“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
relationship. These brothers grew up on the rough streets of Harlem and went their separate ways. Sonny was a drug-addicted musician and his older brother was a high school algebra teacher with a family. The way the two brothers reunite through addiction, memories and strife make their bond seem stronger than ever. Sonny’s Blues, by James Baldwin, is a story about enlightenment through brotherhood when Sonny and his brother go to the club. Sonny’s brother saw the newspaper while he was on his way to work
the black culture and deal with it distress that goes along with it, just to keep his dignity. At first, he channels his afflictions through music. There eventually becomes a time in his life when can no longer deal with the pain or suffering and Sonny takes the well-beaten path of turning to heroin, t...
and others around them. According to his brother, who narrates "Sonny's Blues," Sonny was a bright-eyed young man full of gentleness and privacy. "When he was about as old as the boys in my classes his face had been bright and open, there was a lot of copper in it; and he'd had wonderfully direct brown eyes, a great gentleness and privacy. I wondered what he looked like now" (Baldwin 272). Something happened to Sonny, as it did to most of the young people growing up in Harlem. His physical journey
the darkness of their lives. The main character, Sonny, a struggling jazz musician, finds himself addicted to heroin as a way of unleashing the creativity and artistic ability that lies within him. While using music as a way of creating a sort of structure in his life, Sonny attempts to step into the light, a life without drugs. The contrasting images of light and darkness, which serve as truth and reality, are used to depict the struggle between Sonny and the narrator in James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues
hearts and on the streets takes on a great importance. Baldwin meets his audience at a halfway mark: Sonny has already fallen into drug use, and is now trying to return to a clean life with his brother's aid. The narrator must first attempt to understand and make peace with his brother's drug use before he can extend his help and heart to him. Sonny and his brother both struggle for acceptance. Sonny wants desperately to explain himself while also trying to stay afloat and out of drugs. Baldwin amplifies
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
James Baldwin's Story Sonny's Blues James Baldwin?s story ?Sonny?s Blues? is a deep and reflexive composition. Baldwin uses the life of two brothers to establish parallelism of personal struggle with society, and at the same time implies a psychological process of one brother leaving his socially ingrained prejudices to understand and accept the other's flaws. The story is narrated by Sonny?s older brother whom remained unnamed the entire story. Sonny's brother is a pragmatic person, a teacher
portrait of an older brother, Richard (the narrator), always steady, predictable, and in control, and Sonny, a musician and recovering heroin addict who looks at the world through a different lens. Throughout his life Richard distances himself from Sonny, both by rejecting his views and attempting to control him. During the story, we see Richard evolve into finally understanding and communicating with Sonny, which requires him truly to listen to both his brother's words and his music. Baldwin's story
as if there was no manual to guide the police officers and the FBI through the hostage situation. Sonny and Sal never really thought about what they would do if they were to get caught. One of the first mistakes that officer Moretti made was when he called the bank to let Sonny know he was in there. I think that there never would have been a hostage situation if officer Moretti would have let Sonny and Sal think they were going to get away and grab them when they came out the bank. I never knew
strong adult influences in his life. They were his father, Lorenzo, and a mob leader named Sonny. In the film there were a three scenes that especially demonstrated the influence Sonny and Lorenzo had on Cologero. An example of Lorenzo's influence on his son takes place in front of their apartment in which Cologero is a witness to a crime Sonny committed. An example of Sonny's influence on Cologero is when Sonny demeans Mickey Mantle in front of him. This then causes Cologero to have negative feelings
Blues" significant in terms of illustrating the relationship and emotional complications of Sonny and his brother. The significance of "Sonny's Blues" lies in the way Sonny's brother describes the relationship based on what he observes, hears, and feels, and how he struggles trying to understand Sonny through the course of the story. As Sonny's brother, he gets to be physically and mentally as close to Sonny as anyone else can. Readers get to know that Sonny's brother is a fairly reliable narrator
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
change when he told her "your too smart for what's happing to you." I believe this is when she gave her self more respect. Ruben got her to also join the union. She than starts getting relay involved in it and during all this she meets a man named sonny. Sonny and her become very close and fall in love and end up marring. She persuades her other co-workers to also join the union. One day her father dies. This was a major change in Norma's life. She loved her father dearly. If things couldn't get better
thought that his brother Sonny was safe. Or at least, that was what he had made himself believe. "I told myself that Sonny was wild, but he wasn't crazy. And he'd always been a good boy, he hadn't ever turned hard or evil or disrespectful, the way kids can, so quick, so quick, especially in Harlem. I didn't want to believe that I'd ever see my brother going down, coming to nothing, all that light in his face gone out, in the condition I'd already seen so many others" (48). But Sonny hadn't been safe from
are the military service, life in Harlem and especially the use of darkness. The military service plays an important role in the evolving of the narrator’s identity as it helps him gain respect and be recognized by the neighborhood, something that Sonny yearns for. Growing up in Harlem is the most important setting because the brothers endured several hardships in Harlem, which allowed them to establish and maintain a certain identity. The use of darkness is important because darkness signifies drugs
intercity as a minority. The encounters that the narrator and his brother, Sonny, have throughout the story exemplify Baldwin's theme of personal accountability and ethical criticism. The older brother, the narrator, finds himself struggling at the beginning of the story. While riding the subway, he reads in the paper that Sonny has been arrested for possession of drugs. During his day of teaching, he reflects on prior years with Sonny and their past adventures as young boys. He remembers Sonny's "wonderfully
The Blues: in Hughes' The Blues I'm Playing and Baldwin's Sonny's Blues In Langston Hughes' The Blues I'm Playing, the blues are the source of Oceola's life and her choices. Langston is trying to illustrate the conflict between life and art. The art in this story is represented in a confined manner, as a disciplined career with a white woman acting as the overseer in the young lady's life. Art to Oceola, with its profit, convenience and privileges offers an array of benefits, but being embodied
with various family members such as his mother and his younger brother, Sonny. Sonny and the narrator are brothers with a 7 year difference between them. The narrator was disappointed with Sonny at first due to his interest in becoming a musician. He thought it was a phase he was Sonny was going through and maybe it would pass. The older brother patronized Sonny with his insincere interest in music at first until it angered Sonny and he told his brother "don't do me no favors"(82). The narrator had
were apart for several years while Sonny was in jail, but once he got out they had a chance to mend their pasts. "Sonny's Blues" is a well written story that teaches a lesson that has value in every day life. The tone is melancholy and reminiscent. The brother is remembering the past and reflection on the mistakes he and Sonny made. He is sad over their fallout, Sonny's trouble with drugs, and the death of his daughter. He regrets that he wasn't able to keep Sonny out of trouble like he promised