and Abel from the book of Genesis. Cain the older brother leaves his younger brother to die by himself. When God came to Cain probing for Abel, Cain responded saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” What is the responsibility of an older brother? One would verbally express that the older boys are expected to surmise protective roles, such as "visually examining out" for their younger siblings. In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, you wonder about the relationship between Sonny and the narrator who remains unnamed throughout the text. Being that the narrator is Sonny’s older brother, is he accountable for Sonny and his actions? When playing the big brother role, you are normally expected to protect your brother, teach your brother and even learn from your brother.

The older brothers are conventionally the one to set an example for his younger siblings. In “Sonny’s Blues,” the narrator opts to join the army. Before he parted to go, he has a conversation with his mother about his younger brother Sonny. His mother tells him “If anything happens to me he ain’t going to have nobody to look out for him,” (Baldwin 370). Therefore, she asks him to make sure that his brother is okay. She enlightens him a story of about his fathers’ brother who was killed and how it affected his father, visually perceiving he couldn’t protect him from the lifestyle he was living. The narrator made a promise to his mother to keep his brother safe from that last time they spoke. He endeavors to tell his mother that Sonny had good sense, his mother continues to ask him to keep Sonny safe and to watch over him. The narrator admits he forgot his promise to his mother and neglects his brother like Cain neglected Abel (Tachack