Social Psychology Paper

The narrator took the role of being a big brother serious; however going to the military and keeping distant from Sonny affected his brother in many ways. Sandy Norton states that the narrator was in awe when it came to his brother, he didn’t know how to help Sonny, which is why he chose not to think about his brother’s addiction to heroin. “He is, in fact, A man full of fear, trying to use his relatively privileged social position to protect himself from social reality” (Norton 175-192). This quote explains how the narrator tries to avoid thinking about his little brother being hooked on

When reading a fiction, not only the plot, but also the narrator and the point of view are important to readers in order to understand the story. Stories can be told in a various angle of vision or in one perspective, depending on which person point of view. “A story is said to be from a character’s point of view, or a character is said to be a focal or focalizing character” (Norton, 174). Readers sometimes feel they are overhearing the narrator’s thoughts because they follow along the narrator’s thoughts, actions, and feelings. Both Sonny’s Blues and the Yellow paper use first person narration. However, the way James Baldwin used first person point of view in Sonny’s Blues and the style Charlotte Perkins Stetson used the first person narration for the Yellow Wallpaper are somewhat different. Baldwin uses Sonny’s brother as a narrator because Sonny is an unreliable character due to his addiction to drugs. However, Stetson chooses Jane Doe, who is considered unreliable, because she goes insane as the story progresses. thesis!!!!

In the short story, Sonny’s Blues, there is a troubled relationship between Sonny and his brother, the narrator. Sonny, a recovering drug addict, who has just been released from jail, and completely disowned by his family, has hit rock bottom. The narrator, on the other hand, is quite successful. He has a steady job as a teacher, a wife and two sons, all things he is proud of. Their brotherly relationship becomes tested after the death of the narrator’s daughter, Grace. Caitlin Stone, a student at California State University Bakersfield, did a literally critique on how symbolic the death of grace was to the brothers. I agree, that the death of the narrator’s daughter, Grace, reveals a symbolic, paradoxical elements of the narrative that underlie it and serve to illuminate the tension and eventual reconciliation between

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.

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).

Sonny's Blues was written in 1957, 37 years after the roaring twenties had come to an end. Long after the great Migration, where millions of blacks moved to northern cities to escape Jim Crow, and embrace the new found possibilities offered. During this period African-Americans in New York, collectively gathered in Harlem mainly, it was usually alluded to as the black capital. There blacks shared culturally and also, influenced music greatly. This is also where the "new negro" persona was crafted, blacks were no longer going to be referred to as someone's mammies or boy. They started taking pride in being black and weren’t going to walk around ashamed anymore, all of this lead to the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem Renaissance is where colored photographers,

They both went through the same childhood, but handled it differently. The narrator was more mature and had set goals. While Sonny, fell into the depth of his feeling and influences. The narrator cares for his brother and feels as if he has failed him. While his brother feels like he could never truly explain anything to the narrator. Although both characters were different they found an understanding by trying to feel what each other were feeling. Also by coping with their tough childhood and feelings together without directly communicating. Sonny wanted so desperately to please his brother, but couldn’t find a way to avoid Jazz but still get that feeling he craved. Sonny was clearly disappointed and embarrassed by his choice of actions and despite what anyone said, he realized the choice he made was poor and it was time to follow his dream. At the end, the narrator realizes why Sonny turned to drugs in the first place. Sonny wanted his brother to see how Jazz made him feel and his brother saw that when he watched Sonny play. Sonny never wanted drugs, he wanted

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,

For all the characters, Sonny was a son who helped his family and embraced his African heritage; these features were really considered and respected. Contrary to the narrator who melted or tried to melt in the American culture in order to survive, but the turning point occurred when he lost his daughter; so he recognize the pain of the others as well as his brother that he was forgotten during years ago. Besides, thanks to his brother’s music the narrator finds redemption. The evolution of the character’s trait moves from being a selfish person to a suffering man who finally finds peace deep inside himself.

Moving on to “Sonny's Blues” that is told in the first person from the point of view of an unnamed narrator who, we find out, is Sonny’s brother. The narrator in this story is an interesting figure. He’s mostly telling us Sonny's story, and this would seem to make him a peripheral character instead of a central one. But this is also his story. “Sonny’s Blues” is not just about Sonny's decisions and struggles but also about how they affect the narrator. This story is as much about family and brotherhood and the relationship between these two men as it is about the character of

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. As light connects with darkness, it created an attraction for the readers. Additionally, music is a conventional symbol that brings happiness to Sonny, the main character in the story.

James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” tells the story of two brothers living in 1950s Harlem. The story depicts the relationship of the brothers as the younger brother, Sonny, battles to overcome a heroin addiction and find a career in jazz. In “Sonny’s Blues”, Baldwin’s shifting portrayal of Harlem mirrors the changing relationship of the two brothers: while both the city and the relationship were originally with dark uncertainty, by the end of the story, the narrator has begun to find peace both within his surroundings and his relationship with his brother.

To begin, the narrator wrote Sonny in hopes of having someone who understood pain and darkness as the narrator felt in the wake of his daughter’s death. For instance, the author writes this seemingly short yet powerful sentence, “My trouble made his real.”(110) . At the core of this quote, the narrator uses the word “trouble” in describing the pain

In the story, “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin insists, that music is a universal language that speaks life into a dead soul. Stereotypical notion of music arouses emotions that are disregarded. The story demonstrates the significance of music and the components that communicates needs and wants. Sonny’s character was not very talkative, but his music spoke with volume. This paper will analyze the elements of music told in “Sonny’s Blues” that connects and bonds the characters emotionally, physically and socially. “Sonny’s Blues” is a story that projects music as the voice of reasoning.

Sonny and Mabel, two of the main characters in “Sonny’s Blues” and “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” are surprisingly very similar, especially when it comes to the conflicts they face during their lives. In “Sonny’s Blues” the narrator and Sonny deal with the death of both their mother and their father, they lost their mother at a young age, in the story the narrator talks about when he and Sonny first lost their mother and the conversation they had the first time they were alone following her death (Baldwin 51). Sonny struggled with many things in his life but the source of a lot of his pain may have been due to the loss of his mother at a young age. In “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” it states, “ And she lived in the memory of her mother, who had died when she was fourteen, and whom she had loved”(Lawrence 458). Both Sonny and Mabel struggled with the loss of their mothers. In the “Horse Dealer’s Daughter”