Suffering In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

In James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues,” an unnamed narrator attempts to understand his brother’s way of life. The two men experience the suffering that goes along with living in the projects of Harlem, New York. After a conversation with his mother, the narrator promises he will take care of his brother, Sonny. The story in and of itself is a constant struggle between the narrator trying to keep the promise to his mother and trying to understand Sonny’s life choices. When Sonny is arrested for using a dealing heroin, one of his friends gave the narrator full disclosure when he tells him Sonny’s life has and always will be difficult. The narrator writes to Sonny on jail after he experiences grief. Sonny writes back, trying to describe how his choices

Following that, Sonny invites the narrator to watch him play. The narrator hears Sonny’s struggles within the music and understands why music is life or death for Sonny. The ability to cope with suffering is explored. The short story Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” displays the theme of suffering as an unescapable cycle transformable using defense mechanisms.

After Sonny got arrested for heroin, the narrator discussed Sonny’s predicament with one of Sonny’s old friends. “ ‘Tell me,’ I said at last, ‘Why does he want to die? He must want to die, he’s killing himself, why does he want to die?’ He looked at me in surprise. He licked his lips. ‘He doesn’t want to die. He wants to live. Don’t nobody want to die, ever.’ ” (Baldwin 436). Sonny had tried to escape suffering, an impossible feat since suffering is unavoidable. At the time, the narrator is oblivious to what Sonny is going through. James Baldwin’s use of an urgent tone conveys the narrator’s oblivion to what was going on with Sonny regarding his drug abuse and a dire need to comprehend it. Sonny’s friend is taken aback at the narrator’s question, believing the answer to it is obvious because everyone suffers. Sonny’s suffering was too much for him to bear;