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The Struggle In Sonny's Blues By James Arthur Baldwin

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The short story suitably named “Sonny’s Blues” was written by James Arthur Baldwin. Baldwin sets the story in the late 1940’s, in Harlem, New York right after World War II. The Characters in this short story are The Narrator, who we ultimately learn is the round Character, Poverty plays the role of the flat character, Sonny and the others are the supporting characters. The plot of the story is the struggle of seeking salvation. Moreover the plot is revealed through two general conflicts, Man vs. Society, and Man vs. Himself. Baldwin display these conflicts through the strong theme of showing obligation towards Brotherly Love. In the short story Baldwin made it apparent it was the 1940s in a multitude of hints. For one the music, being jazz, …show more content…

Through hard work, studies and grinding his time away in academics the narrator was able to find salvation and even find himself a family where he keeps a stable financial status. Sonny on the other hand seem to have keep losing more and more as time went on. With his mother’s death that happened his only caregiver faded. Sonny found comfort with the wrong group of people. Knowing this he going into the army and goes to war to find salvation that way, the nightmare for him never ended though once he returned. Still out of money and still surrounded by the drugs he went into a life of crime that took him straight to prison. It was then that the narrator knew Sonny was really in bad shape, but it wasn’t until the narrator’s daughter died that he knew he had been a bad brother. Lacking the brotherly love was supposed to give Sonny as the favor to his mother was a major role towards why Sonny ended in prison. Poverty in Harlem was harsh and unforgiving for Sonny and the narrator not being there for him was what ultimately led Sonny into such a badly influenced life. The narrator wasn’t a bad person though he just wasn’t conscious of his actions he was a busy man with a family to take care of and even though he felt for his brother he didn’t have the resources to spend to help his brother. Sonny wasn’t particularly stable even before the separation of him and his brother. His mom

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