ipl-logo

The Unnamed Narrator In Harlem

229 Words1 Page

The Unnamed narrator, an algebra teacher in Harlem, reads of the arrest of his younger brother Sonny on claims of selling and using Heroin. The narrator is deeply disturbed the thought of his brother reminds him of his algebra students. He realizes that his students might end up like his brother someday given the obstacles and obstacles they encounter at Harlem. What the narrator believe is that Sonny succumbed to the destructive influence of Harlem life. To some extent the narrator feels that he is responsible for whatever happened to Sonny because he is a victim. He once honestly told his brother how it feels good to get high when Sonny asked him about the subject. At the end of the day, as the narrator heads home, he finds one of Sonny’s

Show More
Related

  • Sonny's Blues Conflict Analysis

    1337 Words  | 6 Pages

    The story is a first-person story that is narrated by Sonny ‘s brother who provides not only insight into their lives, but also the environment they lived in. The narrator addresses their storyline including the dark sides of his community although he does so with a lot of cautious. With the manner in which the narrator is narrating the story, it is clear that he has got some difficult time when he is expressing his ideas and emotions. The narrator writes after the death of her daughter where he is writing back to his brother.

    Read More

  • Psychological Issues In Sonny's Life

    398 Words  | 2 Pages

    With being gay Sonny had said it has caused him the trouble of loneliness. Despite his lifelong difficulties with social adjustment, after graduating high school, he then decided to attend a college to take introductory courses. Yet during his freshman year, Sonny had decided to smoke marijuana leaving him to believe it damaged his brain. He soon dropped out of college and took a career as a janitor which allowed him to work alone and required a limited amount of social interaction.

    Read More

  • Suffering, Anger And Isolation In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

    552 Words  | 3 Pages

    The main themes in this story is suffering, anger and isolation. First, suffering is one of the themes because Sonny suffered a heroin addiction. “He had been picked up the day before, in a raid on an apartment downtown, for peddling and using heroin(Baldwin,123).” The narrator told how Sonny got arrested for selling and using heroin. This is a suffer for Sonny because he fell in the wrong path and started hanging around with the wrong crowd and ended up doing drugs.

    Read More

  • Harlem Renaissance Research Paper

    1545 Words  | 7 Pages

    Lexxie Williams HUM2020- Monday The Harlem Renaissance: Art, Music, Literature influence in the 20th Century The Harlem Renaissance was an influential and pivotal period in African American history in the 20th Century. The Harlem Renaissance opened the doors to new and greater opportunities for African Americans.

    Read More

  • Essay Response To Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

    828 Words  | 4 Pages

    I chose to write my Response Essay on the story "Sonny's Blues" written by James Baldwin. In Sonny's Blues, the storyteller recounts the tale of his association with his sibling, Sonny. Sonny is a performer not able to get away from the ghetto. Disheartened by his sibling's suffering , the storyteller connects with him, yet discovers that Sonny's hurt powers his music. The narrator is a teacher in Harlem that has changed his life and got out of the ghetto where he grew up.

    Read More

  • Sonny's Blues Analysis Essay

    1584 Words  | 7 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Brotherly Love In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

    1184 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout the story he struggles to keep this promise. At the end of the story Sonny invites the narrator to come to a music club and hear him play, he accepts the invite. Upon arrival the narrator realizes he is in Sonny’s world. Hearing Sonny play only one set he is in awe and sends his brother a drink of scotch with milk. Sonny accepts it and gives a nod of approval to his brother across the room.

    Read More

  • Father And Son Relationships In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

    521 Words  | 3 Pages

    In contrast, the narrator internalizes his feelings by repressing them as his father did after his brother passed away. As it was the relationship of their father and uncle, Sonny and his brother grew up in Harlem, a district replete with hopelessness and poverty. Yet each individual reacts to his environment in unusual ways. On the one hand, the narrator distances himself from his community in Harlem, including his brother Sonny. The narrator may love his brother but is in general judgmental of the direction of Sonny's life struggles and decisions.

    Read More

  • Sonny's Blues Coming Of Age Analysis

    255 Words  | 2 Pages

    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. The story’s narrator is a black algebra teacher, whose name is never revealed, who is living in Harlem, a New York City neighborhood. In the beginning of the story the narrator reads about his brother, Sonny, being busted with heroin in the newspaper.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Real Life Experience In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

    1417 Words  | 6 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Sonny's Blues Rhetorical Analysis

    838 Words  | 4 Pages

    The narrator described the very stereotypical gang members in Harlem being “filled with rage” and “popping off needles every time they went to the head” (Baldwin 123). Lastly, the change in the author's tone was very evident. The readers could notice when the narrator was talking about life in Harlem or Sonny’s drug abuse because it had a very bitter and cold tone. However, when Sonny was talking about his music the tone was hopeful and positive. Baldwin wanted to show that music was the one thing helping with Sonny’s pain.

    Read More

  • Racism In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

    1215 Words  | 5 Pages

    Through this conversation, the narrator gained respect and insight on Sonny's life in the times that he was not there. Sonny was cryptic in his speaking at first but eventually made it very clear to his brother and even said, "the reason I wanted to leave Harlem so bad was to get away from drugs" (89). The narrator does not have much to say, but ultimately blames all of this on the "vivid, killing streets of [their] childhood" (73), that neither of them had truly escaped. He once thought they both had, him by becoming a teacher and Sonny by simply not living in Harlem for years, but in this moment, he realizes that not much has really changed - they still faced those streets, the only difference now was that they knew what they inherit. Sonny convinced his brother to come watch him play - the narrator knowing he could not possibly say no.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Rich Brother And Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

    564 Words  | 3 Pages

    After hearing that his younger brother, Sonny, has been put in jail due to drug use, he remembers his childhood, and how they both never did really get along. Both Sonny and the narrator feel a sense of “darkness outside”, and this “darkness” is what creates the miscommunication between the brothers (Baldwin 338). Sonny changed his normality due to not being noticed during his childhood, and the drastic change causes the older brother to feel uncomfortable seeing his brother, because Sonny told him that “he was dead as far as [he] was concerned” (351). Their struggles caused them to lose contact, and to slowly build that invisible barrier between their

    Read More

  • Character Analysis: Sonny Blues

    1191 Words  | 5 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • A Critical Analysis Of Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

    909 Words  | 4 Pages

    In James Baldwin's short story, Sonny’s Blues, the reader should understand and visualize the historical context in order to understand the world being presented. The reader has to comprehend the harsh life of a male African-American who struggles with his dreams and drug addiction sometime around early 1957. I will discuss Baldwin's writing style, the life/value of an african american's life during this time, and the relationship between Sonny and his brother. Baldwin’s short story illustrates the hardships a person faces while searching for themselves in a world full of people or obstacles that stand in their way. Some of these obstacles are self inflicted, present from the beginning of their existence or appear as though they are random.

    Read More

More about The Unnamed Narrator In Harlem

Open Document