Essay On Sonny's Blues

Sonny's Blues is a first person narrative that tells the story of a relationship between the narrator and his younger brother Sonny. Set in the middle of Harlem the story takes place during the early 1950's. The story begins with the narrator learning about his brother getting arrested for the use and selling of heroin. This creates a flashback to major events in the childhood of the two brothers. The narrator remember his brother at the age of the boys in his algebra class, how Sonny’s face was bright and open, but back to reality the narrator wonders how his brother looks as a prisoner. The narrator new life, his marriage, leaving Harlem has caused distance between him as his brother. The narrator recalls the death of their parents, how his

It explores all the problems that black Americans were faced with throughout the 1950’s in Harlem, drug addiction, imprisonment discrimination. Through the story you can see the two different version of Harlem’s which is expressed through the main characters. The story sonny's blues starts out with the narrator feeling fear after he finds out his brother has being arrested. “A great block of ice got settled in my belly and kept melting there slowly all day long, while I taught my classes algebra.” Ice is repeated many times throughout the story which suggests fear. With seven year lost between the two brothers due, the narrator marriage, moving, he final reaches out to his brother after his young daughter died. “When I finally did, it was just after my little girl died, and he wrote me back a letter which made me feel like a bastard.” The bond between the two brothers is great even though the brothers lack communication and understanding. Sonny tries to get his brother to understand his pain and suffering and why he does music. But the narrator never really wanted to believe and understand until when he went to sonny’s first show. “I was in Sonny's world. Or, rather: his kingdom.” Sonny began to play and the narrator could now understand what sonny has being trying to say. In the final lines the narrator understand and sees the light in his brother’s music. “it glowed and shook above my brother's head like the very cup of