Sonny's Blues, By James Baldwin

One of the greatest mysteries of human existence lies in the question of nature versus nurture; how much of our person is purely biological, and how much is due to environmental and sociocultural factors?

Since the dawn of time, humans have been using various substances to self-medicate and numb themselves to the harsh realities of the world. People use drugs to cope with the injustices and circumstances of their surroundings. In the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, Baldwin utilizes vastly different settings to depict how each setting impacts Sonny and his methods of coping. Baldwin places Sonny in a hopeless environment in order to highlight how racism and poverty trap bright kids in the dark and how they manage to survive.

When Sonny moves to Isabel’s house, he finally has access to instruments and is able to cultivate his dream of being a jazz musician. Sonny was no longer a person, merely a “sound” as he began “[playing] for his life” (Baldwin 12). Baldwin’s hyperbole serves to show how Sonny invests every waking moment into the piano and begins neglecting his schoolwork in favor of finding his way out of poverty. When Isabel’s family reproaches him, he feels like he was stripped “naked and [they] were spitting on that nakedness” (Baldwin 13). When Sonny is at his most vulnerable, he feels exposed and judged by those around him. Sonny realizes that his presence “[has] been torture for [Isabel’s family]” and that he is something to be “endured” by others (Baldwin 13). Now having been hurt and his music wretched from his grasp, Sonny turns to the only other method of coping he

At the jazz club, Sonny emerges from the depths of his suffering. Sonny finds a family in his fellow musicians who coax him to “strike out for deep water” (Baldwin 19). Sonny is allowed and encouraged to step out of the darkness that had encapsulated his whole life. The narrator finally sees Sonny, not as a drug addict or a child, but as Sonny: a talented musician. The narrator acknowledges that Sonny’s “veins [bear] royal blood” (Baldwin 18). The narrator finally has the opportunity to watch Sonny perform and understand the validity of Sonny’s dreams. Sonny is able to use music to change his tune and his story. As he claims his suffering and adapts his song so that it is “no longer a lament”, Sonny is able to share his story and depict the inevitability of human suffering (Baldwin