Identity In Sonny's Blues

Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin was a short story about the struggles of living in a tough, rundown neighborhood and looking to drugs as a way out.

James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” is a short story depicting the relationship of two brothers, Sonny and an unnamed narrator. The story takes place in the project of Harlem, New York in the early 1950s. The narrator is a high school math teacher. His younger brother Sonny is a troubled musician struggling with his addiction to drugs. Before their mother dies, she asks the narrator promise to her he’ll look after his younger brother when she is gone. Throughout the story he struggles to keep this promise. At the end of the story Sonny invites the narrator to come to a music club and hear him play, he accepts the invite. Upon arrival the narrator realizes he is in Sonny’s world. Hearing Sonny play only one set he is in awe and sends his brother a drink of scotch with milk. Sonny accepts it and gives a nod of approval to his brother across the room. In that moment the narrator finally understands Sonny’s love for music. Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” displays the theme of brotherly love to illustrate, that love can keep a family together no matter how many fights or issues there may be.

In “Sonny’s Blues,” James Baldwin wrote a different type coming of age story. At the end of the story the narrator finally develops a new understanding for his brother, and forgives him.

This particular paragraph in “Sonny’s Blues” is incredibly important to the development and resolution of the story. At this moment, the narrator is watching his brother play the piano for the first time. He is overwhelmed by the sensations he receives from the music and also gains insight on his brother’s life. The narrator realizes that music is how Sonny expresses his feelings and how he copes with the struggles of everyday life. Without this paragraph, we lose the breakthrough moment the narrator has regarding his relationship with his brother. It also shows the dependence Sonny has on the piano and his addiction to the music. Sonny and the narrator finally come to a mutual understanding of one another in this scene.

Using his writing as a form of self-expression, James Baldwin, an African American author, spent his life seeking to reveal the cruel reality of African American men. “Sonny Blues” Baldwin’s short fiction, was published in 1957 and takes place during the Harlem Renaissance. The literary work tells the story of Sonny and his brother (an unnamed narrator), as they seek to understand how to navigate the delicate and dangerous waters of familial relationships, their role in society and themselves. However, it is not until the end of the story when Sonny’s brother narrates the powerful, melodic sound of Sonny’s blues that he acknowledges his own pain. It is during his epiphany, when he finally begins to understand Sonny’s pain and the pain of every generation who came before him and after him. Baldwin’s acknowledgement as he declares, “I knew, no matter what anybody said, that the future I faced, was not the future they faced”

So, what makes a person themself? Children are very influential, and many factors of daily life can impact the construction of their identity. The identities that we form as children will stick with us throughout adulthood while altering slightly along the way. “Sonny’s Blues,” a short story by James Baldwin, highlights the endeavors of an African American boy on the path to finding his true self. Although there are countless influences on Sonny’s identity, the circumstances that his parents place him in as a child are the largest impacts on his road to finding his identity. Parents cannot predetermine the identity of their children, but circumstances such as the environment, quality of education, and social class that children are born into

During the time Sonny was in prison, Sonny’s brother reflected due to an unfortunate event, “I think I may have written Sonny the very day that little Grace was buried. I was sitting in the living-room in the dark, by myself, and I suddenly thought of Sonny. My trouble made his real” (Baldwin/Tesdell 291). Essentially, Sonny’s brother was trapped in his own bubble and denied himself the opportunity to be his brother’s savior, the death of his little girl became the motivation he was never able to obtain before. Additionally, Sonny’s brother never really understood Sonny’s ambitions and decisions. The unnamed narrator in Baldwin’s story is a character who believes that the American Dream is composed of a family, a stable job, and predictability. As opposed to Sonny who does not have a family and lives in the world of music where nothing is certain. In the end, suffering caught up to Sonny’s brother, which changed his perspective on Sonny’s situation and instead of continuing to ignore his fear, he faced it by writing to Sonny in search for

Paul Pearshall once said “Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted”. In this story the conflict of responsibility takes place. A brother, who happens to be the narrator, blames his self for the events that takes place in his life, such as his brother sonny’s crack addiction. The Narrator feels responsible for his brother’s heroin addiction because he believed he shut his brother’s career goals down, felt as though he went against what his mother asked him to do, and because he chose not to believe that the way he treated his brother affected his brother life.

James Baldwin is considered as the most well-known writer of the 20th century. His writings were mainly concerned by the problem of racism in America since he was one of the figures of the civil rights movement. “Sonny’s blues” is one of his greatest literary works, where we will notice how the persistent racism the writer experienced has had a great impact on his devoted writings.

James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blue’s” makes great use of different literary devices throughout the story. The author utilizes conflict, symbolism, and the narrator’s point of view to give the story a deeper meaning and significance to the story. Sonny’s Blue’s is about an older brother’s relationship and differences with his younger brother, Sonny. Sonny’s ambition to become a jazz pianist points him into an opposite direction than his brother, and into a place where the common suffering is handled with drugs and music. The fundamental differences between these two brothers in their lack of understanding for each other and their gradual acceptance of one another, is presented and explained by their personal and social conflicts, what the symbolism casts upon the story,

James Baldwin is a renowned author best known for his work of essays, books and short stories, particularly those which dwell deeply into important social and psychological issues of discrimination, gender inequality, homophobia and so on. One of Mr. Baldwin 's most appreciated literary works is the short story 'Sonny 's Blues ' which focuses on two brothers who grew up together but take different paths in life. The story follows the narrator learning about his brother Sonny 's incarceration due to the use and selling of drugs until his brother gets parole. Throughout the story, we learn about the relationship between the pair and are able to witness the narrators ultimate understanding of Sonny and his ambition. As we continue to observe the impressive short story, we find the most recurring theme to be that of sorrow. From the very beginning of the tale, the sorrow is palpable through the unnamed narrator 's discovery of Sonny 's incarceration, and moreover through the atmosphere created by Mr. Baldwin. The most prominent message that can be deciphered and recognized in Sonny 's Blues is that the sadness and sorrow that one experiences in their life can bring about many obstacles but it can be countered and used for something greater by a search for understanding and acceptance. James Baldwin establishes this implication through the use of his characters; the narrator, Sonny, and the singer seen on the street. All these characters experience sorrow and sadness in their

James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” uses Sonny as an antagonist character to the protagonist, his eldest brother. While Sonny and his eldest brother both are the center of the stories content, Baldwin uses Sonny to represent a challenge to the narrator of the story. Through the rekindling of a brother’s relationships, Baldwin is able to depict Sonny's motivations and aspirations through his flaws, and the way in which his flaws affected his life.

Sonny 's Blues is a short story that was written by James Baldwin. The story has a number of conflicts but the main conflict that is explained in the story is communication between Sonny and his brother who is not named in the story and finding means to understand each other. The two brothers have different passion where playing jazz was Sonny 's passion and teaching algebra was his brother ‘s passion. The two brothers are separated by a number of factors such as their environments, cultural issues not forgetting the emotional detachment that existed between them. This paper will analyze the conflict and whether it was resolved at the end of the story (Baldwin, 2010).

Narrator "Blues Sonny" - a worthy man: an obedient son, a caring husband and father. He worked hard to achieve success in life. Before arresting Sonny, he tried not to think about things that might somehow upset and disturbed.

Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin is the story of two brothers. One is a teacher and the narrator of the story while the other lives a life of sorrow and struggle. The narrator gives his point of view of Sonny’s situation. Sonny reminds him of the troubled youth that have limited, if any possibilities in life. The narrator is visited by a friend from Sonny’s past and then after reaches out to his brother. Sonny invites him to come hear him play and that is when the narrator understands his brother and in turn understands he himself.