The Influence of Music: An analysis of Sonny’s Blues Throughout history, humanities have been used as a way to soothe the masses. In the ancient and Middle Ages, exposure to art and literature was limited to wealthy since they were the only ones with enough riches to appreciate the classic works. The plebeian masses were mainly illiterate and because of this music was one of the only sources of entertainment that they had at their disposal. Over time music became a way to unite people, in the Middle Ages the Gregorian Chant was used by the Catholic Church to enhance their services and bring congregations together. Confined to the church music grew stagnant and it wasn’t until the 12th and 13th centuries that it began to break away, becoming …show more content…
While widely accepted as a bridge that connects cultures and spans the language barrier, music has often been colored in a poor light. An instance in where the language barrier is spanned in the text is when Sonny’s brother points out that Sonny had never been much of a talker. About how Sonny used music to convey messages and emotions that in most instances he would never openly verbalize. Music is often as a scapegoat by many who feel that its content has the ability to change the minds of America’s youth, there have been many attempts in the past century to censor and ban music with explicit content. However in Sonny’s Blues music is used as a positive way of expression between Sonny and his brother. In the last few paragraphs of the text Sonny’s brother finally gets a glimpse at the person his brother really is, a moment of understanding passes between them. Something that in previous conversations neither brother was able to experience, Sonny’s brother could never understand why Sonny did the things that he did. The drugs, the drinking and other things that destroy a person’s body, his lack of understanding was evident when he came to the conclusion that anyone who uses drugs or does the things that Sonny and his friends do want to kill themselves. Sonny’s brother is rational, he 's an algebra teacher, …show more content…
In 1995, Ballard and Coates reported that “neither the lyrical content nor the music type affected suicidal ideation, anxiety, or self-esteem” (Journal Of Humanistic Counseling, Education & Development 1) Music itself has been used as a form of therapy in of residential and adult day care centers it’s been reported that music had been the cause of elevated or depressed moods. This suggests that music is an effective technique in therapeutic interventions and should be incorporated more thoroughly in medical and psychiatric practices. Experimental studies conducted by Prickett in 1988 have documented the effects of music on individuals as they interact with the environment. Participants of the study were reported to have shown increases in their expression of feelings, awareness, and socialization. Furthermore, music may also be able to help individuals cope with pain and anxiety. In other studies the use of music made traditional psychotherapy more effective and led to a drop in the levels of depression for more individuals that using regular therapies
“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin relies on music to convey the theme of hardships for both Sonny and his older brother. The relationship between the two siblings is rocky. “I didn't write Sonny or send him anything for a long time.” said the older brother. Jazz is able to bring both of them closer together and have a better understanding of one another. With the older brother appreciating Sonny’s love for jazz it also allows him to the troubles in both their lives. Through Sonny’s music he was able to help his brother’s pain and in return his brother was able to help him. At first the older brother said, “I simply couldn't see why on earth he'd want to spend his time hanging around nightclubs, clowning around on bandstands," but towards the end of his brothers performance his views changed. He sends Sonny a drink after his performance and Sonny nods back to him. This represents the acknowledgment that Sonny now has his older brother’s approval. Even though Sonny and his brother still have different views and understandings of music it is still their own opinion. Their relationship and bond strengthen with the help of music.
The story Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin is a story about people’s actions and the effect that they have on the environment and the people around them. The Narrator is the older brother and the keeper of Sonny after his mother passes away. It is his duty to watch over his younger brother and to help guide him through life and to make the correct decisions. This caused great distress for him because he was never able to control Sonny and the life that he chooses to live. Sonny is The Narrators brother and is a dynamic character who decides early on what he wants to do with his life. This creates a constant tug of war with his brother which ends with him denouncing his brother and they also ceased talking for a long time. Sonny is also addicted
In conclusion, “Sonny’s Blues” is the story of Sonny told through his brother’s perspective. It is shown that the narrator tries to block out the past and lead a good “clean” life. However, this shortly changes when Sonny is arrested for the use and possession of heroin. When the narrator starts talking to his brother again, after years of no communication, he disapproves of his brother’s decisions. However, after the death of his daughter, he slowly starts to transform into a dynamic character. Through the narrator’s change from a static to a dynamic character, readers were able to experience a remarkable growth in the narrator.
For the author, the blues are more universal than a specific type of music. The narrator describes that the blues are "the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph." With this quote, the story "Sonny's Blues" is actually a blues piece: it starts with the suffering that the two brothers face, continues with their developing communion, and ends with brotherly love and triumphs over loneliness and suffering. The story "Sonny's Blues" is like Sonny's actual music, because it tries to bring people together and, through that link of grace and understanding, to relieve suffering. The author is not playing the blues but actually putting it down in writing. The title "Sonny's Blues" doesn’t describe the music Sonny plays but it tells Sonny's story of suffering and overcoming his obstacles, through his music.
James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues tells the story of the narrator and his brother and the hardships that they must endure. As Kahlil Gibran States “Out of suffering have emerged the strangest souls, the most massive characters are seared with scars.” (Gibran). In that very quote the real light is shown as it informs the reader that with suffering comes growth and once the person whomever it may be emerges out of the darkness they may have scars but it has made them stronger. The theme of light and darkness as well as suffering play a vital part in this story. For both men there are times in which they have the blues and suffer in the darkness of their lives but music takes the suffering from them.
Sonny’s brother and him finally decided to reconcile when Gracie, Sonny’s niece, passed away at a young age. The brothers wrote back and forth and one thing became clear to Sonny’s brother, music affected him. Sonny’s brother always saw the music/jazz scene as an unhealthy lifestyle full of drugs and scandal. The only thing Sonny would really reinforce was that it was not because of the music. Sonny came back to New York after rehab from heroin and came to see the old neighborhood in Harlem. The brothers see that they have so much to be thankful for and that they will always have each other.
Sonny’s Blues By James Baldwin Sonny’s Blues the author is presenting the past from the perspective of the present in order to understand his own feelings concerning the role of a father. The two brothers in the story had different life choices. Both Sonny and the narrator have found their own mode of escaping the violence and harshness of the ghetto, different though those modes might be. After the death of the mother the narrator feels he is his brother’s keeper, because of the promise he made to the mother. He is not exactly happy about it and especially Sonny’s life style. Nevertheless, this is his only brother and he made a promise not to turn his back on him. Sonny was more like his uncle a music lover. Before the mother died she told him about his father and the pain he went through after the death of his brother. His father’s brother was a music lover and somewhat like Sonny. So, by telling this story it would help the narrator to understand Sonny. Now he knows a little about his family background and roots. At the end the narrator was finally able to see and understand what music did for Sonny; it allow him to be himself and express himself to other. Explore the implications of the allusion to the Book of Isaiah 51:17-23 in the concluding sentence. What has the narrator learned as the result of his experience? All of the desolation, destruction, famine, sword things that we (the narrator) go through in this life, are learned through other who have shared these same experiences. Our oppressor (Satan spiritually, mankind physically) causes a trembling in our lives; but just like Jerusalem, who was and still is oppressed; God has already taken our “cup of trembling”. We are delivered through the sharing of our experiences with one another, freeing ourselves from one who causes the trembling.
Family structure is often built on foundations consisting of, trust, principal, and unconditional love. Relatives are often a reflection of the morals, and dignity our guardians instilled in us. The struggle in families arises when an individual does not live up to the standards set for them, by family, and sometimes results in incarceration, or use of narcotics. In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, readers encounter two brothers who are brought up in the rough neighborhood of Harlem, New York. Although Sonny, the younger brother, chooses a different life path in heroin usage, and in being a musician, his older brother, the narrator, becomes an algebra teacher. Despite not being in each other’s lives for a period of time, the knitted fraternal relationship that they share proves to be eternal regardless of their loss of contact. Ultimately, this story is an amazing illustration of how two people are from the same blood and home, are never quite the same, yet the love of a family will always be kindled. In the following articles "Sonny's Blues": A Message in Music, by Suzy Bernstein Goldman, explains how people often explain their emotions through music. In another article titled, -“ Black Literature Revisited: "’Sonny's Blues’" by Elaine R. Ognibene, she elaborates on the effects music has to bring two people together. Finally, in “The Jazz-Blues Motif in James Baldwin's "’Sonny's Blues’" by Richard N Albert discusses, the bound in families and enlightens on the cliché saying that blood is thicker than water. Ultimately, Albert provides the best interpretation of the short story “Sonny Blues,” because it’s more realistic and relatable from my own personal experience.
As "Sonny's Blues" opens, the narrator tells of his discovery that his younger brother has been arrested for selling and using heroin. Both brothers grew up in Harlem, a neighborhood rife with poverty and despair. Though the narrator teaches school in Harlem, he distances himself emotionally from the people who live there and their struggles and is somewhat judgmental and superior. He loves his brother but is distanced from him as well and judgmental of his life and decisions. Though Sonny needs for his brother to understand what he is trying to communicate to him and why he makes the choices he makes, the narrator cannot or will not hear what Sonny is trying to convey. In distancing himself from the pain of upbringing and his surroundings, he has insulated himself from the ability to develop an understanding of his brother's motivations and instead, his disapproval of Sonny's choice to become a musician and his choices regarding the direction of his life in general is apparent. Before her death, his mother spoke with him regarding his responsibilities to Sonny, telling him, "You got to hold on to your brother...and don't let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you get with him...you may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you're there" (87) His unwillingness to really hear and understand what his brother is trying to tell him is an example of a character failing to act in good faith.
In the story, Sonny’s Blues, James Baldwin uses music, jazz, and hymns to shape the story and show how it shapes Sonny’s life and how music is inherent to his survival. All of this is seen through the older brother’s eyes; the older brother is the narrator and the reader begins to understand Sonny through the older brother’s perspective. Baldwin writes the story like a jazz song to make a story out of his father’s past and his brother’s career choice and puts them together, going back and forth, until it creates a blending of histories and lives. He shows how the father’s past is similar to the narrator’s life; the older brother has conflicts with his younger brother, Sonny. Music heals the relationship.
"Sonny's Blues" is filled with examples of music and how it makes things better. The schoolboy, the barmaid, the mother, the brother, the uncle, the street revivalists, all use music to create a moment when life isn't so ugly, even though the world still waits outside and trouble stretches above. Music and the tale it tells provide hope and joy; instead of being the instrument of Sonny's destruction, introducing him to the world of drugs, music is his way out of some of the ugliness. For Sonny and the other characters in this story, music is a bastion against the despair that pervades stunted lives; it is the light that guides them from the darkness without hope.
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 is a story all about music and what it represents in the lives of different people. It varys from the positive view of Sonny to the negative views of Isabel and her parents. However, the narrator of the story switches from being negative to positive as he becomes more educated. These views cover how many people view music and how it differently impacts
Music is known for its power of touching us internally, emotionally speaking. It is noted that music can relieve some of our sad or stress feelings. One can find himself taking a time to meditate situations of the everyday life while listening to music, submerging into melodies or rhythms to relieve emotional pain. It is also known that emotional pain can lead to physical pain or even diseases. A breakup, a discussion between you and a loved one, the feeling of failure in life can lead to depression and some people may find refuge in the music. Music nowadays is not only used as a psychological therapy but also as a rehabilitation therapy for physical and mental health concerns. Musical therapy has been well-known for being a big help
The study included 251 children and young adults with existing depression and lasted from March of 2011 to March of 2014 (Caba). The test pool was split into two groups, one receiving typical forms of treatment and the other group receiving typical treatments coupled with music therapy. The results showed that the group receiving music therapy as well as typical care saw vast improvements with self esteem, drops in symptoms of depression, and an improvement in communication skills (Caba). A therapist can talk with a client, but a qualified music therapist can use music to actively link a client to their psycho-emotional state quickly (“Definition and Quotes”). Queen’s University Belfast ran multiple follow up reports and discovered that the therapy had long term effects. In reply to this study, Reilly said, “For a long time we have relied on anecdotal evidence and small-scale research findings about how well music therapy works. Now we have robust clinical evidence to show its beneficial effects” (Caba). The university is currently investigating whether music therapy can act as a replacement for current forms of treatment like antidepressants and psychotherapy; however, this is still in development (Caba). The results from this study have shown promise