Light And Darkness In Sonny's Blues

839 Words2 Pages

Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin Baldwin’s mode of employing light and darkness as well as other aspects like jazz evident in his account has adequately unveiled awful experiences faced by Harlem residents as well as serious intricacies between Sonny and his brother. For instance, darkness denotes how numerous social predicaments haunt not only residents but also these two bothers to the extent narrator at one time revealing he does not understand Sonny well, hence lack of true brotherly friendship. This is tension besides other woes that include segregation. Conversely, light in the case despite signifying warm and optimism in the face of Sonny contradicts what he later ends up becoming; thus extended by Jazz career (Baldwin 137). Therefore, …show more content…

This is quite evident after the demise of their mother whereby the narrator intends to know as the eldest brother what Sonny intends to do in life before returning to war. He contends, “I’m going to be a musician (Baldwin 133).” This does not go well with the narrator who deems other people can embrace that life’s path but not his brother, hence brewing a discrepancy and misunderstanding amid them. It is through Sonny’s choice of pursuing jazz that unveils numerous flaws that characterizes their relationship with the narrator who insist of him completing the school first but eventually admits reluctantly. The extent of confusion and misunderstanding his Sonny is evident how the narrator can hardly imagine him in life he will be hanging in nightclubs in the company of others whom he refers as “good-time-people” (Baldwin 134). Probably, it is Sonny’s choice of jazz career that leads to long durations of silence among them without keeping in touch because the narrator feels his younger brother opted to embracing wrong life. In addition, the instilled notion of how reckless “good-time-people” (134) were by his father yielded to him fighting with Sonny for leading a loose life (Baldwin

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