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Son House Analysis

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Son House was a preacher who spent time in jail for murder from 1928 to 1929. He was born in the hamlet of Nyon north of Clarksdale Mississippi, and was the second of his three brothers. House was an American blues singer and guitarist well known for his highly emotional style of music. His father, Eddie, was a member of the church and was quite a heavy drinker. Nevertheless, Eddie still encouraged his family’s commitment to the church. The church Son visited in his youth was very strict and observant. They believed in the future, grace and ultimate redemption.

The church and the Blues had an immoral bond. Many preachers were against Blues music, and were opposed to their mockery against the church. The church believed the Blue’s style of …show more content…

He heard one of his companions either McCoy or Wilson playing a bottleneck guitar. House had never heard this style of music and was quick to change his attitudes about the blues. He bought a guitar from Frank Hoskins also a musician, and within weeks was playing with Hoskins, McCoy and Wilson. Son playing with McCoy learnt one of his most famous songs, “Preachin’ the Blues”.

In the first stanza, the fact that he wants to become a preacher only to avoid work is a critical element in this piece. What makes it ironic is that preachers are meant to provide hope for people. However, Son is making a joke of the religion and the preaching role. Son abusing the privileges of a religious career shows that he does not care at all about providing hope; he is just trying to escape work.

In stanza three, Son is seeking to make a change; however his commitment and best efforts seem to be lost inside of him. His transition from his bad habits to a better beginning is strengthening the connection between him and God. In stanza four his desire for women and whiskey get the better of him and his uncontrollable anger starts to burst out. This conflict between evil and good make these stanzas stand out and show he wants to draw the devil out of him but just can’t. ‘But the women and whiskey, well, they would not let me

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The viewer is reminded this man was evilly running a church and his followers watched him sing and preach about being holy and following God. The music captures the viewer's attention, which creates a helpless, unclean

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As a matter of fact, the storyteller does not appreciate Sonny's motivations to play jazz music until the evening he socially joins Sonny to his stage show at a nightclub. Sitting in a dark corner at the nightclub, the storyteller listens to his brother play, considering the reminder of Sonny's friend, Creole, of what the Blues are about, "The tale, of the blues, how we live, and how we are delighted, how we suffer... and how we triumph... must be heard... it's the only light we've got in all this darkness." (Baldwin 139). For the narrator, he perceives that the Blues is the manifestation for Sonny's emotions, especially his suffering, because, as Creole would say, music is the only light in the

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2014. The Guitar Story: From Ancient to Modern Times. New York: Bookbaby Publishing. This source defines the important influence of Son House’s slide guitar playing, which Johnson had learned in Mississippi. House was an extremely prodigious player of the slide guitar method, which became a foundation for Johnson’s increasing reliance on acoustic guitar playing as a foundation for the Delta Blues style.

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James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” is a short story depicting the relationship of two brothers, Sonny and an unnamed narrator. The story takes place in the project of Harlem, New York in the early 1950s. The narrator is a high school math teacher. His younger brother Sonny is a troubled musician struggling with his addiction to drugs. Before their mother dies, she asks the narrator promise to her he’ll look after his younger brother when she is gone.

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James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” uses Sonny as an antagonist character to the protagonist, his eldest brother. While Sonny and his eldest brother both are the center of the stories content, Baldwin uses Sonny to represent a challenge to the narrator of the story. Through the rekindling of a brother’s relationships, Baldwin is able to depict Sonny's motivations and aspirations through his flaws, and the way in which his flaws affected his life. Sonny’s flaws ultimately shape Sonny’s character, his reserved feelings and silent demeanor isolate him from the world, but at the same time contribute to his aspirations and motivations by music.

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In the Rolling Stone magazine, the author, Brian Hiatt, uses pathos and ethos to successfully develop the article regarding the roots of blues music and how it has been reimagined today with the release of the new album “Blue and Lonesome” by the Rolling Stones. With intent to create a fervent

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A father and son romping around in the kitchen as the mother is looking. While others may view this poem as a family torn by a father's misfortunes. In line 1, the word “Whiskey” gives some characteristics of the fathers crooked ways. Continuing on, the signs of foul play and roughness with his hands, "battered on one knuckle", and "a palm caked hard by dirt".(11-14) More so, some of “Papa” few escapes most likely consist of a drink when he gets home from a rough day. Concluding, “Papa”makes his own family feel very uncomfortable around him.

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Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin was a short story about the struggles of living in a tough, rundown neighborhood and looking to drugs as a way out. Baldwin’s intent on writing this piece focuses on pain and suffering. The author stresses that not everybody is born in the best circumstances. Sonny was one of those people who grew up in a rickety town where people often did not make it out successful.

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Clark states in his article “James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues: Childhood, Light, and Art” that “…the narrator is seated “in a dark corner” ...in contrast the stage is dominated by light” (Clark). Clark shows by this that within the darkness that surrounds Sonny, music is a place of hope for him. Light is shown to effect Sonny in a different way than his Uncle. Light is shown to effect Sonny in a surrounding that would have been a place of comfort for him before his addiction. The narrator states, “…[they] were being careful not to step into that circle of light too suddenly…that if they moved into the light too suddenly… they would perish” (Baldwin 112).

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Sonny’s Blues incorporates racial frustration, self-expression, avoidance, lightness/darkness and symbolic nature of music. Baldwins descriptive mental images gives readers a sense of the time frame the characters are in. With our understanding of the setting we are able to understand how life was like in the 1940s and why the theme of racism plays a factor in these characters lives. Through this short story Baldwin manages to show pain ,and hardships and the journey that is needed to transcend from

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That you shouldn’t let your living situations or surroundings determine your outcome. Sonny's Blues shows challenges that troubled the African-American community, and how drugs troubled the young artists and kept them bound like slaves. How those living in Harlem, felt like there was no escape to the poverty that surrounded them. How a young artist was overcoming his demons, with the support of his family and living out his dream. How one has to forgive and not let the past control one’s future, nor let the surroundings of your environment determine where you will go in

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The brothers represent not only Baldwin himself, but their entire culture as well. Moreover, the blues express the battles, the condition and the rage that comes with being a black man in American society (Fares 72). The blues are a mutual understanding of suffering between every single person in the community; they are symbolic of the love that lets them bear the weight of the world in their shoulders with confidence because they know they are not alone. Baldwin wrote “Sonny’s Blues” to show that only an individual holds the power to accept their own suffering, and only when they come to terms with their pain, will they begin to understand the pain of those before them like the narrator did during his epiphany. In unison, they will set a framework for the generations that follow as they try to find a solution to their overall role in

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