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Letting go of the past is easier said than done. However, accepting the past is necessary to be able to move on from the suffering that it brought you. In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, the narrator distances himself from his community in Harlem and his brother, Sonny. Since he is unable to accept his community, he is unable to move on from the death of his child and his harsh childhood, and understand Sonny’s choices. The overall theme of the story is that you must acknowledge and accept your past, in order to be able to free yourself from the suffering of it and come to terms with your identity. Sonny wants to acknowledge the suffering through music, but the narrator does not understand that. The relationship between the narrator and …show more content…
Sonny contributes to this theme by illustrating their differences in dealing with their suffering, where Sonny uses music, and the narrator just distances himself. Ever since he was old enough, the narrator disconnects himself from his family and his community. He wants nothing to do with his past and starts a new life without a connection to the black community in Harlem, including his brother. His mother specifically tells him to “hold on to your brother...and don't let him fall...no matter how evil you get with him,” (9). She tells the narrator to protect Sonny because “the world ain't changed,” (9) and racism is still a reality. However, “Two days later [he] was married, and then [he] was gone,” (9). Although he promised to take responsibility for his brother, the moment he had a reason to leave Harlem and every memory of his childhood, he left, leaving his brother behind. The narrator leaving his brother represents leaving his community and the identity behind being a part of the community. On the other hand, Sonny is left with suffering back in Harlem. After their mother's funeral, Sonny tells the narrator that he wants to become a musician, specifically the piano. The narrator “couldn't see why on earth hed want to spend his time hanging around nightclubs…” (10). The narrator doesn't understand that music is Sonny’s outlet for the pain that he is carrying for the community. Therefore, this negative relationship between them illustrates how one brother is willing to to acknowledge his past and identity through music to find some sort of peace, while the other decides to push away his community and identity and never find peace. Throughout the story, the narrator slowly realizes that distancing himself from the community is not the answer to his suffering, and starts to listen to Sonny more seriously.
As he watches the revival meeting, he realizes that everyone suffers in his community because they all carry the same pain and burden as he does. Again, the two sisters and the brother are dealing with their suffering through music, similar to Sonny. As they sing, “the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them,” (14) and the narrator sees the performer and the people around them acknowledge their past as a community, even if they don't know each other personally. The issue of slavery is mentioned when the listening people faces were described “as though they were fleeing from their first condition, while dreaming of their last,” (14). Slavery is a memory that all African Americans still carry to this day. The issue never goes away, because it must always be acknowledged as a community in order to move on and more importantly, prevent it from repeating itself. By seeing the revival, the narrator see the importance of community and it makes him rethink his decisions to distance himself and lose his identity as part of the black community. He does not want to accept that accepting who he is and where he is from is the solution to his suffering. He asked Sonny if there is no way not to suffer, and Sonny responds saying, “...there’s no way not to suffer. But you try all kinds of ways to keep from drowning in it…” (16). Sonny is saying that there is no way other way to deal with your suffering, so any other way of dealing with it besides accepting it is only making it worse for yourself. The relationship between the brothers contribute to the communal aspect of suffering. By disconnecting himself from his brother, and therefore the community, the narrator has lost his sense of identity, and is unable to move on from the inevitable and continuous burden of slavery that the entire community must
accept to carry on with life. Towards the end of the story, the narrator starts to understand Sonny’s need for music and the importance of community and identity. When Sonny starts to play his blues, the narrator also acknowledge that bad memories must be kept alive because they have “another aspect in every country, and a new depth in every generation,” (20). Although the narrator has refused to accept that concept and Sonny’s dream of being a musician, he now understands why. He finally comes to terms with Sonny and sees that music is how he deals with the suffering, but also how he keeps the memories alive without as much pain. When Sonny was playing his blues, “Freedom lurked around [them] and [the narrator] understood...that he could help us be free if we would listen…” (20). Sonny helps the community acknowledge the pain that they have suffered, similar to the sisters and brother at the revival scene. They all listen to him, and he takes them back, including the narrator, to times of pain. He takes the narrator back and “[he] saw [his] little girl again and felt Isabel’s tears again…” (20). The narrator learns from Sonny by hearing the emotions that Sonny and his band about why he has to be a part of the community. Sonny not only brings him back to his past, but to his community as well. In doing so, the narrator has a chance to regain his identity and accept the struggles of racism and personal hardships that he has been trying to run away from. Sonny opens the narrator's eyes and makes him realize that he cannot escape who he is, and helps him accept his life. The development of the relationship between Sonny and the narrator connects with the overall message of the story. The narrator learns from Sonny that acceptance is the only way to deal with your suffering. Sonny also helps the narrator regain his sense of community and identity towards the end, which show that he understands that he can no longer run away from his background.
Sonny’s Blues is first-person narration by the elder brother of the musician struggling with heroin addiction and issues with law. However, on closer inspection it appears that Sonny’s unnamed brother is also very troubled. His difficulties cannot easily be perceived and recognized especially by the character himself. The story gives accounts of the problems Sonny’s brother has with taking responsibility, understanding and respecting his younger brother’s lifestyle.
The transition of being a black man in a time just after slavery was a hard one. A black man had to prove himself at the same time had to come to terms with the fact that he would never amount to much in a white dominated country. Some young black men did actually make it but it was a long and bitter road. Most young men fell into the same trappings as the narrator’s brother. Times were hard and most young boys growing up in Harlem were swept off their feet by the onslaught of change. For American blacks in the middle of the twentieth century, racism is another of the dark forces of destruction and meaninglessness which must be endured. Beauty, joy, triumph, security, suffering, and sorrow are all creations of community, especially of family and family-like groups. They are temporary havens from the world''s trouble, and they are also the meanings of human life.
Releasing Emotion Everyone has good days and bad days, good months and bad months, but what people need when they are down is someone to talk to. In the short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” by James Baldwin, Sonny is in a rough patch in life, and he has no one to share his feelings with. Sonny turns to music to let out his emotions, but like many artists, he struggles to do so. He turns to drugs to make his troubles go away, but this leads to even more problems.
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,
We are all part of a society where justice and respect must be followed if we want to have a nice image of ourselves and be accepted by others. In the short story, Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, two brothers are struggling to accept each other. Until the brother listened to Sonny and accepted what he wanted to do in life and who he was as an individual, the brother was in the darkness with his brother and himself. Through flashbacks and the characters, we were able to see how their life was before their mother and father died and what actually forced Sonny to take drugs. This story showed that without acceptance, people have difficulties to continue their life in happiness, so they stay in the darkness until they accept themselves and the people surrounding them.
In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” the unspoken brotherly bond between the narrator and his younger brother Sonny is illustrated through the narrator’s point of view. The two brothers have not spoken in years until the narrator receives a letter from Sonny after his daughter dies. He takes this moment as an important sign from Sonny and feels the need to respond. While both Sonny and the narrator live in separate worlds, all Sonny needs is a brother to care for him while the narrator finds himself in the past eventually learning his role as an older brother.
The theme of "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin focuses on whether a person should be conventional in making decisions for their life, or if they should follow their heart and do what is right for them. A person begins with strengths, many of which they lose along the way. At some point along their heroic journey a person may regain their strengths and develop new ones. Each phase of this journey will have an effect on them and others around them.
“Sonny’s Blues” is a short story in which James Baldwin, the author, presents an existential world where suffering characterizes a man’s basic state. The theme of tragedy and suffering can be transformed into a communal art form, such as blues music. Blues music serves as a catalyst for change because the narrator starts to understand not only the music but also himself and his relationship with Sonny. The narrator’s view of his brother begins to change; he understands that Sonny uses music as an outlet for his suffering and pain. This story illustrates a wide critical examination.
All of humanity suffers at one point or another during the course of their lives. It is in this suffering, this inevitable pain, that one truly experiences life. While suffering unites humankind, it is how we choose to cope with this pain that defines us as individuals. The question becomes do we let suffering consume us, or do we let it define our lives? Through James Baldwin’s story, “Sonny’s Blues”, the manner by which one confronts the light and darkness of suffering determines whether one is consumed by it, or embraces it in order to “survive.” Viewing a collection of these motifs, James Baldwin’s unique perspective on suffering as a crucial component of human development becomes apparent. It is through his compassionate portrayal of life’s inescapable hardships that one finds the ability to connect with humankind’s general pool of hardship. James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” makes use of the motifs of darkness and light to illuminate the universal human condition of suffering and its coping mechanisms.
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.
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.
James Baldwin writes about two African-American brothers growing up in Harlem, a black ghetto in New York, during the 1950's. During this time black people were forced to live in a world of prejudice, discrimination, poverty and suppression. The life of a black person was very difficult; many opportunities afforded to whites were not afforded to blacks. Sonny and his brother lived in the projects and had many obstacles to overcome that white people didn't have to. Sonny chose music to outwardly express his suffering, his brother chose to bottle it up and keep it inside, but this is the common thread they both shared. Suffering is also shown in the story when Baldwin says "it came to me that what we both were seeking through our separate cab windows was that part of ourselves which had been left behind" (P 47). I think this quote means that both Sonny and his older brother want to retrieve some of their past so that it can help them cope with what has happened in their lives. If Sonny and his brother can both cope with what has happened in their lives and get over it, I think t they both can start moving forward and putting this behind them.
The short story Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin is written in first person through the narrator. This story focuses on the narrator’s brother sonny and their relationship throughout the years. This story is taken place in Harlem, New York in the 1950s. The narrator is a high school algebra teacher and just discovered his brother in the newspaper. This story includes the traditional elements to every story, which consist of the exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and the resolution.
“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...
Sonny frequents questions, “Why do people suffer?” to those important to him, such as our nameless narrator, but answers his own thoughts. He again repeats that there isn’t a way to not suffer. To him, it’s a part of the life that he and his brother are living in.