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Sonny's Blues Theme

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"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin is a harrowing tale about a boy's struggle to overcome his drug addiction. The central plot isn't the most relatable topic but Baldwin expands the plot by touching up on different themes that further explicates the story to the point where any reader can find a way to relate to the characters. The story is told from the first point of view of the brother of Sonny. The narrator states his account from the commencement of Sonny's drug use to his fall out. James Baldwin does not focus only on the central theme of drug abuse. The author made the story more engaging to different readers by using different themes such as sibling relationships, effects of racism and power of music.
To begin with, Baldwin uses the …show more content…

The late, James Baldwin, was a prominent activists whose work usually included effect institutional racism has on African Americans. For instance, he wrote about the housing discrimination policy and its effect on Sony and his family. It gave his family any alternative but to live in the projects in New York City (Baldwin 6). Anyone whose dealt with living in troubling neighborhood can identify with Sonny's animosity towards life. In particular, Sonny felt hopeless and trapped because of what he saw and experienced living the projects. The raw honesty of his feelings further draws in the audience. Also, there is even specific a part in the story where the narrator's mother rehashes the story of how her husband lost his brother due to racism. "They was all drunk, and when they seen your father's brother they let out a great whoop and holler and they aimed the car straight at him" (Baldwin 9). The mother struggles with her words as she tells her son how a group of drunken white men purposely runs over her brother in law. This helps the reader sympathize with those who have to deal with racism on a daily basis. As can be seen, Baldwin flawlessly expands the central theme to the point where different readers can relate or empathize with those who face the effects of

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521 Words | 3 Pages

James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" analyzes a very complex relationship between the narrator and his brother, Sonny. Before directing to the attention of the relationship between these two brothers, we have to first understand the personality of each character. Initially, the narrator has a stable job as a hardworking math teacher and makes an effort to assimilate himself to his surroundings, but has never comprehended his brother, Sonny. Sonny is the complete opposite of the narrator. Sonny separates from his brother to become a Blues musician, though becomes addicted to drugs, such as heroin, in order to control his own feelings.

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255 Words | 2 Pages

In “Sonny’s Blues,” James Baldwin wrote a different type coming of age story. At the end of the story the narrator finally develops a new understanding for his brother, and forgives him. The story’s narrator is a black algebra teacher, whose name is never revealed, who is living in Harlem, a New York City neighborhood. In the beginning of the story the narrator reads about his brother, Sonny, being busted with heroin in the newspaper.

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1417 Words | 6 Pages

So this makes his real- life experience connect so closely to the story he had written. He experienced loss in real life along with in his story. In the story, the narrator had also lost his daughter to polo, although he didn’t exactly explain his feelings, he showed that it did affect him. Which makes me think that maybe Baldwin was the type of person to hide his feelings and act tough even though things affected him. He tried not to dwell on things, but realize that he can feel

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1184 Words | 5 Pages

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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1099 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout this essay James Baldwin uses characterization to show his father’s

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838 Words | 4 Pages

For example, the narrator talked about how Sonny stayed at his sister-in-law's house and played his heart out on their piano. This flashback showed his love for music anywhere he was. It helped him escape the pain he was feeling in Harlem and some of his responsibilities of school by staying home and playing. Baldwin also used stereotypes to get his message across. Harlem was not a friendly, rich, white town, so the fact that he chose this setting it made the reader automatically assume that these brothers did not grow up in a stable environment.

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692 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the story of “Sonny’s Blues”, James Baldwin develops a theme that can still be related with today. The misunderstanding and lack of knowledge that the narrator experiences, about his brother, is something that many today feel, as their own family members are being prosecuted and they do not comprehend why. Within the story, there are numerous subtle ideas that are used to progress the story and theme along to the ending that is given. James Baldwin advances the theme of his story, that misfortune and anguish can be renovated into a unique art form, using characterizations, settings, and symbolisms. One of the main literary devices that is used to express the theme is characterization.

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828 Words | 4 Pages

I chose to write my Response Essay on the story "Sonny's Blues" written by James Baldwin. In Sonny's Blues, the storyteller recounts the tale of his association with his sibling, Sonny. Sonny is a performer not able to get away from the ghetto. Disheartened by his sibling's suffering , the storyteller connects with him, yet discovers that Sonny's hurt powers his music. The narrator is a teacher in Harlem that has changed his life and got out of the ghetto where he grew up.

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963 Words | 4 Pages

In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, Sonny and his brother grew up in Harlem. The people in Harlem are suffering from poverty and drug addiction. Sonny’s environment

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934 Words | 4 Pages

Sonny's Blues was written in 1957, 37 years after the roaring twenties had come to an end. Long after the great Migration, where millions of blacks moved to northern cities to escape Jim Crow, and embrace the new found possibilities offered. During this period African-Americans in New York, collectively gathered in Harlem mainly, it was usually alluded to as the black capital. There blacks shared culturally and also, influenced music greatly. This is also where the "new negro" persona was crafted, blacks were no longer going to be referred to as someone's mammies or boy.

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909 Words | 4 Pages

One will constantly face temporary conflict throughout life, but ultimately they can overcome through a will to on and pursue what makes oneself happy. Baldwin was able to create a picture in the reader's mind due to his personal relation to his characters, he was able to understand the harsh times for an African-American male. It also reflects on the care that siblings have for one another and how even though they have good intentions, they can't always help their loved one follow a positive

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1138 Words | 5 Pages

“Sonny’s Blues,” written by James Baldwin discusses conflicts between two brothers in hopes of mending their relationship. “Sonny’s Blues” begins with the unnamed narrator reading a piece of paper with information regarding the trouble his brother Sonny has gotten himself into. The narrator has not been communicating with his brother during this period, but after the death of his two-year-old daughter Grace, he writes Sonny a letter. Once Sonny has been released, he goes back to Harlem to live with the narrator, and the narrator forces him into staying with his fiancé Isabel and her family because he believes Sonny deserves the opportunity to receive an education. Sonny makes it known to the narrator that he does not want to go back to school

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813 Words | 4 Pages

In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” the author uses Sonny’s struggle for a redeemed life to push the narrator toward the realization of his own need for rescue; through this realization, the narrator can find his identity and be free from his sadness. The narrator needs rescuing from himself. He hides behind a curtain of denial trying to protect himself from emotional reality. The narrator struggles to understand when and how Sonny began his troubles with drug addiction; he does not understand where he went wrong in being a role model for his younger brother. Now, years later the narrator is a school teacher who is trying to be a role model for the young boys in his class.

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839 Words | 4 Pages

"I have begun this letter five times and torn it up five times. I keep seeing your face, which is also the face of your father and my brother" (1) indicates that Baldwin put time and effort into making this work as heartfelt as possible to make his message clear. The writing style he used in this message is one that shows that he is familiar with his audience, his nephew. At the same time, this language style is familiar because this letter can be used to address African-American teens other than his nephew James. Baldwin 's language in A Letter to My Nephew shows that he is pacifying his nephew for being born into the environment that he is in, but at the same time passing the blame onto the United States for creating such an environment.

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2048 Words | 9 Pages

Baldwin’s creative style in both stories effectively gives his audience perspective and insight into these themes, permitting a deeper comprehension of how they relate to the world outside of his stories.

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