Sonny Blues Literary Analysis

Doesn’t everyone need to be rescued sometime in life? The narrator in “Sonny’s Blues” struggles with his own identity and finding himself. He has a sense of insecurity and conformity to escape his past and where he comes from. The narrator finds himself focusing on his brother’s mistakes in life when in reality; he is questioning his inner insecurities. The narrator believes he must rescue his brother but realizes first he must find rescue himself.

Terry Struggles to find out the cause of his father’s disorder, therefore he is unable to accept him. The theme of the story “Stop the Sun” is that understanding brings acceptance and this is shown to the reader through Terry’s frustration, embarrassment and finally his understanding. The theme which is understanding brings acceptance is shown through Terry’s frustration. After asking his mother about his father’s PTSD, he was told it was because of the war, but Terry knew there was something else, something specific that had happened; “ But it bothered him whenever it happened. When something bothered him, he liked to stay with it until he understood it and he understood not part of this”(50).

According to Tero Liukkonen, a critic, James Baldwin’s writing is known for his “sexual and personal identity and civil rights struggles in the United States” which is evident in his short story Sonny’s Blues. It presents suffering and survival within the black community and throughout the characters family as well. Sonny’s Blues takes place in Harlem, New York in 1950’s were the Narrator, an unnamed character, as well as his older brother Sonny, tells the story. Characters like the Narrator, Sonny and their mother are strongly impacted by the pain of their families suffering. Throughout the short story, each character understands his/her own suffering and plan to attain a better life.

Clayton always wanted to acquire Cool Papa’s identity, but after overcoming challenges he was able to discover his own self-identity. Clayton had to compromise his values to join the Beat Boys because he didn’t want to be a “cute kid”, but that experience helped him find his individual voice that was different from Cool Papa’s. The underground subway symbolizes Clayton’s passage from one phase of life to another. In contrast to the underground’s darkness, Clayton is able to emerge out of it with confidence and acceptance. The journey helped Clayton to be confident with his own self-identity and to accept his Cool Papa’s death.

For example on pages 51 to 53, Sonny and the narrator are trying to talk about Sonny’s future. On page 53, Sonny explains that he wants to join the army in order to get out of Harlem. He doesn’t know why but he later figures out that it was because he was afraid of falling into bad habits like drugs. This relates to the audience because many people do not want to continue to . They are in a rut and need something to get them out of it.

Rahim acts as a physical link between the characters and themes of the story, a middleman that deepens the context of the plot. The role of a father-figure, shared by Baba and Rahim Khan is a complex relationship that heavily impacts Amir’s actions and emotions. Whilst Baba is the biological father and role model of Amir, it is Rahim Khan who is the one to provide emotional support, and stability. Amir’s selfish tendencies are a result of the lack of affection that is given to him by Baba, a man who wants to, but struggles to find similarities between himself and Amir. As a result, he often has difficulty relating to his son, leading him to think that “there is something missing in [Amir]”, because he is not like himself (Hosseini 24).

The theme of determination is really shown by the relationship between Sonny and his father. They are very different people with personalities that tend to clash. Sonny’s relationship with his father became distant when he was young, in part to his mother’s insistence. When his grandfather commented that he’s just like his father she responded by telling Sonny: “No, you’re not, you’re not.” She instilled in Sonny that he’s not like his father, which really affected Sonny and his dad’s relationship later on. It is apparent throughout the book that Sonny wants his father’s acceptance.

There was an unspoken hate between them and he did not like the way Sonny carried himself or the people he was friends with. He blames this, and the way Sonny is living, on his music claiming, "his music seemed to be merely an excuse for the life he led" (83). The narrator did his best to mend his broken relationship with Sonny, but it only resulted in a fight and Sonny said that "he was dead as far as I [the narrator] was concerned" (83). The narrator was fearful that Sonny would be just like all the other musicians around Harlem and the surrounding cities. After the disagreement he did not talk to Sonny, even following the news his arrest, until after his little girl, Grace died.

Edmund’s distant relationship with his family enhances these qualities of apathy, yet through the introspections of the character Joseph Hooper, ‘I have tried to avoid my own father’s mistakes, but I have only succeeded in replacing them with my own.’ we gather that he has the consciousness of the responsibility of being a father, however, reluctance from Edmund, hesitation to educate and timidity to reach out prevents the growth of this kinship. In spite of this, the characters of Joseph Hooper become the obstacle that lets him struggle in this relationship---his cowardice, skeptic qualities hinder his behavior to communicate with his son, in order to alleviate his guilt of not interacting actively, he allowed himself to indulge in the stereotypical misconception of all children--- Edmund is unable to perform any act of cruelty, therefore, it is unnecessary to understand the minds of such an innocent being. Though this being said, Joseph Hooper continuously inculcate the value of the red room and his distorted view of dynasty to the mind of Edmund, he regards Warings as fortune and status rather than childhood memories and warmth, ‘The collection is worth a great deal of money.’ As Joseph ponders and acknowledges his mediocrity, which Hill reveals :‘He knew himself to be ineffectual man.’, he admits that the inheritance of Warings can fill the breach in his imperfections and self-esteem. His egocentric pursuits of reputation is revealed in the interior monologues, ‘But now, with his father gone, he could speak of ‘Warings- my place in the country’, the author not only presents the indifference to the father’s death, but reveals his desire to crawl up to the peak of society, or at least, grasp attention from the

Being that Hassan was loyal and wanted to keep his promise to Amir, he decided to pay the price which was rape. The saddest part was that Amir was there watching from a distance and was unwilling to help his best friend due to his lack of courage and inability to stand up for himself. Up until adulthood, Amir had to carry the baggage of betraying Hassan by not being there when he most needed him, this guilt tormented him to the point where he moved to America with his dad, Baba, as a way to escape his

He wanted to admit his insecurities to the others. Maybe not to all of them at the same time, but slowly, whenever he felt ready. Jack never felt ready. "Do you resent your own cowardice?" Pitch asked solemnly.

The two characters are trying to find themselves without understanding the consequences of their actions. After a series of events, both Loman and Babbitt tried to make up for what they had done to their families although with different methods. willie loman was not happy where he was in life. he constantly lied to himself and others around him about how the world worked and where he stood in it as a way of making himself feel better. in willie 's mind, he had failed at what he was supposed to do with his life.

Francis did not necessarily know what was happening but he went straight to assuming about Atticus and called him that to scout. Scout did not understand what he was saying but she didn’t like the fact that even family was being rude and talking down on Atticus in his decision when what they don’t know why he is doing it. Atticus is already under enough pressure but to have his family start to tell him things about his kids only makes things worse. “Right, but do you think I could face my children otherwise? You know what 's going to happen as well as I do..”(Lee 117).