Sonny's Blues Poem Theme

The theme of James Baldwin’s, “Sonny’s Blues” is overcoming sibling conflict through love and understanding. The poetic passage I chose that best represents this theme is, “Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others. And Sonny went all the way back, he really began with the spare, flat statement of the opening phrase of the song. Then he began to make his. It was very beautiful because it wasn’t hurried and it was no longer a lament. I seemed to hear with what burning he had made it his, with what burning we had yet to make it ours, how we could cease lamenting. Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free

They reflect on their mistakes and circumstances of the past that led to some problems and misunderstanding with children at their present days. In “Everyday use” by Alice Walker the main characters are Mama and her two daughters – Maggie and Dee. Mama is a big-boned and uneducated African-American woman who raised her children alone. She has the ability and impressively does the men labor work. All her life she manages the best she can for her kids. She feels pity for her Maggie, who is very shy. Maggie experienced a traumatic event that her scars made her unconfident and unable to make any eye contact. Her sister Dee, on the contrary, is educated and confident. Mama with the help of the community did everything possible to raise money and send her to school. Dee appeared as a contrast to Maggie, she refused her name, renaming herself, Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, thus denying her heritage and family name. Mama wants a better future for her Maggie but understands life in the 1960’s is a real challenge especially for them. The family also argues about the quilt; that Dee wants to take, but Mama has already decided it is for Maggie. Mama said to herself, “I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie…snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands dumped them into Maggie’s lap” and this shows that Mama wants more for

She struggles to explain the aspects of the childhood of her daughter, Emily, in which she influenced her personality. The narrator was alone with a child during Great Depression times; she had to work to earn their living and often left her baby with a neighbor. However, during Emily’s childhood, the narrator tried to make best out of situations. The narrator understands that there was a lack of attention to her oldest child. As an example, she remembers the story of when her second daughter was born, and Emily got the measles and was not able to share that moment with her family for two whole weeks. The narrator regrets the neglect towards Emily while even her thoughts about her regrets are being interrupted by the cry of her infant son. She understands that it was she who influenced her life choice: “My wisdom came too late. She has much to her and probably little will come of it. She is a child of her age, of depression, of war, of