Sonny's Blues Thesis

In James Baldwin’s story, “Sonny’s Blues”, we are introduced to two brothers. One is a successful teacher and the other, Sonny, who is in prison for selling and using heroin. While preparing to teach his class, the narrator begins to remember Sonny as a young boy and realizes that his students could someday end up in a situation similar to Sonny’s. As the narrator leaves school, he notices one of Sonny’s old friends, who is always high on drugs, waiting for him. They begin to walk together and talk about Sonny. As they are talking, he begins to realize how difficult Sonny’s life has been since he started using drugs and how difficult it will continue to be. Even though many people would view the narrator as not caring enough towards

his brother, I view it as a totally different idea. He is actually just trying to help his family by ignoring Sonny since his lifestyle and different behavior can threaten his family’s stability.
I really enjoyed reading this story. This story has helped me realize that family is way more important than anything else that is going on in my life. I have had a family member, similar to Sonny who had gone to jail for selling drugs. My mom ended up not talking to my cousin for a year because she did not want to be associated with someone who sold drugs. I feel like my mom decided to do this in order to not only protect herself, but to protect me as well. She did not want people to treat me any different because of what had happened to my cousin. Just as the narrator did not want to be associated with Sonny because of his decision to sell drugs.
I agree that once people get the idea that someone is going down the wrong path, either they will want to help them get better or they will ignore them until they can get better on their own.

Most of the time the friends and family members do not understand why the drug attics do what they do for money. For example the narrator says, “Tell me…why does he want to die? He must want to die, he’s killing himself, why does he want to die?” (Baldwin 625) I feel that if more people had the right resources available to help, then it would greatly benefit not only them but their family members as well. When something goes wrong with someone in a family, the other family members begin to think that it was their fault. For example the narrator begins to think, “The moment Sonny and I started into the house, I had the feeling that I was simply bringing him back into the danger he had almost died trying to escape.” (Baldwin 627) I feel that many people in today’s society just jump to conclusions and assume that the downfall of a family member might be their fault, but they don’t understand that it could also not be them but be society as a whole. I know for a fact that my aunt suffered with trying to cope when my cousin went to jail, because she kept saying it was all her fault but in reality, it wasn’t her fault but it was society’s fault for corrupting her daughter like it

did.
I believe that the text did communicate with me because I feel like everyone acts like the narrator but they also have a little of Sonny in them. I’m not saying that everyone sells drugs, because that is completely false. But I am saying that sometimes people assume that when something goes wrong, that it is always their fault. When in reality, it’s the person’s actions that caused negative things to happen. I just feel that most people jump to conclusions and do not bother to learn what really happened in someone’s life to make them act the way that they do.
I feel that this story is very relatable and doesn’t only relate to me personally but can relate to other people whose family members have suffered from doing and selling drugs. I know that everything is different for every family, race and social class but I feel that this story is very relatable. Most people do not want to risk what they have to help someone else. For example, if someone is wealthy, then they might be less likely to give to the poor. But if they are in the middle class they might be a little more likely to help out because they know and understand how that person or family feels.
Overall, I liked reading this story. James Baldwin opened my eyes to the fact that nobody is perfect and we all need to be willing to help someone get in a better place. If we don’t help people that are close to us that are suffering, then we could end up losing them forever. One small act of kindness towards someone who has had a rough day or even a rough life could help them so much in their chance of becoming themselves again.