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Identity In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

249 Words1 Pages
How are people's personalities and identities formed? There are of course many factors in one’s life that can impact who they are and how they act. While some people can ignore issues that normally change lives and not let it affect them, most others tend to not be so lucky. James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues” shows one example of how external and internal forces can drastically shape an individual's identity. Before all of the tragedies within Sonny’s life took place, the narrator in Baldwin’s story states that he was a “good boy” and “had never turned hard or evil or disrespectful” like how most other boys in Harlem had. Despite this, after his life struggles became too intense, he started to use heroin. His use of heroin is one external
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