Drug Abuse In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

TITLE We’ve all witnessed drugs rip apart lives as easy as caramel pull aparts disconnect, and the aftermath can cause emotional pain to many people. Watching the news can be devastating in our area because of the prevalence heroin has. Abby has seen drug abuse first hand, and there is nothing comparable to walking in a house and seeing someone on the floor who overdosed. Having an addict in your family is like getting stabbed for something you didn’t do, it is a pain that recurs for years. James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues” expresses how some scars are permanent and wounds hurt when they are reopened whether it be physical or mental pain. Sonny’s upbringing in Harlem makes him more susceptible to addiction; you can see the negative

The narrator read the article about Sonny and everything from the past came flooding back to him, “Sonny was wild, but he wasn’t crazy” (146) the narrator states in disbelief. We often go in a state of shock when unexpected events happen. For example, getting a seventy percent on a test you thought you aced would stop you in your tracks. Another example of this cringing feeling is near the end of “Sonny’s Blues” as the narrator elaborates “that trouble stretched above us, longer than the sky” (175). The narrator quotes this as he reminisces about the manners of suffering he and Sonny endured. Even though James Baldwin’s short story is spread in the span of a decade, the narrator can vividly remember the memories that make him recoil as he states “The same things happen, they’ll have the same thing to remember” (153). Sonny and the narrator had so many waves of bad news crash on them, that their world felt like a tsunami. However, not all memories are scarring, some can be intoxicating and last forever. For example: a trip to Disney World as a kid,

We all have had our feelings hurt or been upset about something, and we sometimes try to push away the feelings we have. You can feel how petrified the narrator is when he claims “a great block of ice got settled in my belly… sending trickles of ice water all up and down my veins” (145). We have all had things that shock us, just like the narrator explains “ I couldn't believe it … I couldn't find any room for it anywhere inside of me” (146). The feeling of shock is soon replaced by uncertainty. We ask ourselves- did we cause their actions? Why did this have to happen to them? When the narrator's daughter died, it prompts him to write Sonny a letter and the narrator stated that “which made me feel like a bastard” (150). Sometimes we don’t value our family and friends until it is too late. You can also see that although there is a seven year age gap between the two brothers, the narrator feels the need to protect and shelter Sonny. When there is a large age gap between siblings it can be tough to relate with them. You can see some of the quotes Baldwin writes symbolize the need to protect our siblings when Sonny’s mother proclaims “I ain’t telling you all of this to make you scared…. I’m telling you this because you got a brother. And the world ain’t changed” (157). His mother’s advice causes the narrator to reflect on his relationship with his brother and what he needs to