An author writes his/her story based on how they feel the message or purpose will get through to the readers most effectively. They may use specific language, describe things in certain ways, etc. One of the key elements that dictate the impact a story will have, is sequence of events. It is sometimes overlooked, but it is a key component that has a major effect on the story/novel. In the short stories, Sonny’s Blues and Roman Fever, sequence of events plays a major role in shaping the story, and flashbacks specifically, portray the plot in the most captivating way. The effective use of flashbacks result in better story-telling and keep the reader more engaged than it would in chronological order. While this may not apply to every story, flashbacks …show more content…
The narrator is older to Sonny and quite different from him as well. He has a clear and simple aim in life and because Sonny is not the same way, he doesn’t understand him and is always worried for him. Through flashbacks, we are given reason why the narrator is like this. When he was younger he had a serious conversation with his mother in which she said, “I want to talk to you about your brother, if anything happens to me he ain’t going to have nobody to look out for him.” (pg.103) She goes on by telling a story about the narrator’s father and how his brother was killed and how it was a traumatic experience. This in a way creates a sense of responsibility in the narrator and makes him aware of the facts that he must look out for his brother. His realization of this justifies his questioning and paranoia for his brother in the present. Sonny’s character and current life shown in the present is also based off the insight readers are given through flashbacks. Unlike the narrator, Sonny’s ambitions were unclear and complicated and he was still trying to figure himself out. In the flashbacks, readers are shown that Sonny wanted to pursue music and the narrator didn’t approve of his passion. Sonny skipped school to play the piano and do something that he loved but after receiving no support from the narrator and Isabel’s mom, Sonny goes away to join the navy. In the present, Sonny had been arrested of heroin dealing and readers are shown that Sonny is in a confused and sad point in his life probably due to the confusion and unclarity in his past. At the end of the story, he and the narrator come to terms with music and Sonny’s hopeful and bright future in music is displayed as it relates back to the happiness and passion he felt towards music in
First of all, the identity of Sonny is contrasted sharply with his brother, the narrator. The most obvious difference between the two is their names. Sonny's name is prominent and part of the story's theme. Sonny's brother, on the other hand, is never given a name. Despite being the voice and the perspective of the story, the narrator does not have a distinct identity. He is known solely by his relationship with others, his status as a brother, a son, a husband and a father.
Sonny’s brother has been distant towards him, but recently, he has been trying to understand him and help him. Sonny decides to take his brother to a concert to see if he will understand what he is trying to convey through music. Sonny hasn’t played the piano for “over a year” and he is a little bit rusty (147). Sonny also says he isn’t on “much better terms with life” than he was a year ago (147). In a way though, he is in a much better place, because his brother is there for him.
Conflict is opposition between two forces, and it may be external or internal,” (Barker). There are two styles of external conflict that can be examined within the plot of “Sonny’s Blues”. The first of these is character versus society. This is the outer layer of the external conflict observed between Sonny and the society, which his life is out casted from. The meat and potatoes of the external conflict however, is character versus character. Sonny lives a lifestyle that his brother seems to be incapable of understanding. The internal conflict lies within the narrator. It is his struggle to understand his brother that drives the plot. The climax occurs when Sonny and the narrator argue in the apartment. The argument stems from the narrators complete inability to understand Sonny’s drug usage and life as a musician, and Sonny’s feeling of abandonment and inability to make his brother understand him. This conflict appears to come to a resolve at the resolution as the narrator orders Sonny a drink following hearing Sonny perform for the first time. It appears as though this is the moment when the narrator begins to understand, perhaps for the first time, his brother the
The narrator hesitates to start but goes to support his brother; while at the club Sonny introduces his brother to a few his band members like, Creole, the band leader. Once they began to perform, Sonny was a little shaky, but eventually adjusted just fine. At this moment the narrator finally saw Sonny doing what he loves, it made him look at his brother and his passion differently; the way Sonny and his band played almost brought his brother to tears. “Yet, there was no battle in his face now, I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth… I saw my mother’s face again… I say the moonlit road where my father’s brother died… I saw my little girl again and felt Isabel’s tears again, and I felt my own tears begin to rise”
The narrator's disapproval of Sonny's decision to become a musician stems in part from his view of musicians in general. His experiences with musicians have led him to believe that they are unmotivated, drug users, seeking only escape from life. He does not really understand what motivates Sonny to play music until the afternoon before he accompanies Sonny to his performance at a club in Harlem. That afternoon, Sonny explains to him that music is his voice, his way of expressing his suffering and releasing his pent-up feelings.
The older brother, the narrator, finds himself struggling at the beginning of the story. While riding the subway, he reads in the paper that Sonny has been arrested for possession of drugs. During his day of teaching, he reflects on prior years with Sonny and their past adventures as young boys. He remembers Sonny's "wonderfully direct brown eyes, and great gentleness and privacy." The narrator sees his brother as a good boy, not "hard or evil or disrespectful." He wonders how many of his algebra students are similar to Sonny in appearance and personality along with his drug habits. This comparison allows the older brother to conclude that Sonny was probably not arrested on his initial use of drugs. It also allows the narrator is see that Sonny may be like most of the other young boys in Harlem.
Feeling the regret and pain, the narrator does not know what to do with Sonny. Not only is he dealing with Sonny’s arrest, his daughter
Flashbacks are an interruption of an event or chronological sequence to insert past events or background context that relates to the current event. Flashbacks are important in the story to help the readers understand why the character or the character’s are doing
Sonny’s Blues is first-person narration by the elder brother of the musician struggling with heroin addiction and issues with law. However, on closer inspection it appears that Sonny’s unnamed brother is also very troubled. His difficulties cannot easily be perceived and recognized especially by the character himself. The story gives accounts of the problems Sonny’s brother has with taking responsibility, understanding and respecting his younger brother’s lifestyle.
In the lyrical and heartrending short story Sonny’s Blues, James Baldwin tells the tale of two brothers, both having taken a different path to survive, and how these paths have estranged them. One brother, the narrator and a button-down algebra teacher, lives a straight-forward life with a wife and two kids. The other brother, Sonny, is a heroin hooked, jazz crazed, musician who views life in a much different light. During the course of their difficult relationship the narrator, through remembrance of previous death experiences in his life, acceptance of Sonny’s choices , and hearing Sonny express his sorrows and suffering through his music is able to open his heart to the previously unaccepted Sonny and rekindle their fraternal bond.
With the narrator having a responsibility to take care of his brother, he consistently forces the fact that he wants his brother to be well off and not care about his passion in music. The older they got, the more they drove away from each other because of the fact the narrator becomes overly protective with Sonny, and uses a “tough love” strategy though it does not making any positive effect. After they took some time apart, they both realized they cannot emotionally make it in this world without one
There was a point in the story where Sonny and the older brother are watching a church revival group. The older brother does not see Sonny until later in the song; that was the starting point when the older brother realizes how important music is to Sonny. Sonny escapes from everything when he plays piano. The older brother meets Sonny back at the apartment and they watch the church scene through the apartment window.
The first moment music is introduced in the story is while the narrator is teaching at school. He has just learned of his brother arrest. He overhears a schoolboy whistling and it drowns out the “mocking and insular laughter of the other boys” (44). The narrator listens and is, for a moment, reminded of the fate that could meet his students; the same fate that met Sonny. He describes the whistling as “pouring out of him as though he were a bird” (44). It is innocent, pure, and drowns out the bitterness of his peers. It is reminiscent of a much younger Sonny. A Sonny that is still hopeful and still believes he can escape the demons that lurk in Harlem. The young schoolboy is creating this music to avoid and protect him from the dangers of his life, much like the way Sonny did in his younger years when he was playing for his life on Isabel’s piano.
After discovering what has happened to Sonny, the narrator makes it seem as if he does not care and does not want interference in the life he has worked so hard to create. This is proven when the narrator discusses what has happened to Sonny with one of his brother’s friends. As shown through this quote, the narrator is not concerned about what has happened to his brother and believes it is not his responsibili...
The narrator allows Sonny to move into his apartment. By allowing Sonny to live with him he has allowed to trust him again. For example, the narrator explains, “The idea of searching Sonny’s room made me still. I scarcely dared to admit to myself what I’d be searching for. I didn’t know what I’d do if I found it. Or if I didn’t” (pg. 91). This shows how the narrator had the opportunity to search his brother’s room, but had the ability not to. Tension grew among brothers while living under one roof. This starts the climax of both arguing in the apartment. The narrator doesn’t understand why his brother wants to be a musician. This argument was built of emotion both had and not yet discussed among each other. Such as the narrator expressing his anger towards his brother’s drug use and Sonny’s frustration towards the narrator not understanding his plan to become a jazz musician. For example, the narrator states, “I realized, with this mocking look, that there stood between us, forever, beyond the power of time or forgiveness, the fact that I had held silence – so long! – when he had needed human speech to help him” (pg.94). The argument with his brother made him realize that he abandon his younger brother when he needed him the most. He realized that if he would have spoken out and talk about his drug use that he wouldn’t have to go