The Struggle In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

Overcoming life's struggles

Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion; but every great writer sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice, as in "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin. The author Baldwin tells the story in the first person from the point of view of an unnamed narrator, who, we find out, is Sonny's brother. The narrator in this story is an interesting figure, whom, he's mostly telling us Sonny's story, and himself."Sonny's Blues" is not just about Sonny's struggles and how they affect Sonny’s brother. Indeed, this story is as much about Sonny's drug use, Sonny's suffering, and family relationships.

When first reading “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, it may initially seem that the relationship between musicians and drugs are synonymous. In other words, musicians and drugs go hand and hand. But 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 (Baldwin,).

Suffering was a repeatable presence in "Sonny's Blues". From the death of Sonny's brother daughter to Sonny's drug addiction to the cold-blooded murder of Sonny's brother uncle, suffering dominates the community. Suffering was, as Sonny passionately argues, inescapable. Sonny explains that his heroin usage was an attempt to cope with suffering that would otherwise paralyze him, but he just agreed that there was no way not to suffer (Baldwin). In some ways, Sonny may agree with his brother that there is no way around suffering. But he doesn't just passively accept this. He'll keep doing whatever he can to stave it off, even if he knows deep down that this might be futile because yet suffering, for all the pain it causes, was essential for creating