The Type Of Society In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

990 Words2 Pages

Under capitalist societies, the only thing one owns - according to Karl Marx - is their ability to work. In a society that revolves around profit and private ownership, a person can only sell their labor. This is the type of society in we see the story, “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin operating in. This type of society is one the main reason for such a big difference between the two brothers in this story. Sonny, the narrator's brother, is a jazz musician. A jazz pianist to be more precise. The narrator comes from a military background, with now stable housing and work situations. Compared to Sonny, a drug meddling musician in Harlem, the narrator, a math teacher and family man, seems to be the more successful out of the two. Just the beginning …show more content…

The idea that microclasses exist and that two people can be from different classes, the way that the narrator alludes to, comes from a capitalistic ideology. In a Marxist society, this story would not carry the same message as it does in a capitalistic society. For example, in a Marxist society, Sonny and the narrator would both be living different lives. They would not be struggling financially because everyone in that society would be equally taken care of. Another example, would be that Sonny would first and foremost not have succumbed to drugs and alcohol because there would be no stressors to push him towards that type of lifestyle. In terms of complacency in the system, Sonny and the narrator are both guilty of being complacent. In Sonny’s case, he is guilty of willingly staying in the same location, the same situation, and living the same lifestyle that pushed him to do what he did. Even Sonny’s friend can see the future of Sonny after his time in …show more content…

Only when your neighbors problems affect you personally or instill a degree of emotion in you then do we begin to try to help them out. We see this when the narrator says that he despises Sonny’s friend. That Sonny’s friend only ever asked for money and that for some reason the narrator always gave in to his request and gave him a dollar or two. After the narrator talks to the friend about Sonny’s recent happenings he again asks the narrator for a dollar. The narrator makes a comment that he did not mind giving him what he had in his pocket this time because they both connected in a way because of Sonny’s situation. There was an invisible venn diagram in the narrator's mind that beforehand had nothing in the middle overlapping circle to connect him to the friend. Now, because of their both shared worries, the narrator begins to warm up to the friend. We see this again when the narrator points out that his own troubles made Sonny’s problems real. When Grace - the narrator’s daughter - dies, the narrator talks about the fact that he had written to Sonny in a long time. This simple action or the idea that my problems make me understand your problems also stems from a capitalistic society. In this day and age, how many companies and businesses make decisions that either push their own agendas or benefit their investors without regards for the good of the rest of their society? Sea world

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