Religion In Sonny's Blues

Religion is a difficult thing to define – although the word implies a deep, spiritual connection with an entity, that is where the concrete label of religion ends. A person can possess religious feelings towards nearly anything, whether it is in the form of a bond with an omnipotent creator, an intense connection with music, or even an unbreakable addiction to a drug. This was a point of emphasis for Karl Marx in “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right;” specifically, the critical presence of religion in our lives. Marx states that religion is “the opium of the people” – he classifies it as a lifeline to the oppressed, a human creation that offers indispensable hope and meaning. In “Sonny's Blues,” the titular character's

The first of these occurs on page 124, just after Sonny's older brother learns of Sonny's arrest, when he spots one of Sonny's old friends from their younger days. Sonny's brother immediately expresses his disdain for this man, thinking “I'd never liked him. And now, even though he was a grown-up man, he still hung around that block, still spent hours on the street corners, was always high and raggy. … Now, abruptly, I hated him.” In the aftermath of Sonny's drug-induced arrest, it is easy to understand why Sonny's brother would feel anger towards this person. However, he goes on to state “'don't tell me your sad story, if it was up to me, I'd give you one.' Then I felt guilty – guilty, probably, for never having supposed that the poor bastard had a story of his own, much less a sad one.” In this moment, Sonny's brother experiences a revelation that causes him to relate this man to his own brother, noting the parallels between the two. His newfound empathy allows him to view Sonny's friend in a completely new light, making an effort to understand how he ended up in such sad shape, rather than merely dismissing him as a lowlife. Sonny's brother realizes that any label he applies to this man could just as easily be cast on Sonny through the eyes of