More handpicked essays just for you.
The black panthers civil rights movement
Harlem renaissance the black people in america
Harlem renaissance the black people in america
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Manchild in the Unpromised Ghetto Harlem: a place of drugs, sex, and bad decision making. Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown illustrates Harlem in an unabashed way and shows how difficult growing up there can be. It is told that Harlem in the mid 20th century was a place where being bad was the easiest way to be. Out on the streets, it was every person for themselves. One of these people was Claude, nicknamed Sonny, and his goal was to find his place the rotting paradise of Harlem. This paradise was a promised land for many black southerners looking for a better life, but it turned into a petri dish of anger, poverty, and racism. Sonny jumps headfirst into the Harlem scene as a bully and a thief; however, throughout the book, …show more content…
he matures into a capable adult who can handle life without violence or drugs and becomes an inspiration to the reader. Harlem in the 1950s was a rough place to grow up since it was wrought with abuse and neglect.
Sonny was brought up in this very Harlem and learned how to steal and fight his way through life. However, life fought him back at every opportunity. “By the time I was nine years old, I had been hit by a bus, thrown into the Harlem River (intentionally), hit by a car, severely beaten by a chain. And I had set the house afire” (Brown 12). Sonny’s childhood was filled with so much mayhem that it would be ridiculous for anyone to expect his turnaround into a functional adult. Nevertheless, he accomplished just that . He did it by learning from not only his mistakes, but from others as well. Seeing how everyone he knew was going to prison, dying, or becoming a junkie, Sonny decided that he wanted a better life than what the streets of Harlem could offer. Sonny grew beyond his environment until he finally stopped doing drugs, he got a job, and went to college. He overcame the low expectations of him and ended up being better than what anyone had expected. Although, his personal growth was not a quick one, it was slow, painful and has relevance throughout the entire …show more content…
book. This book gives a front row seat to the coming of age of Sonny.
At the beginning, the reader is thrust into Sonny’s reality and shown what it means to be a young, impoverished black person in mid century Harlem. The innocent nature of Sonny is shown at the start of the book where he just a kid wanting to eat stolen shrimp and he learns not to cook it in hair pomade and to shell it before cooking (Brown 6). However, throughout the book that innocence is slowly tarnished and he is forced to learn more difficult lessons such as drug addiction, death, and inequality. He changes from a kid that is easily influenced, to a teen that has been adapted to the street life, until finally becoming an adult and trying to make his life his own. The conclusion of the book is also comparable to the conclusion of the bad influence Harlem had on Sonny. It is mentioned at several points that Harlem has changed and became a much more safe and less harmful place. During a conversation with one of his long term friends, Sonny and him go into a dialogue about life in Harlem now verses in the past. Sonny says that something has changed the people, things, and life. And his friend responds, saying that, “I guess maybe it’s for the good, man” (Brown 392). At the end, Sonny starts to look at Harlem like an outsider, and sees how many things have become different since his time ruling the streets. This shows that the engulfing influence that Harlem had on him is starting to fade. It is inspiring to see
that no matter how bad a person’s situation is, there is always hope for a better future. Sonny and his struggles of trying to leave the Harlem scene for a better future is inspiring to the reader and tells them to never give up. Sonny could have given up time and time again. It would have been easier to stay on the streets and commit himself to whatever future awaited him there. He could have dealt drugs and been arrested, stayed in a gang and gotten killed, or have been a heroin junkie and over dosed. It was his grit and determination that got him past all of these possible futures. “I’d like to show them that despite everything that Harlem did to our generation, I think it gave something to a few. It gave them a strength that couldn’t be obtained anywhere else” (Brown 394). It was the fighting to survive that gave some of the residents of Harlem strength and broke others. Sonny struggled for a long time and was better for it. The thing that the readers take away from this book is that it is up to themselves to make their future better and no one will do it for you. That it is possible to beat the odds that life has dealt out and become better for it. The transformation that Sonny takes from a confused kid to a determined adult is a hard fought one. However, his resolve to become something other than a Harlem punk let him change for the better and inspire others. The book, Manchild in the Promised Land, by Claude Brown is a powerful story that shows a very real depiction of Harlem in the 1950s and the hardships that come with living there.
The older brother, the narrator, finds himself struggling at the beginning of the story. While riding the subway, he reads in the paper that Sonny has been arrested for possession of drugs. During his day of teaching, he reflects on prior years with Sonny and their past adventures as young boys. He remembers Sonny's "wonderfully direct brown eyes, and great gentleness and privacy." The narrator sees his brother as a good boy, not "hard or evil or disrespectful." He wonders how many of his algebra students are similar to Sonny in appearance and personality along with his drug habits. This comparison allows the older brother to conclude that Sonny was probably not arrested on his initial use of drugs. It also allows the narrator is see that Sonny may be like most of the other young boys in Harlem.
" Sonny had been wild, but not crazy, he had always been a good boy and had never turned hard or evil or disrespectful the way the kids did and still do in Harlem."…His face had been bright and open, there was a lot of copper in it; and he had wonderfully direct brown eyes, and a great gentleness and privacy…." (66).
While not true for everyone, people are a product of their environment. The surroundings that a person is exposed to, may have a direct influence on the decisions they make in life. Even if someone is smart and has great aspirations, the environment they are brought up in may be holding them back. People who make terrible choices and then are shocked by the consequences are simply coming from a context in which those weren't as bad a choices as they turned out to be. This is the case for Sonny of James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.” Although Sonny was an aspiring musician, the surroundings of Harlem would provide opportunities to make poor decisions that may not have been presented to him had he been in a different environment. For this reason,
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.
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).
The first moment music is introduced in the story is while the narrator is teaching at school. He has just learned of his brother arrest. He overhears a schoolboy whistling and it drowns out the “mocking and insular laughter of the other boys” (44). The narrator listens and is, for a moment, reminded of the fate that could meet his students; the same fate that met Sonny. He describes the whistling as “pouring out of him as though he were a bird” (44). It is innocent, pure, and drowns out the bitterness of his peers. It is reminiscent of a much younger Sonny. A Sonny that is still hopeful and still believes he can escape the demons that lurk in Harlem. The young schoolboy is creating this music to avoid and protect him from the dangers of his life, much like the way Sonny did in his younger years when he was playing for his life on Isabel’s piano.
Conflict is opposition between two forces, and it may be external or internal,” (Barker). There are two styles of external conflict that can be examined within the plot of “Sonny’s Blues”. The first of these is character versus society. This is the outer layer of the external conflict observed between Sonny and the society, which his life is out casted from. The meat and potatoes of the external conflict however, is character versus character. Sonny lives a lifestyle that his brother seems to be incapable of understanding. The internal conflict lies within the narrator. It is his struggle to understand his brother that drives the plot. The climax occurs when Sonny and the narrator argue in the apartment. The argument stems from the narrators complete inability to understand Sonny’s drug usage and life as a musician, and Sonny’s feeling of abandonment and inability to make his brother understand him. This conflict appears to come to a resolve at the resolution as the narrator orders Sonny a drink following hearing Sonny perform for the first time. It appears as though this is the moment when the narrator begins to understand, perhaps for the first time, his brother the
In The Promised Land, Nicholas Lehmann follows the stories of black migrants, politicians, and bureaucrats through the Great Migration, and attempts to explain the decline of northern cities, the constant liberty struggle of blacks across America, and government response to the issues surrounding the Great Migration. This work signalled a drastic change from the structured approach of Thomas Sugrue’s, The Origins Of The Urban Crisis, which observes the effects of institutions and human agency on postwar Detroit and its marginalized peoples. Both Sugrue and Lemann had (albeit slightly different) holistic views of the political climate of postwar cities, which helped provide context for prejudices towards blacks and the poor, and subsequently
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.
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 conclusion, “Sonny’s Blues” is the story of Sonny told through his brother’s perspective. It is shown that the narrator tries to block out the past and lead a good “clean” life. However, this shortly changes when Sonny is arrested for the use and possession of heroin. When the narrator starts talking to his brother again, after years of no communication, he disapproves of his brother’s decisions. However, after the death of his daughter, he slowly starts to transform into a dynamic character. Through the narrator’s change from a static to a dynamic character, readers were able to experience a remarkable growth in the narrator.
Environments can influence life choices, actions, emotions, along with much more. Those influences can be positive or negative. Two people can grow up in the same environment but can prevail in different ways. James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” takes place in Harlem, NY. The short story shows the narrator, who remains nameless, experiencing numerous of emotional struggles. It is an unquestionably poignant story, presenting countless endeavors. In specific, the narrator’s brother suffers from drug addiction, there multiple family deaths, as well as deteriorating relationships. Though there are troubling times, “Sonny’s Blues” is a genuinely heartwarming story.
The narrator allows Sonny to move into his apartment. By allowing Sonny to live with him he has allowed to trust him again. For example, the narrator explains, “The idea of searching Sonny’s room made me still. I scarcely dared to admit to myself what I’d be searching for. I didn’t know what I’d do if I found it. Or if I didn’t” (pg. 91). This shows how the narrator had the opportunity to search his brother’s room, but had the ability not to. Tension grew among brothers while living under one roof. This starts the climax of both arguing in the apartment. The narrator doesn’t understand why his brother wants to be a musician. This argument was built of emotion both had and not yet discussed among each other. Such as the narrator expressing his anger towards his brother’s drug use and Sonny’s frustration towards the narrator not understanding his plan to become a jazz musician. For example, the narrator states, “I realized, with this mocking look, that there stood between us, forever, beyond the power of time or forgiveness, the fact that I had held silence – so long! – when he had needed human speech to help him” (pg.94). The argument with his brother made him realize that he abandon his younger brother when he needed him the most. He realized that if he would have spoken out and talk about his drug use that he wouldn’t have to go
... the miserable life that African Americans had to withstand at the time. From the narrator’s life in Harlem that he loathed, to the drug problems and apprehensions that Sonny was suffering from, to the death of his own daughter Grace, each of these instances serve to show the wretchedness that the narrator and his family had to undergo. The story in relation to Baldwin possibly leads to the conclusion that he was trying to relate this to his own life. At the time before he moved away, he had tried to make a success of his writing career but to no avail. However, the reader can only be left with many more questions as to how Sonny and the narrator were able to overcome these miseries and whether they concluded in the same manner in the life of Baldwin.
...ne’s suffering are portrayed throughout the story. It eventually leads to a deeper understanding between Sonny and his brother. This has changed and improved their relationship. The brother, through his guilt, came to recognize his role in Sonny’s life. He finally was able to understand what his mother was asking of him. Through the renewal of their relationship, they both learn to accept each other as the persons they really are. Sonny and his brother grew up under the same circumstances; poverty, the temptations that exist from living in Harlem and the racial injustices that exist during this time period. They learn to deal with their individual sufferings in their own way. Suffering can be an intense experience, but can lead to a self awareness that would not otherwise be acknowledged without it.