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Racism and ethnicity novels
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James Baldwin wrote Sonny’s Blues. It takes place in the inner city of Harlem New York. The story revolves around the “unnamed” brother and Sonny. Sonny has a dream of becoming a musician, but not without the scrutiny from his brother, this conflict leads to Sonny doing drugs. The conflict between the brothers is a reoccurring theme in the story. Some readers are drawn to the fact that Sonny’s Blues is a captivating showcase of the light and dark moments in life. Other readers find that the story focuses too much on human suffering: both internally and externally. I will argue that “unnamed” brother is a dynamic character. I will demonstrate this by discussing three different moral changes throughout the beginning, middle, and end. To begin, …show more content…
However, his brother doubts his decision. “…You know you can’t always do exactly what you want to do…I think people ought to do what they want to do, why else are they living…you getting to be a big boy…it’s time you started thinking about your future” (Pg. 59). The conversation between the “unnamed” brother and Sonny shows that the brother is trying to be a gatekeeper for Sonny and is trying to be supportive of Sonny, but is unfamiliar with the big brother role. Additionally, he believes he is washed up and clueless about the world, which would explain his reasoning for gatekeeping. The brother thinks that because of his academic background, anything below that is not sustainable for a proper future. Also, by the unnamed brother saying “it’s time you start thinking about your future.” The word “your” automatically points to Sonny and implies that he doesn’t have a future, to begin with, without even hearing, or listening to him. He also views him again as being childish by saying, “you getting to be a big boy.” Almost mocking him in a condescending way. There could also be some jealousy and pride involved with the brother. He thinks because his brother is doing what he wants to do it is a reason to patronize him. Sonny hit it right on the head when he said: “I think people ought to do what they want to do, why else are they living?” I believe the brother mentioned his …show more content…
“Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life…I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did…I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in the earth.”(Pg.69) The brother’s experience seeing Sonny perform shows that he looks up at his brother as an equal now. By the brother saying that Sonny’s music fills the air with “life, his life", it explains that the “unnamed” brother finally grasps the idea that his younger brother actually has talent, is not some washed up the bum, and has a purpose in life. The line “I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen.” He realizes when Sonny is playing that inspiration comes in many different forms, even from a younger brother and that all we have to do is just give others a chance. He is also relieved that he can finally look at Sonny as his brother and for being removed from his despair. To add on, the “unnamed” brother has a revelation through Sonny’s music and for the first time sympathizes with his brother about his inner struggle of being a musician, his fight with drugs, he finds out that there is a purpose for music in the world, sticking to your passion is not an easy thing to
However, he finds redemption in the eyes of his brother without sacrificing his individualism. Sonny manages to use music to bridge the gap, taking a greater responsibility for his reintegration into family and community than the prodigal son.
Sonny’s brother has been distant towards him, but recently, he has been trying to understand him and help him. Sonny decides to take his brother to a concert to see if he will understand what he is trying to convey through music. Sonny hasn’t played the piano for “over a year” and he is a little bit rusty (147). Sonny also says he isn’t on “much better terms with life” than he was a year ago (147). In a way though, he is in a much better place, because his brother is there for him.
According to his brother, who narrates "Sonny's Blues," Sonny was a bright-eyed young man full of gentleness and privacy. "When he was about as old as the boys in my classes his face had been bright and open, there was a lot of copper in it; and he'd had wonderfully direct brown eyes, a great gentleness and privacy. I wondered what he looked like now" (Baldwin 272). Something happened to Sonny, as it did to most of the young people growing up in Harlem. His physical journey growing up in the streets caused a great deal of inner turmoil about whom he was and what kind of life he was to have. One thing for sure, by the time his mother died, Sonny was ready to get out of Harlem. " 'I ain't learning nothing in school,' he said. 'Even when I go.' He turned away from me and opened the window and threw his cigarette out into the narrow alley. I watched his back. 'At least, I ain't learning nothing you'd want me to learn.' He slammed the window so hard I thought the glass would fly out, and turned back to me. 'And I'm sick of the stink of these garbage cans!' " (Baldwin 285).
More specifically speaking, Baldwin is assessing through the fictional story the difficulties in understanding and accepting those who do not comply with social norms. Throughout the entirety of the story it is clear that Sonny’s brother cannot understand his brother or his brother’s choices. This inability to identify with and comprehend his brother drives a wedge between the two, until finally, the narrator shows up to a performance put on by Sonny, opens his mind and his prejudices, and begins to finally understand his
Though Sonny had struggles in life along with the rest of the family, he is able to redeem himself through his music. “Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contains so many others. And Sonny went all the way back, he really began to make it his.”
The narrator realizes that it was his responsibility to be there for his younger brother for all the years that Sonny needed him, even if it was just to talk or listen. He doesn’t know if Sonny will be able to forgive him, or if too much time has passed to be any forgiveness. Although the narrator is there for his brother now, he could have been an influence to him for his entire life, just as any brother should be.
In conclusion, Sonny’s Blues depicts the love of a brother through the narrator, who at the beginning was disengaged, unsupportive, and emotionally distant. However, the turning point was when Grace died. This triggered a great turmoil of feelings that overflowed the narrator leading him to a major and impacting change. Instead, he turned into being involved, supportive, understanding, honest, and accepting of his brother Sonny; regardless of the reality that there was no guarantee his pain would not consume his life.
As "Sonny's Blues" opens, the narrator tells of his discovery that his younger brother has been arrested for selling and using heroin. Both brothers grew up in Harlem, a neighborhood rife with poverty and despair. Though the narrator teaches school in Harlem, he distances himself emotionally from the people who live there and their struggles and is somewhat judgmental and superior. He loves his brother but is distanced from him as well and judgmental of his life and decisions. Though Sonny needs for his brother to understand what he is trying to communicate to him and why he makes the choices he makes, the narrator cannot or will not hear what Sonny is trying to convey. In distancing himself from the pain of upbringing and his surroundings, he has insulated himself from the ability to develop an understanding of his brother's motivations and instead, his disapproval of Sonny's choice to become a musician and his choices regarding the direction of his life in general is apparent. Before her death, his mother spoke with him regarding his responsibilities to Sonny, telling him, "You got to hold on to your brother...and don't let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you get with him...you may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you're there" (87) His unwillingness to really hear and understand what his brother is trying to tell him is an example of a character failing to act in good faith.
Big brother hasn’t heard about him since that day and he “[Is] scared, scared for Sonny” (47). As the story continues, big brother has a flashback of his childhood; his brother Sonny and his mother are in it. Mother asks big brother to take care of his younger brother, ever since that day Sonny has been a responsibility to him and when Sonny expresses he wants to be a jazz piano player, the narrator thinks this is a waste of his life and that he has failed to his mother wishes. Their inability to see eye to eye on this is what causes so much strife between the
With the narrator having a responsibility to take care of his brother, he consistently forces the fact that he wants his brother to be well off and not care about his passion in music. The older they got, the more they drove away from each other because of the fact the narrator becomes overly protective with Sonny, and uses a “tough love” strategy though it does not making any positive effect. After they took some time apart, they both realized they cannot emotionally make it in this world without one
Several passages found throughout "Sonny's Blues" indicate that as a whole, the neighborhood of Harlem is in the turmoil of a battle between good and evil. The narrator describes Sonny's close encounters with the evil manifested in drugs and crime, as well as his assertive attempts at distancing himself from the darker side. The streets and communities of Harlem are described as being a harsh environment which claims the lives of many who have struggled against the constant enticement of emotional escape through drugs, and financial escape through crime. Sonny's parents, just like the others in Harlem, have attempted to distance their children from the dark sides of their community, but inevitably, they are all aware that one day each child will face a decisionb for the first time. Each child will eventually join the ranks of all the other members of society fighting a war against evil at the personal level so cleanly brought to life by James Baldwin. Amongst all the chaos, the reader is introduced to Sonny's special secret weapon against the pressures of life: Jazz. Baldwin presents jazz as being a two-edged sword capable of expressing emotions like no other method, but also a presenting grave danger to each individual who bears it. Throughout the the story, the reader follows Sonny's past and present skirmishes with evil, his triumphs, and his defeats. By using metaphorical factors such as drugs and jazz in a war-symbolizing setting, Baldwin has put the focus of good and evil to work at the heart of "Sonny's Blues."
In "Sonny's Blues" James Baldwin presents an intergenerational portrait of suffering and survival within the sphere of black community and family. The family dynamic in this story strongly impacts how characters respond to their own pain and that of their family members. Examining the central characters, Mama, the older brother, and Sonny, reveals that each assumes or acknowledges another's burden and pain in order to accept his or her own situation within an oppressive society. Through this sharing each character is able to achieve a more profound understanding of his own suffering and attain a sharper, if more precarious, notion of survival.
After discovering what has happened to Sonny, the narrator makes it seem as if he does not care and does not want interference in the life he has worked so hard to create. This is proven when the narrator discusses what has happened to Sonny with one of his brother’s friends. As shown through this quote, the narrator is not concerned about what has happened to his brother and believes it is not his responsibili...
In conclusion, the short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin brings out two main themes: irony and suffering. You can actually feel the pain that Baldwin's characters experience; and distinguish the two different lifestyles of siblings brought up in the same environment. The older brother remaining nameless is a fabulous touch that really made me want to read on. This really piqued my interest and I feel it can lead to many discussions on why this technique was used. I really enjoyed this story; it was a fast and enjoyable reading. Baldwin keeps his readers thinking and talking long after they have finished reading his stories. His writing technique is an art, which very few, if any, can duplicate.
This issue becomes a conflict for the two siblings that grows tension among each other. Sonny expresses to the narrator that he wants to become a jazz musician. For example, the narrator explains, “It seemed- beneath him, somehow. I had never thought about it before, had never been force to, but I suppose I had always putt jazz musicians in a class with what Daddy called “good-time people” (pg. 86). In my opinion I think the narrator feels appalled that his brother wants to become a jazz musician because he thinks of them as people who hang around clubs and clown around. Both siblings don’t see eye to eye, the narrator sees it as Sonny wasting his time and Sonny sees it as being his career. The exposition of the narrator finding his younger brother in a newspaper resulted on reconnecting their relationship. Also, the conflict of the two siblings was their argument of not seeing the same