“Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities,” by David Sedaris is a short story that depicts a brief period of Sedaris’s childhood life and his experience with music that was forced upon him by his father. Lou, Sedaris’s father, was a computer engineer by day, and a jazz aficionado by night. Sedaris, the narrator, has no interest in learning an instrument and would rather sing jingles. However his father has the brilliant idea to have each child learn an instrument and be able to start a trio so they can “go right through the roof,” (20). Sedaris is assigned guitar and reluctantly starts lessons to find out the person that his father has enlisted to achieve his “Giant Dreams” was a midget. “Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities” uses characterization coupled with hyperbole to illustrate the story’s theme of family and the “Father knows best” mentality.
The father, Lou, is characterized as an odd jazz aficionado that cares about his family and wants them to have every opportunity available. Lou losses himself in the music as told in, “Are you listening to this? These cats are burning the paint right off the walls,” while also vigorously snapping his fingers and bobbing his head (19). On the way home from this very same jazz concert he has the idea to start teaching his children musical instruments so that they can form a group. Lou is convinced that his three novice children could, “go right through the roof,” (20). This is an instance of the father’s will for his children to make something of themselves. As a jazz connoisseur the father seems to have some suppressed dreams of his own to perform and “make it big” but has chosen the life of a computer engineer so that he can support his family comfortably. Thusly as a parent Lou believes that his ch...
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...ith them, which is a testament to how much he cherishes his family and how much they truly mean to him.
“Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities” embodies a father’s passion for jazz and his eagerness to share it with his family. The father enrolls his children in instrument lessons in hopes that they will form a trio and “go right through the roof” one day. This set up the theme of family and the “father knows best” mentality. Lou wants the most for his children and can visualize how great they will be. The dreams he has are giant even though he has no musical ability of his own to pass onto the children. Sedaris adds irony to the piece, as the person that Lou picked to carry out his massive vision was a midget. Sedaris characterizes with hyperbole to exemplify his father’s devotion to his children and how he wishes he could give his children every opportunity available.
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. When Sonny starts to play the piano, he is a little bit nervous, and he does not really feel the music that he is playing. After a while though, he starts to loosen up and play his heart out. The tune he is playing is no longer just a song; it is “Sonny’s Blues” (148). The music he plays “fills the air with life, his life,” and Sonny’s brother finally understands “he could help us be free if we would listen, “ and that Sonny “would never be free until we did” (148). By the end of the story, Sonny achieves his goal of communicating his problems though his
...y jazz music. He begins by playing the music while eating his favorite dessert of vanilla ice cream and sloe gin (7). The protagonist describes the scene as follows: “I pour the red liquid over the white mound, watching it glisten and the vapor rising as Louis bends the military instrument into a beam of lyrical sound” (7). The color imagery, of a white mound and a red liquid, works to depict the mass genocide of whites; the mound acts as a symbol of the decimated race of people and the red liquid acts as a symbol of their bloodshed. This scene satirizes Armstrong and the Africa-American general populace, who are brought simply enjoyment or are unified by jazz music. Dissimilarly, the protagonist thinks only of action when he hears Armstrong sing “Black and Blue.” He cements this point when he refers to Armstrong’s musical instrument as being of the “military” (7).
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 story would be very different is the element changed. Sonny used jazz music as an outlet to express all of his emotions and tell his life. When his brother understood Sonny’s reason for loving music just by listening to him play it shows how universal music can be. Sonny’s older brother has entered into the white soc...
Comparison of the two shows that both overcome struggles to accept the idea that family history needs to be preserved, shared, enjoyed, and made use of to obtain the most promising future, free from the ghosts of the past. Each character has a steadfast will––a will that Berniece and Boy Willie both demonstrate through their conflict with one another––as well as a level head and a loving heart, which is shown through their conclusion to keep the piano so long as it is being used how it was intended. Failure to let go of the past is just as detrimental to the future as failure to make use of it properly; as with Berniece and Boy Willie, a balance between the two forces is necessary to attain the most productive future and leave the most lasting legacy.
“Sonny’s Blues” is a short story in which James Baldwin, the author, presents an existential world where suffering characterizes a man’s basic state. The theme of tragedy and suffering can be transformed into a communal art form such as blues music. Blues music serves as a catalyst for change because the narrator starts to understand that not only the music but also himself and his relationship with Sonny. The narrator’s view of his brother begins to change; he understands that Sonny uses music as an exit of his suffering and pain. This story illustrates a wide critical examination. Richard N. Albert is one critic that explores and analyzes the world of “Sonny’s Blues”. His analysis, “The Jazz-Blues Motif in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”” is an example of how one can discover plot, characterization and jazz motif that builds this theme of suffering.
Each character in the novel has their own interpretation of the ‘American Dream – the pursuit of happiness’ as they all lack happiness due to the careless nature of American society during the Jazz Age. The American Dreams seems almost non-existent to those whom haven’t already achieved it.
Boy Willie is the protagonist in the play The Piano Lesson, which is written by August Wilson. He is a foil character to his sister Berniece. He wants to sell the family piano. His biggest obstacle is his past, and his sister. Berniece wants to salvage the piano and keep it as a namesake. The quarrels revolving around legacies is the central conflict of the play. Boy Willie’s “Super-objective” contains two parts: fear and legacy resulting in memory.
Also known as the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties, the American people felt that they deserved to have some fun in order to forget the emotional toll and social scars left from the war. The Jazz Age was appropriately named due to the illegal activities and good times, which included music, parties, and flapper girls. Jazz was a new style of music that originated out of the New Orleans area, where one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time – Louis Armstrong – began his career. The energy of jazz was a very new and almost uncomfortable style for the very traditional, rigid family of the 1920s. Young people in particular seemed to enjoy this new music the most, as it made them feel carefree. The energy of jazz was symbolic of the era’s trans...
When first reading “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, it may initially seem that the relationship between musicians and drugs is synonymous. Public opinion suggests that musicians and drugs go hand and hand. The possibility lies that Sonny’s passion for jazz music is the underlying reason for his drug use, or even the world of jazz music itself brought drugs into Sonny’s life. The last statement is what the narrator believes to be true. However, by delving deeper and examining the theme of music in the story, it is nothing but beneficial for Sonny and the other figures involved. Sonny’s drug use and his music are completely free of one another. Sonny views his jazz playing as a ray of light to lead him away from the dim and dismal future that Harlem has to offer.
The story “Sonny’s Blues” By James Baldwin is about a jazz musician and his brother in 1950’s Harlem. The story centers on Sonny who uses jazz music as an escape from his depression. James Baldwin captures the art of jazz during this time period. The themes in this short story are perhaps varied, but all of them revolve around some form of suffering. One theme shows how music can promote change and understanding within relationships. A second theme reveals suffering caused by guilt. Yet another theme references the results of suffering brought about by searching for ones’ identity and how that leads to misunderstanding. There are also subthemes concerning racism and poverty.
Although Staples is “free,” the constant stigma he experiences acts like chains grounding him to constant judgment. Staples consistently causes unsettling thoughts in prejudice minds. The American Dream is the ideal that everyone should have an equal opportunity to attain success and prosperity, through hard work and determination. Staples grew up “one of the good boys” determined to succeed (2). In his twenty’s, he obtained a college degree from the University of Chicago. Staples is deprived from an equal opportunity to achieve the dream because in America’s culture he is perceived as a danger to society. Although Staples is far from a threat, he feels the urge to calm pedestrians near him with the use of soothing tunes. Staples writes, “I employ what has proved to be a excellent tension-reduction measure: I whistle melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi and the more popular classical composers”(2). This measure has a positive response and the individuals near Staples join in on the tune. Staples’ American Dream is limited by feeling the need to please those around him. Even though Staples has all that is needed to succeed, he will be forever limited by the color of his skin.
Music is an application of human creativity through instrumental and/or vocal sounds, which express emotions of the writer and are appreciated by others for its beautiful sound. A powerful emotional tool that may enlighten and entice some, as well as mystify and repulse others. Either way it is an art form that invokes a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts for listeners to comb through. In the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin music plays a vital role in the life of his characters. The story portrays two brothers that grew up in harlem struggling with their environment as well as their emotional detachment from one another. Sonny one of the brothers in the story suffers from a heroin addiction that distances him from his family. The narrator Sonny’s brother, willingly creates a distance between him and his brother
“Sonny’s Blues” revolves around the narrator as he learns who his drug-hooked, piano-playing baby brother, Sonny, really is. The author, James Baldwin, paints views on racism, misery and art and suffering in this story. His written canvas portrays a dark and continual scene pertaining to each topic. As the story unfolds, similarities in each generation can be observed. The two African American brothers share a life similar to that of their father and his brother. The father’s brother had a thirst for music, and they both travelled the treacherous road of night clubs, drinking and partying before his brother was hit and killed by a car full of white boys. Plagued, the father carried this pain of the loss of his brother and bitterness towards the whites to his grave. “Till the day he died he weren’t sure but that every white man he saw was the man that killed his brother.”(346) Watching the same problems transcend onto the narrator’s baby brother, Sonny, the reader feels his despair when he tries to relate the same scenarios his father had, to his brother. “All that hatred down there”, he said “all that hatred and misery and love. It’s a wonder it doesn’t blow the avenue apart.”(355) He’s trying to relate to his brother that even though some try to cover their misery with doing what others deem as “right,” others just cover it with a different mask. “But nobody just takes it.” Sonny cried, “That’s what I’m telling you! Everybody tries not to. You’re just hung up on the way some people try—it’s not your way!”(355) The narrator had dealt with his own miseries of knowing his father’s plight, his Brother Sonny’s imprisonment and the loss of his own child. Sonny tried to give an understanding of what music was for him throughout thei...
...s to "let out the reins" as Creole does and recognize that his brother can do things by himself and as he chooses. Appropriately, Baldwin selects Sonny's music to show both his brother and the readers that no two people, even siblings, must agree on everything. Sonny's music tells Baldwin's audience what Richard had to learn "the hard way": Some questions have more than one right answer. Sonny and Richard will coexist more peacefully and enjoy a truly fulfilling relationship if Richard continues to let go of his need to change Sonny and accept him for who he is. Through a poignant and intimate family portrait, Baldwin urges us to tread a middle path in our relationships - a path of support at more of a distance than our hearts would often prefer.