Sonny's Blues Essay Outline

I.Brainstorm

A.Freewrite: I am going to write about the point of view used in Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.” In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” Baldwin does not use Sonny as the narrator but instead uses his brother. I believe Baldwin used the brother as the narrator to give to give readers the idea that Sonny and his brother do not communicate well with each other. While Sonny listens but does not speak, his brother speaks but does not listen. Baldwin uses the brother as the narrator to highlight the idea that Sonny’s addiction to heroin, love of jazz music, and his melancholy are associated to Sonny’s lack of voice as well as control over his own life.

II.Informal Outline

•Title: When Nobody Understands Your Voice

•Introduction/Thesis: Baldwin uses the brother as the narrator to highlight

He uses the drug as an excuse to escape his life so he does not have to communicate with others.

b.2nd Topic Sentence: Baldwin also gives us the idea that Sonny lacks a voice by having him express himself and communicate with music.

i.Sonny’s brother has always been against the idea of Sonny becoming a jazz musician, but Sonny says that being a jazz musician is the only thing he wants to do. “Everything takes time, and-well, yes, sure, I can make a living at it. But what I don’t seem to be able to make you understand is that it’s the only thing I want to do.” (Baldwin, 135)

ii.Sonny was so serious about being a jazz musician that he stayed at the piano day and night at Isabel’s house when he moved in with her. “At first, Isabel would write me, saying how nice it was that Sonny was so serious about his music and how, as soon as he came in from school, or wherever he had been when he was suppose to be at school, he went straight to that piano and stayed there until suppertime. And, after supper, he went back to that piano and stayed there until everybody went to bed.” (Baldwin,