An Analysis Of Sonny's Blues

Harlem was not a friendly, rich, white town, so the fact that he chose this setting it made the reader automatically assume that these brothers did not grow up in a stable environment. The narrator described the very stereotypical gang members in Harlem being “filled with rage” and “popping off needles every time they went to the head” (Baldwin 123). Lastly, the change in the author's tone was very evident. The readers could notice when the narrator was talking about life in Harlem or Sonny’s drug abuse because it had a very bitter and cold tone. However, when Sonny was talking about his music the tone was hopeful and positive.

when he was just five years old. The boy was filled with grief—and a longing for acceptance and approval that his father could no longer provide. But in Alberto’s tough neighborhood, gangs were the only authority figures ready to take a lonely young boy under their wing. And once he’d entered that world, Alberto discovered there was no way out. “I was programmed good,” he shakes his head, remembering.

The reader also won't know who is speaking. In, “Sonny's Blues” Sonny's brother has most of the dialogue. There is the conversation with Sonny in the living room. That helped his brother understand why Sonny was the way he was. In the “Royal Beatings” Rosie tells the story.

The late, James Baldwin, was a prominent activists whose work usually included effect institutional racism has on African Americans. For instance, he wrote about the housing discrimination policy and its effect on Sony and his family. It gave his family any alternative but to live in the projects in New York City (Baldwin 6). Anyone whose dealt with living in troubling neighborhood can identify with Sonny's animosity towards life. In particular, Sonny felt hopeless and trapped because of what he saw and experienced living the projects.

As Johnny goes through this difficult stage in life he decides to run away not thinking about where he’s going to stay or how he’s going to get food. He decides to join a gang of orphans with his best friend Billy in order to survive. This novel is still widely read today because it provides an inhuman image of brutal conditions African Americans faced in Harlem of 1940’s. In the Rite of Passage, the main character Johnny is hit with some really bad news that his family that he’s been living with throughout his entire life is not really his own. In the text, Johnny comes home after getting a good report from school and his foster mother and sister tell him that he is not going to be living with them anymore.

Workmanship assumes an imperative part in "Sonny's Blues", going about as a scaffold between the two siblings. Sonny's powerlessness to talk and the storyteller's (Sonny’s Brother) failure to listen, keep the siblings from genuinely corresponding with or understanding each other for most of their lives. Music is what Sonny can make himself to be. Seeing the music of the road recovery actually brings the siblings closer, inciting their first fair discussion. Sonny's music helps the storyteller comprehend his life and trials (Page 236 In reference).

In this quote, Wes Moore, the narrator is speaking from his house in Baltimore. Wes does not have many memories with his father because his father died when Wes was a little boy.This reveals that Wes had a difficult childhood. Wes looked up to his father because he was his protector. Wes’s only memories with his father are when he made him apologize to his mother and sister for hitting his sister and watching him die In this quote, Wes Moore, the narrator is speaking about the other Wes Moore and his brother Tony. Wes and his brother Tony both have rough lives and grow up taking drugs and hanging out on the streets.

In the short story “Sonny’s Blues” the narrator Sonny’s brother talks about their life together and also the environment they live in. the title of the story is name after the brother of the narrator, it is through the narrator’s eyes about his brother Sonny. As a young African American male born in Harlem, sonny is aware of the limits and obstacles he faces. He struggles with the being around the same environment, so he decided by moving away from Harlem his problems will go away and he can start his career as a musician, unlike his brother the narrator has a wife, two children, and a good job as a teacher. The narrator talks about the drug dealing that happens in the playgrounds near the housing projects and of course his brother’s battle

On the heroin-riddled streets of Harlem, the narrator of “Sonny’s Blues” has given up hope for his brother, because he believes that the rampant drug community has consumed him. As their distant relationship drifts closer, the narrator begins to see through Sonny’s eyes, but fails to see the benefit in Sonny seemingly throwing himself into the fire by becoming a musician. It is only during Sonny’s struggle that his need for this artistic expression becomes apparent. While staying with Isabel’s family, the frantic reverberations screamed a message to all that could hear, “As I sensed...Sonny was at that piano playing for his life”(1946). As comrade after comrade falls to the inherent greed created by desire, Sonny stays sane only by continuing to express his dreams and bemoan his failures through music.

The biography of Ray Charles RObinson, “movie Ray”, is about how Ray Charles became blind, his addiction to heroin and his career or life on the road as a blind musician. He becomes blind, listening to his brother die and his mother’s death also. He Had nervous breakdowns because of it and became heavy in drugs, on the road while he became a father. What actually happened in the movie was 1962 did not perform at a segregated performance and was banned lifetime from performing in Georgia. The movie states, “ Charles is about to enter a segregated music hall in Augusta, Georgia… civil right activists protesting persuaded him not to perform… Charles declared that he will no longer perform in segregated public facilities… Georgia legislators passed