Ma Rainey's Sissy Blues

Homage to the Empress of the Blues The poem “Homage to the Empress of the Blues” by Robert E. Hayden, written in 1962, is a tribute to the blues singer Bessie Smith. This poem requires careful reading and attention. This poem is an honor to Bessie Smith, an African American blues singer who was very popular in the 1920s and 1930s. I listened to the blues song on YouTube and the rhythm it made me want to sing along but there was definitely a message behind the song I think about African American slaves.

During the 1920s something extraordinary accord, an artistic movement that flourished the African American society and that would impact the world we live in today. Some know this movement to be called The New Negro Movement others The New Negro Movement. We often hear about the men like Alain Locke or Langston Hughes that had a major role in the movement, but what about the women? I will explore legendary women like Maya Angelou, Naomi Sims, Aida Overton Walker, Angelina Grimke, and Zora Neale Hurston. These women had contributed to The Harlem Renaissance, but are not often recognized for them.

Blues music as a genre and form was developed by African Americans in the south of the United States at the end of the 19th century. The genre has origins in many cultures such as in African music, African-American work songs and European-American folk music. Blues music incorporates field hollers, shouts, chants, etc. The blues form, found in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll, is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, and also the twelve-bar blues structure, which is the most common feature. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times.

Throughout the story Sonny’s Blue, there are many different symbols that represent different things, with the disparate functions. Light and darkness are the two universal symbols of Sonny’s Blues. Light has usually conveyed the goodness, hope, and purity of life. In the other hand, darkness performs for death, tragedy, and negativity.

In the 1920’s women did not have a voice in society they could not express really how they felt as a woman and what they were going though. Artist like Lucille Bogan started to express this term called “new woman” .Her song called “Sloppy Drunk Blues ‘’was expressing her feelings about husband and how she got over it by drinking. In the lyrics she was not using any bad language or calling her husband outside of his name. Years after Lucille Bogan the term “new woman” would be change again by artist like Queen Latifah who wrote a song called U.N.I.T.Y were she used a very bright form of language to get her point across.

Psychologist Robert Berezin says that, “Human struggle is not a brain problem, but a human problem.” (Berezin 1) In the short story “Sonny’s Blues,” the author James Baldwin reveals the dark truth about human nature, and through a psychoanalytic criticism perspective it can reveal how people cope with their suffering and problems. The main character, Sonny, is suffering from the hardships that many people face throughout life. Sonny’s suffering becomes so unbearable that he refuses to accept this inevitable situation, and seeks relief and control through the use of jazz and drugs.

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. Fearing danger or misfortune that could happen to him, he tries to maintain security.

Light Through Darkness Imagine walking down a dark alley, creeping through the shadows. It is cold and lonely, but then you begin approaching a street light. The warmth is inviting, and it beckons you to escape the darkness. The darkness is the harsh events of this world, and we, as people are searching for the light: the light that is only possible because of the dark.

“Sonny’s Blues” is a short story about a young heroin addict who uses music as his way of healing. Sonny’s healing is a main focus of this story. Therefore, suffering is one of the dominant themes in this story. Sonny suffers through jail whereas his brother suffers the loss of his young daughter. The theme of suffering can be shown throughout by the image pattern of light and darkness.

Since the poem is a Blues, the phonological structure of the text is of great importance and at the same time it cannot be expected to find many regularities. This assumption can be validated at first glance: There is no veritable rhyme scheme. On the other hand, there two dysillabic internal rhymes {\tql}bunch, hunch{\tqr} (l.1) and {\tql}sputter, gutter{\tqr} (l.2-3). Still the author uses a lot of other sound patterns as for example Alliteration, Consonance, Assonance and Onomatopoeia. For each only one or two examples are given due to their high occurrence.

What does it mean to be a woman or man? The answer is much more complicated. Gender is not determined by sex organs but includes complex beliefs, behaviors, and characteristics. However, gender roles are solely shaped by society and are expectations for men and women. Such include how a man or woman should dress, behave, and even the jobs they can perform.

“Sonny’s Blues,” written by James Baldwin discusses conflicts between two brothers in hopes of mending their relationship. “Sonny’s Blues” begins with the unnamed narrator reading a piece of paper with information regarding the trouble his brother Sonny has gotten himself into. The narrator has not been communicating with his brother during this period, but after the death of his two-year-old daughter Grace, he writes Sonny a letter. Once Sonny has been released, he goes back to Harlem to live with the narrator, and the narrator forces him into staying with his fiancé Isabel and her family because he believes Sonny deserves the opportunity to receive an education. Sonny makes it known to the narrator that he does not want to go back to school

There is nothing quite like the bond shared by siblings. Especially by those of the same gender. Through horrific ups and downs, even situations that would tear even the best of friends apart, siblings somehow manage to always patch things up and continue on. A bond like such was present in James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues, which told the story of two brothers on a seemingly detrimental path towards complete destruction.