Sonny's Blues James Baldwin Analysis

“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” written in 1957 addresses the story of a jazz musician, his struggles, and triumphs, in an era where racial segregation and civil rights movements brought big conflicts and important changes in our society. Baldwin in “Sonny’s Blues” uses symbolism, setting, and point of view to portray the struggles of an individual, who does not follow the social norms of the time, to integrate into society.
The story takes place during the 1950’s in Harlem, New York, a mostly African-American community with a high level of poverty and crime.
Moreover, in the passage where the narrator and Sonny observed both side of the city, “…the green of the park and the stony, lifeless elegance of hotels and apartment buildings, toward vivid, killing streets of our childhood” (Baldwin, 128), while setting in the taxicab, the author makes a comparison between the typical African-American lifestyle and the rest of the society.

An underground world where Sonny feels part of a society and is unrestricted from established social norms.
In addition, the author utilized the first-person point of view to narrate the story and to have a better opportunity to present to the readers a better image of how the actions, decisions, and mistakes of a person can indirectly affect others in their circle. In “Sonny’s Blues” the narrator told the story he knows, believes, and recall of his brother, Sonny, in addition to his own personal