This fall semester of 2014 has been an interesting and learning experience for myself. I haven’t attend school in nearly a decade and was unsure of what to expect from my teachers and myself. I would have to say being in Professor Dybala’s English 1302 to start my school day is interesting. She is an energetic professor and I’m able to feel her passion for teaching and that motivate me to try my best in her class as the rest of my classes. I was driven to do the best of my ability and whatever the outcome might be, I know I did my best. The first graded essay that was assigned to us were to choose between two stories “Hills like White Elephant” by Ernest Hemingway and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and interpret the story in our own …show more content…
I choose to do a research on “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin even though the story was long in itself to me. I found the characters were very interesting with different depths of emotions and that’s what intrigued me to choose this short story. At the beginning of this research, I was uncertain of what I wanted the thesis to be. I decided I wanted to focus on how the author portrays the narrator and Sonny as brothers, individually affected their lives being born African American. The narrator stated that their mother said “You got to hold on to your brother and don’t let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening and no matter how evil you gets with him” (258). This quote could have many meaning to the narrator, I refuted that he could be doing all this out of the guilt of not keeping his promise to his mother. I believe it isn’t about his guilt but more of the neglect of the life he chose to leave behind until the death of his daughter changed all …show more content…
We were able to text and call one or two others the night before to discuss about the scenes we would be presenting in class. Johnathon talked to Juno and gave me some input. Johnathon also text Jasmine to asked if she were able to meet us the next morning to review and prepare one last time before class. Julius wasn’t aware the presentation was due but when it was time to present he was well prepared on his part. Jasmine couldn’t make it before class for the meeting because she had car trouble but just like Julius, she was also well prepared. I’m sad that Juno weren’t able to make to class in time to do the presentation with the rest of the group, but he was able to share some insight with Jonathon to contribute to the group. I believe Johnathon was a big help in this presentation. He took the initiative to connect the rest of the group when no one respond on the forum. We were able to text each other and accomplish a good presentation for the class. I’ve learn that not every classmate will put out as much effort as you would but you just have to try your best to get the best out of each out of your
In the story, Sonny Blue’s, By James Baldwin, the audience follows a narrator who has escaped the ghetto and has established a secure life for him and his family, regardless of the negative burdens that he witnesses damaging so many youthful African Americans, including his younger brother.
In this essay James Baldwin’s world renowned story “Sonny’s Blues” will be analysed in detail, including Baldwin’s background, the artistic quality, thematic meanings, a plot summary, and the role this story plays in world literature. James Baldwin was born on August 2, 1924, in New York’s Harlem. At the time the center of black culture, Harlem was once a culturally vibrant community of artists of all kinds, but it was also a neighborhood deeply afflicted by poverty and violence. Baldwin’s mother was eventually left by Baldwin’s biological father, and assumed a job as a domestic servant and married the preacher David Baldwin, whose strong influence on Baldwin was evident not only in Baldwin’s writing but in his religious faith as well. Baldwin’s religious faith had its follies.
Though racial and sexual issues seem to continuously serve a main purpose in James Baldwin’s writings, oppression can be described as a useful theme in both “Sonny’s Blues and Going to Meet the Man”( Murphy 6). In “Sonny’s Blues” we meet the narrator, Sonny’s brother who runs into one of Sonny’s old friends who begins conversing with Sonny’s brother about Sonny’s recent arrest. Sonny’s old friend tells the narrator that he “can’t much help Sonny no more” which upsets him because it makes him realize how much he had given up on trying to help his brother. Sonny was suffering from drug abuse, and was in desperate need of a savior. After the
Sonny’s Blues is a short story written by James Baldwin. The story is written in the first person singular narrative style and it begins with the narrator who reads in the newspaper on his way to work about his younger brother Sonny, who has been caught in a heroine bust and jailed. The narrator becomes very disappointed in his brother that he does not write to him for a while but after his daughter Gracie, succumbs to polio, that is when he remembers his brother and writes a letter to him. The two brothers maintain contact through the letters till Sonny is released from jail. After his release, Sonny moves in with his brother and his family. During a family dinner, they flash back about their parents. The narrator describes their father as a drunk who died when sonny was fifteen. He liked his privacy just like sonny but they never used to get along. Sonny was a withdrawn and a quiet type while their father feigned to be big, loud-talking and tough. The narrator recalls the last time he saw their mother alive was before he left for war. He remembered his mother telling him to take care of his brother. The story talks of Sonny’s life in Harlem and how he tried to escape the stereotype of the community’s traditional social view. He tries to venture into jazz music which the narrator does not find suitable for him. Sonny gets lured into drugs in the attempt of escaping the darkness in his life and finds himself in jail. The narrator tries to help and understand his brother. When Sonny invites the narrator to Greenwich Village to watch him perform, the narrator is uncertain but accepts the invitation. As Sonny plays the piano, the narrator feels the magic in the music and can see how his brother’s emotions come alive and he is able to...
James Baldwin, author of Sonny’s Blues, was born in Harlem, NY in 1924. During his career as an essayist, he published many novels and short stories. Growing up as an African American, and being “the grandson of a slave” (82) was difficult. On a day to day basis, it was a constant battle with racial discrimination, drugs, and family relationships. One of Baldwin’s literature pieces was Sonny’s Blues in which he describes a specific event that had a great impact on his relationship with his brother, Sonny. Having to deal with the life-style of poverty, his relationship with his brother becomes affected and rivalry develops. Conclusively, brotherly love is the theme of the story. Despite the narrator’s and his brother’s differences, this theme is revealed throughout the characters’ thoughts, feelings, actions, and dialogue. Therefore, the change in the narrator throughout the text is significant in understanding the theme of the story. It is prevalent to withhold the single most important aspect of the narrator’s life: protecting his brother.
A captivating tale of relationship of two troubling brothers in Harlem, "Sonny's Blues" is told from a perspective of Sonny's brother, whose name is never mentioned. Baldwin's choice of Sonny's brother as a narrator is what makes "Sonny's Blues" significant in terms of illustrating the relationship and emotional complications of Sonny and his brother. The significance of "Sonny's Blues" lies in the way Sonny's brother describes the relationship based on what he observes, hears, and feels, and how he struggles trying to understand Sonny through the course of the story.
The short story "Sonny Blue's" is about an African American family in Harlem, New York sometime in the 1950's; it deals with their personal problems and issues. It is about family and the different turns we may take in life as family members. A story about how people should embrace each other with respect and understanding: about respect for others, our responsibility as family members. The narrator, Sonny Blues' brother, goes through three major phases. The narrator reads in a newspaper that his brother, Sonny was arrested for using and selling drug, something he feels is morally and ethically wrong. T...
“Sonny's Blues” by James Baldwin is told by the narrator, Johnny about his brother and their family. The story shows how the two brother relationship changes over time, while growing up in Harlem New York. Music brings Sonny out of the darkness and show Johnny the light. James Baldwin uses the blues and the imagery of light and dark to showcase, the trials and hardship of the two brothers and Harlem itself.
At a quick glance, Sonny's Blues, by _______ Baldwin, appears to be a short story about lives shaped by poverty and lack of opportunities, but if the reader looks closely they will find that the stronger theme is about brotherhood. Baldwin could have easily named the book 'Brotherhood's Blues' as it is a story about the relationship between two brothers. Relationships with siblings are never easy and Baldwin's narrator and his brother struggle with their place in each other's lives. The narrator constantly fees the guilt of not looking out for his brother as his mother had asked 'use that quote' This guilt haunts him throughout his relationship with Sonny
The society where most of the blacks came from were more than harsh to say the least and people desperately wanted to escape. There were many aspects of urban Black American society that were mirrored with the experiences narrated in “Sonny’s Blues”. The examination of such parallels will give us insight to the pain experienced by these people and let us see how societies can shape an individual’s life (Baldwin in O’Daniel)
In Baldwin, James’ narrative titled Sonny’s Blues the theme of hopelessness is found throughout the text, and is developed just at the start of the chapter as the teacher leaves the train station, deep in thought. The teacher was shocked with what he had read in the papers about his brother who had been arrested for drug peddling. His heart is heavy because he is not sure if he will see his brother again and deep down he feels that he has let his mother down in looking after his brother Sonny. The trend comes as a sign of hopelessness and despair because people who are from higher social classes could only be worried about which prominent lawyer to hire to take on the case or what private schools to send their children to. Hopelessness is further displayed as the teacher ponders that his brother, Sonny, had started using drugs when at the same age
Historically, strong family relationships have been emphasized by American society. Strong family ties have been significant to maintaining healthy lifestyles and relationships across many cultures, including African American culture. Sonny, the younger brother in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”, has suffered from a heroin addiction which caused him to separate from both his parents and his older brother. The essay portrays two brothers who struggle with their difficult Harlem environment, cultural issues, and their emotional detachment from one another. As the brothers struggle with their inner conflicts and outward environmental struggles, they are reunited through a common theme in the essay: music. Baldwin empowers Sonny with a gift of extraordinary musicianship, and uses this gift to enlighten and empower the narrator. Baldwin’s essay narrates the trials of the narrator on his journey to self- discovery and the brothers trial of rebuilding their brotherly bond with music as their guide. The essay uses music as a form of communication between the brothers and symbolizes it as a powerful force in their relationship. In Baldwin’s essay, “Sonny’s Blues”, the narrator and Sonny are empowered through music, and through this empowerment, the music is able to rekindle and rebuild the brothers relationship.
“Sonny’s Blues” revolves around the narrator as he learns who his drug-hooked, piano-playing baby brother, Sonny, really is. The author, James Baldwin, paints views on racism, misery and art and suffering in this story. His written canvas portrays a dark and continual scene pertaining to each topic. As the story unfolds, similarities in each generation can be observed. The two African American brothers share a life similar to that of their father and his brother. The father’s brother had a thirst for music, and they both travelled the treacherous road of night clubs, drinking and partying before his brother was hit and killed by a car full of white boys. Plagued, the father carried this pain of the loss of his brother and bitterness towards the whites to his grave. “Till the day he died he weren’t sure but that every white man he saw was the man that killed his brother.”(346) Watching the same problems transcend onto the narrator’s baby brother, Sonny, the reader feels his despair when he tries to relate the same scenarios his father had, to his brother. “All that hatred down there”, he said “all that hatred and misery and love. It’s a wonder it doesn’t blow the avenue apart.”(355) He’s trying to relate to his brother that even though some try to cover their misery with doing what others deem as “right,” others just cover it with a different mask. “But nobody just takes it.” Sonny cried, “That’s what I’m telling you! Everybody tries not to. You’re just hung up on the way some people try—it’s not your way!”(355) The narrator had dealt with his own miseries of knowing his father’s plight, his Brother Sonny’s imprisonment and the loss of his own child. Sonny tried to give an understanding of what music was for him throughout thei...
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.
When you step back and look at the big picture of life, you will notice that the concept of learning plays an essential role in it. What you learn and how you learn is your key to life success and it can open a multitude of doors for you along the way. Learning, however, is routine and much like other activities that are routine such as brushing your teeth or eating meals, you begin to think less and less about what you are doing or how you have been doing it. I never actually put too much thought into how I learned or the origins of my learning experience, but after reflecting on the ideas I have been able to clearly identify the manners in which I have learned and how I can transform my learning experience