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The Theme Of Light And Darkness In Sonny's Blues

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“Sonny’s Blues” is a short story about a young heroin addict who uses music as his way of healing. Sonny’s healing is a main focus of this story. Therefore, suffering is one of the dominant themes in this story. Sonny suffers through jail whereas his brother suffers the loss of his young daughter. The theme of suffering can be shown throughout by the image pattern of light and darkness. The images of light and darkness are complete opposites. Light represents the times that are pleasant, and darkness represents the pain of the characters. In the story, the narrator was remembering the first time Sonny had ever “had a horse” (31) and how “he couldn’t have been much older than these boys were now” (31). The narrator is showing how at such a young age the darkness has creeped up inside the boys. The narrator says, “All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their …show more content…

This story is consumed in darkness. The theme of suffering is shown through the images of light and darkness. All that the young students know is darkness. In the example, the narrator is talking about the students popping needles with heroin, and how this is the way they cope with the darkness in their lives. When the narrators mother passes away, he talks of her younger years, and the Sunday dinner gatherings. Then, he talks about how the child that sits in the room is filled with darkness, but that the mother comforts him and “shields” him away from the outside world of hardships. In “Sonny’s Blues” that flash of the headlights may have been a sign that things will get better. This led to the narrator’s realization of the darkness and troubles in Sonny’s life. This story shows that even in times of darkness you can turn your life around, and learn how to cope in ways of rewards rather than leading yourself down the path of

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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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491 Words | 2 Pages

Adrianna Ratliff 30 April 2015 Mrs. Hampton World Literature I Inescapable Darkness From a young age, Sonny and his brother were haunted by the burden of being poor black kids and were trapped within the confines of their community. They struggle with the stereotypes and the crime that goes on in their community.

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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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The short story suitably named “Sonny’s Blues” was written by James Arthur Baldwin. Baldwin sets the story in the late 1940’s, in Harlem, New York right after World War II. The Characters in this short story are The Narrator, who we ultimately learn is the round Character, Poverty plays the role of the flat character, Sonny and the others are the supporting characters. The plot of the story is the struggle of seeking salvation. Moreover the plot is revealed through two general conflicts, Man vs. Society, and Man vs. Himself.

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1441 Words | 6 Pages

James Baldwin is a renowned author best known for his work of essays, books and short stories, particularly those which dwell deeply into important social and psychological issues of discrimination, gender inequality, homophobia and so on. One of Mr. Baldwin 's most appreciated literary works is the short story 'Sonny 's Blues ' which focuses on two brothers who grew up together but take different paths in life. The story follows the narrator learning about his brother Sonny 's incarceration due to the use and selling of drugs until his brother gets parole. Throughout the story, we learn about the relationship between the pair and are able to witness the narrators ultimate understanding of Sonny and his ambition. As we continue to observe the impressive short story, we find the most recurring theme to be that of sorrow.

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838 Words | 4 Pages

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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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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Accessed 25 Apr. 2017. Norton, Sandy Morey. ' To Keep from Shaking to Pieces': Addiction and Bearing Reality in 'Sonny's Blues.'. 2010, go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T001&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CH1420096909&docType=Critical+essay&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=&prodId=GLS&contentSet=GALE%7CH1420096909&searchId=R1&userGroupName=avlr&inPS=true. Accessed 24 Apr.

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516 Words | 3 Pages

Many of the characters in “Sonny’s Blues” face battles within themselves. The characters fight the battle of trying to keep the light shining inside and to not let the darkness inhabit them. “Images of light and darkness are used by Baldwin to illustrate his theme of man’s painful quest for an identity” (Murray

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934 Words | 4 Pages

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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1191 Words | 5 Pages

Sonny Blues Paul Pearshall once said “Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted”. In this story the conflict of responsibility takes place. A brother, who happens to be the narrator, blames his self for the events that takes place in his life, such as his brother sonny’s crack addiction. The Narrator feels responsible for his brother’s heroin addiction because he believed he shut his brother’s career goals down, felt as though he went against what his mother asked him to do, and because he chose not to believe that the way he treated his brother affected his brother life.

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909 Words | 4 Pages

As Donald C. Murray has said in his article, “James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’: Complicated and Simple”, “Images of light and darkness are used by Baldwin… ( Murray 354)”. Also, Baldwin is able to tell a story that can make the reader visualize what is happening to this character Sonny, even though it is being narrated through the eyes and perspective of his older brother. He portrays the older brother as someone who can understand and recognizes the internal struggles of Sonny and be compassionate about them, even though the elder brother does not agree with all the life choices his brother has

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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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1465 Words | 6 Pages

When the narrator accompanies Sonny to the nightclub to listen to him play his music; Sonny’s music portrays his wisdom as he plays about his brother’s frustrations with the trials and sufferings they both endured. Sonny’s artful playing of the blues opens the narrator’s heart to listen genuinely. If one listens to what lies on the inside that is the key to finding oneself. Joseph Flibbert states in the article “Sonny’s Blues” Overview, “In the music he hears, he sees his mother’s face, and that of his little girl … The powerful incantations of Sonny’s art reaches his soul, and for the first time, he listens to the dark voice within”.

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