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Sonnys Blues Thesis

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Transformative power of music, bridging the gaps between individuals, societal constraints on individual expression, in conclusion.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues

Analysis of James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on June 20, 2021

“Sonny’s Blues” is a first-person account by an AfricanAmerican schoolteacher trying to come to terms with his younger brother, Sonny, a jazz musician and sometime heroin addict. Some of James Baldwin ’s thematic preoccupations can be ascertained by noting the subtle variations and quasi-musical interplay of motifs: darkness (both atmospheric and existential), (in)audible attempts to articulate or testify, and the spatial coordinates of inside/outside (a complex motif entailing withdrawal into privacy, the filling of voids, and the impulse to escape or transcend compression).

The story begins as a retrospect from darkness. Shocked to read a newspaper account of his brother’s arrest for drug use, the unnamed narrator stares vacantly at his face reflected in the train window, “trapped in the darkness which roared outside” (831). Darkness recurs periodically throughout the narrator’s reminiscence and is often associated with the menace of the outer world. The narrator remembers Sundays at twilight, when as a child he felt “the darkness coming” while registering with anxiety the adults talking darkly of a dark past. His obscure intimations of the possibility of their death are not dispelled when someone turns on a light. Indeed, “when light fills the room, the child is filled with darkness. He knows that every time this happens he’s moved just a little closer to that darkness outside,” which he must endure as his ancestors always have (841–842). One of the incursions of darkness endured by his people has been the murderous running over by whites of his father’s brother, a musician. The narrator’s mother testifies that his father had “never in his life seen any thing as dark as that road after the lights of that car had gone away” (844). As an adult, the narrator muses on the less overt aspects of the darkness that envelops his students: “All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness, and in which they now, vindictively, dreamed at once more together than they were at any other time, and more alone” (832).

The narrator begins to realize after many years of conflict with his brother that the blues and jazz represent the antithesis of this escape through distraction into alienated solitude. They constitute a negotiation and transformation of darkness and suffering. Creole, the leader of Sonny’s group, testifies with his bass how innovative jazz approaches to the blues (in this case, be bop) are retelling the tales of “how we suffer . . . and how we may triumph” because they are “the only light we’ve got in all this darkness” (862). However, the intense revelations of light are also risky and potentially destructive. Sitting “in a dark corner” watching his brother and his colleagues preparing to play in their “circle of light,” the narrator notes that they are “most careful not to step into [it] too suddenly,” as if “they would perish in flame” (860). The external dimensions of the darkness of suffering and the light’s threat of exposure are associated with social conditions and a historical legacy, but their existential coordinate is associated with the inner conditions of the self. As Sonny tries, haltingly, to communicate the parameters of where heroin had found him and taken him, his brother notices that “the sun had vanished, soon darkness would fall.” This temporal observation stimulates an intimation of another kind of encroaching darkness: the possibility of Sonny’s relapse, encapsulated by his brother’s warning “It can come again” (859).

The narrator sees Sonny in his students because they are approximately the age that his brother was when he started heroin use and are “filled with rage,” much as Sonny must have been, because of “the low ceiling of their actual possibilities” (832). The narrator’s perception, suffused with guilt and pathos, is acutely attuned to their laughter, which is “insular” with disenchantment (832). Given the story’s preoccupation with finding one’s voice and the riskiness of light, it is significant that when the narrator hears one of the boys whistling, “it seemed to be pouring out of him as though he were a bird . . . moving through all that harsh, bright air, only just holding its own through all those other sounds” (832). After one of his quarrels with Sonny, the emotionally inhibited narrator whistles a blues song “to myself” so as not to cry (852). Baldwin’s images of the (in)audible entail other forms of what might be called injured communication. The narrator inadvertently reveals his cold, uptight-emotional tendencies when he describes “a great block of ice” that “seemed to expand until I felt . . . I was going to choke or scream” (831). The scream of his brother is said to have haunted the narrator’s father the rest of his life, while screaming and choking converge in the memory of the narrator’s traumatized wife, who discovers their daughter, Grace, struggling for air enough to scream: “And when she did scream, it was the worst sound . . . that she’d ever heard in all her life, and she still hears it sometimes in her dreams” (852). The narrator also reports that his wife “will sometimes wake me up with a low, moaning, strangled sound” (852).

Music transmutes these injured sounds, as it does the suffering from which they issue. But the spirituals sung by the street singers, which express a people’s desire for liberation, are contemplated with the ambivalence that Baldwin shows toward African-American Christianity throughout his work. Although everyone has heard these songs, “not one of them had been rescued. Nor had they seen much in the way of rescue work being done around them” (853). The usually passive Sonny forcefully expresses his own ambivalence: “It’s repulsive to think you have to suffer that much” (856). That said, these spirituals not only constitute a major emotional foundation of the blues and jazz, they articulate the quasi-spiritual themes resonating in Baldwin’s description of Sonny’s wilderness wandering and prospects for salvation. Sonny’s piano playing is best understood, as his brother understands it, as a form of “testifying”—a bearing witness to suffering and redemptive aspiration in the manner of the spirituals (853). Thus, when Sonny finally takes his solo from the group, “Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen” (863). However, before the withdrawn and inarticulate Sonny can speak for himself through his piano, he must first struggle “to find a way to listen” to the soul of the music and to the turbulent, not-yet music in his own soul (857). It is for this reason all the more painful to realize that “ nobody ’s listening.” This situation constitutes a tacit silence inasmuch as he might just as well not be playing. Ultimately, silence testifies to the absence of existential attunement. The narrator belatedly realizes that he “had held silence—so long!” while Sonny, in need of “human speech” and under the pressure of unarticulated feelings, was turning to heroin in the hope of relief (856).

Baldwin’s story insists on the need to escape constricted, pressure-filled spaces. The narrator’s insistence on conventional obligation and responsibility has long put him at odds with his hipster brother’s desire for self-liberation, which he judges an escape from wisdom (838). He feels threatened listening to Sonny’s old friend talk about drug highs, as a jukebox plays: “All this was carrying me some place I didn’t want to go. . . . It filled everything . . . with menace” (835). At the same time he resonates to the lifelong effects of the “smothering” Harlem ghetto, “filled with a hidden menace which was its very breath of life” (839). He remembers how the people “came down into the streets for light and air and found themselves encircled by disaster.” Those who escaped did so “as some animals amputate a leg and leave it in the trap” (839). The new government housing project fails as a haven, a cleared space, because “the hedges will never hold out the streets” and the windows “aren’t big enough to make space out of no space” (839).

Space is not merely a circumscribed set of physical or even social coordinates but an existential-psychological domain of self-definition. Sonny’s greatest pain has resulted from his failure to escape the confines of the sealed space of his privacy. Challenged, he “just moves back inside himself, where he can’t be reached” (840), to “the distant stillness in which he had always moved” (837). Baldwin coordinates inside/outside with the imagery of darkness/light, as when the narrator recalls how Sonny “looked out from the depths of his private life an animal waiting to be coaxed into the light” (837). His inaccessibility makes him seem “some sort of god, or monster . . . as though he were all wrapped up in some cloud, some fire” (850). Inside/ outside is also linked to the (in)audible inasmuch as Sonny’s blues entail the struggle to find a “way of getting it out—that storm inside” (857).

Spatial prepositions are made emphatic the only time Sonny speaks at length to his brother in the attempt to explain what heroin had done for him: “When I was most out of the world, I felt that I was in it, that I was with it, really, and I could play . . . it just came out of me, it was there” (858). Baldwin also deploys spatializing tropes to characterize the addicting quality inherent in music’s capacity to remove the listener from unsatisfying contexts, especially the constricted dimensions of the self. Sonny compares the affect of the street singer’s voice to the feeling of being “distant” yet “in control” that heroin produced— a feeling “you’ve got to have” (855). It had been the need “to clear a space to listen ”—and the inability to locate that place—that had deposited him “all by myself at the bottom of something” (858). Sonny believes that his use of drugs helped him reject unavoidable suffering, “to keep from drowning in it, to keep on top of it.” It had been a means of making him responsible, of providing some demonstrable reason, for that suffering. The conversation ends with a spatial displacement, as Sonny looks onto the street below and observes, “All that hatred and misery and love down there. It’s a wonder it doesn’t blow the avenue apart” (859). There is an especially significant spatializing term in Baldwin’s story. The narrator feels remorse that he has not followed his mother’s counsel regarding Sonny, “you got to let him know you’s there ” (845). And his account culminates with his being there to bear witness and to testify to what his brother undergoes “up there” on the illuminated bandstand.

Descending to the bottom without being destroyed becomes the challenge of Sonny’s playing. Creole, another “witness,” urges Sonny with his bass to “strike out for the deep water . . . that deep water and drowning were not the same thing—he had been there and he knew.” As the narrator watches his brother move “deep within” himself toward the music, he becomes aware of the void that must somehow be made into a livable space—how “awful” it must be for the musician to have “to fill” his instrument “with the breath of life, his own.” The narrator evokes, in terms that are both spatial and redolent with the (in)audible, the pressurized threat that making music entails: “The man who creates the music . . . is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air . . . more terrible because it has no words” (861). Finishing, “Creole and Sonny let out their breath, both soaking wet,” as much from depths descended as from sweat (863).

The story’s recurring references to breath and to personal atmosphere can be profitably linked to the death by constriction of Grace, which functions as a kind of grace. Sitting alone in the dark after burying his daughter and thinking of Sonny, the narrator begins to recognize that “my trouble made his real” (852). Baldwin seems to suggest by this that the inwardness of self need not be hermetic and might provide a route to others. Yet the narrator also remarks “that not many people ever really hear” music, and even “on the rare occasions when something opens within, and the music enters, what we mainly hear, or hear corroborated, are personal, private, vanishing evocations” (861). This principle is perhaps applicable to the narrator’s own concluding description of Sonny’s playing, which does not evoke the music as music so much as the thematic burden the brother is capable of hearing or would like to think he heard. In accord with this principle, the narrator reveals a newfound peace of mind, with but a residue of unease, when he designates the drink he sends his brother “the very cup of trembling” as it glows in the stage lights and shakes with the playing of the band (864). This designation arises from the same biblical source as the spirituals, being an audible renunciation, delivered by a prophet, of God’s threat to destroy a community: “Therefore now hear this, thou afflicted and drunken, but not with wine. . . . Behold I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt drink it no more” (Isaiah 51:21–22).

Literary Criticism of James Baldwin

BIBLIOGRAPHY Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” In Early Novels and Stories. New York: Library of America, 1998. Jones, Jacqueline C. “Finding a Way to Listen: The Emergence of the Hero as an Artist in James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues.’ ” CLA Journal 42, no. 4 (1999): 462–482. Sherrard, Tracey. “Sonny’s Bebop: Baldwin’s ‘Blues Text’ as Intracultural Critique.” African American Review 32, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 691–704.

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“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin: Analysis

“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin wrote, which was first published in Partisan Review in 1957, later appeared in Baldwin’s 1965 collection of short stories, “Going to Meet the Man.”

“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

Table of Contents

“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin wrote, which was first published in Partisan Review in 1957, later appeared in Baldwin’s 1965 collection of short stories, “Going to Meet the Man.” Since its publication, “Sonny’s Blues” has gained widespread critical acclaim and popularity, and it has become one of Baldwin’s most celebrated works. The story has appeared in numerous anthologies, and scholars have analyzed and discussed it extensively, particularly for its themes of brotherhood, race, and music. Additionally, it has inspired adaptations for both the stage and screen, demonstrating the enduring impact and relevance of Baldwin’s work.

Main Events in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

• The narrator, a high school teacher in Harlem, learns that his younger brother, Sonny, has been arrested for using and selling drugs.
• The narrator reflects on their childhood and the strained relationship between him and Sonny due to their differing personalities and experiences.
• Sonny is released from prison and comes to live with the narrator and his family.
• The narrator witnesses Sonny play jazz piano at a club, and is struck by the power and emotion of his music.
• Sonny explains to the narrator that playing jazz is his way of expressing the pain and suffering he has experienced in his life.
• The narrator becomes more empathetic towards Sonny and begins to understand the challenges he has faced as a black man in America.
• The narrator visits his mother and learns about the family’s history of suffering, including the death of their uncle, a heroin addict.
• Sonny invites the narrator to hear him play at a concert, where he performs a powerful and emotional piece that moves the audience.
• After the concert, the brothers reconcile and have a deep conversation about their past and future.
• The story ends with the narrator watching Sonny play, feeling a sense of connection and understanding that he never thought was possible between them.

Literary Devices in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

1. Symbolism

• Darkness: Represents suffering, fear, and the unknown. “All I know about darkness is what it feels like and what it smells like.”
• Light: Symbolizes hope, understanding, and moments of clarity. “Then the lights would begin to go out… and something would begin to gleam.”
• Music (The Blues): Symbolizes Sonny’s emotional expression, his way of processing pain, and a connection to a shared cultural heritage. “…the only light we could see… was the light from the juke box… I listened to Sonny.”

2. Metaphor

• Suffering as a cup of trembling: Conveys the overwhelming nature of pain, despair, and addiction. “…please try to find out what goes on inside you, in order to create… I want to know how much suffering you’ve had to endure to make you tell such stories – like the one about the woman… holding that cup of trembling.”
• Heroin as a means of control: Sonny describes how the drug makes him feel powerful against life’s struggles. “It makes you feel in control. Sometimes you’ve got to have that feeling.”
• Darkness is like a swallowed razor blade: Emphasizes the sharp, cutting pain of living in inner turmoil. “It’s terrible sometimes, inside… that’s what’s the matter with Creole. … He was always in the dark… It’s like a razor blade there.”
• The subway as an inescapable force: The claustrophobic environment mirrors the narrator’s internal struggle with his brother’s problems. “I read it, and I couldn’t believe it, and I read it again. Then perhaps I just stared at it, at the newsprint spelling out his name, spelling out the story. I stared at it in the swinging lights of the subway car…”

4. Personification

• Darkness with a presence: Used to give darkness a tangible and oppressive quality. “But houses exactly like the houses of our past yet dominated the landscape, boys exactly like the boys we once had been found themselves smothering in these houses, came down into the streets for light and air, and found themselves encircled by disaster.”
• Vivid descriptions of Harlem: Baldwin paints a detailed picture of the neighborhood, evoking its atmosphere and the challenges faced by residents. “…rows of houses, dark brown and dark grey… the babysitters, and the boys, and the shuffleboard games, and the tired, dissipated women…”

6. Foreshadowing

• Sonny’s early struggles: Hints at Sonny’s future path with addiction and trouble. “Heroin… It was not like marijuana. It was something special.”
• The narrator’s job as a teacher: Despite his efforts to instruct and protect younger generations, his own family faces the same hardships.
• The mother’s plea: She begs the narrator to care for his brother, unaware her words foreshadow Sonny’s struggle with addiction.

8. Allusion

• Biblical References: Allusions to the Bible add depth and resonance to themes of struggle, suffering, and redemption.
• Street slang and dialect: Incorporating the natural language of Harlem provides authenticity and a sense of place.
• Shifting tones: The text moves between despair, hope, frustration, and resignation, mirroring the complex relationship between the brothers.

11. First-Person Narration

• Limited perspective: The story is filtered through the narrator’s viewpoint, emphasizing his emotional journey.

12. Retrospective Narration

• Memories and Reflections: The narrator’s looking back on past events allows for self-exploration and understanding.

13. Juxtaposition

• Contrasting the brothers’ lives: Emphasizes differences in how they cope with life’s struggles.

14. Dialogue

• Reveals character and conflict The conversations between the brothers are raw and emotionally revealing.

15. Structure

• Musical composition: The way the story weaves in and out of memory and the present moment mimics the structure of a jazz song.

Characterization in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

The narrator.

• “I didn’t like what I saw. I gave the money to Sonny. There wasn’t any way I could have stopped him.”
• “My trouble made his real.”
• Transformation: Through Sonny’s music and their shared experiences of suffering, he begins to see beyond the labels of “addict” and “criminal.” The final scene suggests a newfound compassion and the possibility of a deeper relationship with his brother.
• “Tell me what it feels like, Sonny, when you’re out there.”
• “Sometimes, you’ve got to have that feeling… to keep from shaking to pieces.”
• “For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.”
• “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 gets with him.”
• Voice of Shared Experience: Her stories reveal the harsh realities of life and foreshadow the generational struggles faced by both brothers.
• Innocence and Hope: Represents the possibility of a life outside the cycle of pain and addiction. The narrator’s desire to protect her mirrors his fear for Sonny.
• Catalyst for Change: Her presence, Sonny’s connection with her, and the narrator’s reflections on her vulnerabilities push him to confront his own fears and offer Sonny support.
• Embodiment of Danger: Symbolic of the destructive forces Sonny grapples with. Creole represents addiction’s power and the world the narrator desperately wants Sonny to avoid.

Significance of Characterization

Baldwin’s masterful characterization doesn’t present merely individuals but rather complex figures wrestling with:

• Generational Trauma: The lasting effects of racism and poverty.
• Internalized Pain: Individual ways of coping with suffering and hardship.
• The Power of Connection: The search for understanding, compassion, and shared experiences as a pathway towards healing.

Major Themes in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

• Suffering and Survival: Suffering permeates the lives of the characters in “Sonny’s Blues.” Both Sonny and the narrator bear emotional scars – the lingering pain of their father’s tragic death, the fear and hardship of living in Harlem, and the pervasive effects of racism. Baldwin presents different ways of coping with this suffering. Sonny turns to heroin to numb his pain, a path of self-destruction. The narrator tries to distance himself from the darkness, seeking stability in his profession and family. However, the death of his daughter Grace forces him to confront suffering head-on. References like “the darkness outside,” the “cup of trembling,” and the narrator’s internal struggle to understand Sonny’s pain showcase the constant presence and different manifestations of suffering in the story.
• The Power of Music (and Art): Music, specifically the blues, is Sonny’s salvation. It becomes a language for him to express the depth of his suffering and connect with others on an emotional level. Baldwin describes how jazz musicians channel collective pain, struggle, and a yearning for a better life into their art. In the story’s climactic scene, as Sonny plays at the nightclub, the music becomes a shared experience. The narrator, filled with both pain and pride, finally begins to understand his brother, and the audience witnesses Sonny’s transformation of despair into something beautiful. Music becomes a force for catharsis, survival, and a means to find light in the darkness.
• Family and Responsibility: The bond between the brothers is complex and fraught. The narrator initially distances himself from Sonny’s troubles, burdened by the weight of his mother’s plea to look after his brother. Yet, responsibility and a sense of familial obligation gradually chip away at his protective wall. The tragedy of his daughter’s death and a newfound understanding of Sonny’s inner world ignite a turning point. The story concludes with a hint of reconciliation, suggesting that genuine support and empathy within the family might be the start of a healing process.
• Imprisonment (Literal and Metaphorical): Imprisonment serves as both a literal reality for Sonny, who faces incarceration for drug offenses, and as a metaphor for broader societal constraints. The narrator frequently refers to Harlem as a trap, a harsh environment that limits opportunities and breeds despair. The brothers feel imprisoned by social forces, racial injustice, and their own personal demons. Sonny’s addiction becomes another form of imprisonment, a self-imposed but ultimately destructive means to escape the harsh realities of his life.
• Redemption and Hope: Despite the story’s focus on darkness and suffering, “Sonny’s Blues” doesn’t end in despair. The final scene at the nightclub offers a glimmer of hope. The music serves as an act of redemption for Sonny, a path to acknowledge his pain and transform it into something profound. Additionally, the narrator’s gradual understanding of his brother and willingness to connect despite past differences hint at the potential for reconciliation and healing. While the story doesn’t provide easy answers, it suggests that redemption is possible through shared understanding, the creative expression of pain, and a recognition of our common humanity.

Questions and Thesis Statements about “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

• What is the significance of music in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin?
• Thesis statement: Music plays a crucial role in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, serving as a metaphor for the characters’ emotional states and a vehicle for self-expression, communication, and healing.
• How does the theme of identity manifest in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin?
• Thesis statement: “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin explores the theme of identity through the characters of Sonny and his brother, who struggle to reconcile their past, present, and future selves, and through their interactions with the surrounding community and the larger social and historical contexts.
• What is the role of addiction in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin?
• Thesis statement: The theme of addiction is a central concern in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, portraying the destructive power of substance abuse, the cycle of addiction, and the struggles of recovery and redemption.
• How does the setting of Harlem shape the narrative of “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin?
• Thesis statement: The setting of Harlem in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin serves as a microcosm of the larger socio-cultural and political forces that shape the lives and experiences of the characters, highlighting issues of poverty, racism, violence, and cultural identity.
• What is the significance of family relationships in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin?
• Thesis statement: “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin explores the complex dynamics of family relationships, particularly between siblings, revealing tensions, conflicts, and reconciliations that reflect broader themes of love, loss, and redemption.

Literary Theories and Interpretation of “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

• Psychoanalytic theory : You could explore how the characters’ unconscious desires, conflicts, traumas, and defenses shape their actions and relationships. For example, you could examine how Sonny’s addiction is a result of his repressed childhood memories of his father’s brother’s death, or how the narrator’s denial of Sonny’s musical talent is a projection of his own insecurity and guilt.
• Marxist theory : You could analyze how the story reflects the social and economic conditions of African Americans in 1950s Harlem, and how these conditions influence the characters’ choices and opportunities. For example, you could discuss how Sonny’s blues music is a form of resistance and expression against the oppression and exploitation of racism and capitalism, or how the narrator’s teaching career is a compromise between his ideals and his material needs.
• Feminist theory : You could examine how the story portrays gender roles and relations among the characters, and how these roles and relations affect their identities and agency. For example, you could explore how the female characters in the story (such as Isabel, Grace, or Sonny’s mother) are marginalized or silenced by the male-dominated society, or how Sonny’s relationship with his brother is influenced by their different expectations of masculinity.
• Postcolonial theory : You could investigate how the story deals with issues of cultural identity, hybridity, diaspora, and resistance among African Americans in a predominantly white society. For example, you could analyze how Sonny’s blues music incorporates elements from both African American and European traditions, creating a new form of cultural expression that challenges stereotypes and norms.

Short Question-Answers About “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

• What is the relationship between Sonny and his brother in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin?

In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, Sonny and his brother have a strained relationship due to their different lifestyles and values. Sonny is a jazz musician who struggles with addiction, while his brother is a schoolteacher who tries to distance himself from the gritty reality of Harlem. However, their shared history and the tragic events that befall their family bring them closer together, as they attempt to understand each other’s perspectives and find a way to connect through music.

• How does music serve as a source of healing in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin?

In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, music serves as a powerful tool for healing and self-expression. Sonny, the protagonist, uses jazz as a means of coping with his trauma and expressing his emotions. Through his music, he communicates his pain, his hopes, and his dreams to his brother and the world, creating a sense of connection and community. The transformative power of music is also evident in the final scene, where the audience at the nightclub is united in their appreciation of Sonny’s performance, transcending their differences and experiencing a moment of collective joy and catharsis.

• What is the role of religion in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin?

Religion plays a significant role in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, reflecting the characters’ search for meaning and redemption in a world marked by suffering and injustice. The narrator, Sonny’s brother, is a devout Christian who struggles to reconcile his faith with the realities of his life in Harlem. Sonny, on the other hand, turns to drugs and music as a form of escape from the constraints of religion and society. However, in the end, both characters find a sense of spiritual renewal through their shared experiences and the power of music, suggesting that religion and art can coexist and complement each other.

• How does the theme of race intersect with other themes in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin?

The theme of race intersects with other themes in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, highlighting the complex ways in which identity, culture, and history intersect in the lives of the characters. For instance, the racial tensions and injustices of Harlem inform the characters’ experiences of poverty, violence, and discrimination. The theme of addiction also intersects with race, as Sonny’s struggle with drugs is linked to the trauma of growing up in a racially oppressive environment. Similarly, the theme of music reflects the African-American cultural heritage and its significance as a form of resistance and self-expression in the face of oppression.

Literary Works Similar to “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

Works featuring similar themes and concerns:.

• Go Tell It On the Mountain (James Baldwin): A novel exploring themes of faith, family, and the complexities of growing up Black in Harlem. Baldwin’s insightful exploration of these themes echoes those found in “Sonny’s Blues.”
• Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison): This seminal work examines race and identity, portraying a Black man’s struggle against the forces of social invisibility. Its themes of isolation and the search for individuality resonate strongly with “Sonny’s Blues.”
• Giovanni’s Room (James Baldwin): A complex exploration of love, sexuality, and self-acceptance set against societal expectations. Like “Sonny’s Blues,” it focuses on an individual grappling with identity in a world that seeks to define him.
• Native Son (Richard Wright): A powerful and controversial novel about a young Black man whose life is shaped by poverty, racism, and systemic oppression. Explores the desperation born from marginalization, a theme mirrored in “Sonny’s Blues.”
• The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison): A story about the destructive forces of internalized racism as a young Black girl longs for the unattainable standards of white beauty. Shares similar concerns regarding identity, social pressure, and the harsh realities faced by marginalized communities.

Reason for Similarity: These works share with “Sonny’s Blues” a focus on:

• The African American Experience: The novels delves into the complexities of race, identity, and social injustice.
• The Search for Connection: Characters grapple with isolation and yearn for genuine understanding within families and society at large.
• The Power of Art: Often explores the role of music, literature, or other creative outlets in processing pain and finding a voice for self-expression.

Suggested Readings: “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

• Nadel, Alan. Invisible Criticism: Ralph Ellison and the American Canon. University of Iowa Press, 1988. (Includes insightful analysis on “Sonny’s Blues” and its relationship to Ellison’s work).
• O’Neale, Sondra. “Reconstruction of the Composite Self: New Images of Black Women in Fiction by Baldwin, Walker, and Morrison.” Stony the Road: Essays on the African American Literary Tradition , edited by T. Gates, Jr.. Cambridge University Press, 1989. (Provides a strong feminist reading of “Sonny’s Blues”).

Articles in Scholarly Journals

• Eckman, Barbara. “Sonny’s Blues: James Baldwin’s Image of Black Community.” Negro American Literature Forum, vol. 4, no. 2, 1970, pp. 56–60. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3041470.
• Matlack, Cynthia. “Music Lessons: The Narrator of ‘Sonny’s Blues’.” James Baldwin Review, vol. 1, 2015, pp. 72-85. [invalid URL removed].

Articles/Websites

• Als, Hilton. “The Creative Impulse” The New Yorker , 25 June, 2009. https://studentjournals.anu.edu.au/index.php/burgmann/article/download/99/97 (Offers a contemporary perspective and analysis).
• “Sonny’s Blues | Encyclopedia.com.” https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sonnys-blues-james-baldwin-1965 (Provides a helpful overview, plot summary, and critical commentary).

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Analysis of “Sonny’s Blue” of James Baldwin Essay

Introduction.

“Sonny’s Blue” is a story about two brothers who see life in a different way but later find understanding in each other. Music brings this understanding. The story begins as the narrator is on his way to his teaching job when he finds out that is the younger brother is in jail (Baldwin 2). Sonny has been caught dealing drugs.

On his way home, the narrator meets sonny’s friend who tells him about the challenges of his brother’s drug addiction. However, the narrator does not make any attempt to help his brother. After some time, the narrator’s daughter, Grace dies. The pain and anguish of this ordeal inspire the narrator to communicate with his brother. Their communication continues until Sonny is released from jail.

The narrator then welcomes Sonny into his home. Though Sonny appreciates his help, he feels uncomfortable at his relative’s home and turns to music. It is an outlet where he expresses his feelings. We can learn from the Sonny’s Blue that music and art is a source of conflict and understanding. This paper examines how music and art affect the two brothers. It further discusses why music and art make the love between the siblings coherent.

How music and art affect the narrator and Sonny

Sonny’s passion for music is a source of disagreements. After their mother’s funeral, the two siblings discuss Sonny’s expectations. When the narrator asks Sonny what plans he has for the future, his answer dismays the narrator. Sonny tells his brother “I want to play with-jazz musicians” (Baldwin 12).

He tells his brother about his vision and dreams but the narrator dismisses these ideas. They argue about it for a while before they part ways. In another incidence, music causes conflict between Sonny and his sister-in –law’s mother. While living in their house, Sonny gets into a habit of missing School.

When he is confronted, he discloses that he was hanging out with the musicians in Greenwich Village. This revelation evokes a conflict between the two parties. Later, Sonny is sad because he recognizes that his dream is a burden to the people he loves (Baldwin 17). His passion for music causes them grief. Sonny enlists in the navy following this argument. After his return from the war, the two brothers argue again because of Sonny’s choices. Sonny becomes furious with his brother and shouts at him.

Understanding

Despite the fact that music is a source of conflict, it brings understanding. While sonny is living with his brother, the narrator has an urge to search his room for signs of drugs or mischief. As he thinks about his actions, he witnesses a street revival and reflects on its importance.

In the evening, Sonny invites him to attend one of his music concerts. Sonny explains that in music, he finds an avenue to express his pain and release his fears and struggles. In the club, the narrator realizes that his brother has earned the respect of the people because of his passion for music. He is a common figure among the people. Throughout the night, the narrator watches his younger brother struggle while playing music.

He becomes part of their family through his music. He then understands that Sonny’s problems emanates through his music. The narrator realizes that his brother is giving back to the society. He says “And he was giving it back, as everything must be given back, so that, passing through death, it can live forever” (Baldwin 25). This incidence brings understanding. The narrator finally comprehends Sonny’s identity and personality. He is proud of sonny’s undertakings as a musician.

Why music and art make the love between the siblings coherent

The love between the narrator and sonny is coherent because the narrator believes that it is his responsibility to look after his brother. The narrator loves his brother, but he feels that, by becoming a musician, Sonny will fail. In one of the flashbacks in the story, the narrator recalls his mother asking him to watch out for sonny.

His mother reminds him that when his father was young, he witnessed his brother’s murder. He was knocked by a car, and the occupants of the car did not bother to check on him. His father never recovered from that the incidence and his mother did not want the same thing to happen to the narrator.

His mother’s words encourage him to be his brother’s keeper (Baldwin 9). As a result, the narrator feels compelled to ensure that his brother is safe. This obligation strengthens their relationship. However, the narrator still feels like music is not the best option for Sonny. The narrator wants only the best for his brother. The narrator has a loving family and a respectable career, and he wishes that his brother will find the same success in something else other than music.

Music makes the love among the siblings more coherently because of the narrator’s feelings towards musicians. The narrator believes musicians are lazy people in search of a way to escape the issues of life.

Furthermore, the narrator thinks that musicians are drug addicts who lead immoral lifestyles. He relates this lifestyle to his neighborhood. Both of them are brought up in Harlem where, they endure the same poverty and hopelessness that engulf their neighborhood (Baldwin 10). The narrator decides to be a teacher while sonny desires to be a musician.

When he finds out that his brother is arrested, he does not attempt to help him because he is torn between love and disgust, apprehension and distrust. He is frustrated because Sonny has no intentions of leaving the poverty in Harlem. Music represents a cage that keeps him locked up in Harlem. He fails to comprehend why Sonny still goes back to the same lifestyle. This assumption and fear make his relationship with his brother coherent. He dismisses his dreams of being a musician because he believes it is a poor choice.

Music and art affect the relationship between the narrator and Sonny in many ways. They fight because of music, but in the end, they understand each other because of the same. The narrator does not appreciate the lifestyle of musicians. He believes they are lazy people without a vision. For that reason, he disapproves Sonny’s decisions.

He associates music with poverty and does not comprehend how musicians can become successful. The narrator loves his brother, but he is frustrated with his choices. He wants his brother to rise above poverty and hopelessness. He feels a sense of obligation towards him and desires the best for him. Music is a source of conflict as well as understanding of this story.

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. Sonny’s Blues . Stuttgart: Klett Ernst /Schulbuch, 2009. Scribd Net Library. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2023, December 19). Analysis of “Sonny’s Blue” of James Baldwin. https://ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-sonnys-blue-of-james-baldwin/

"Analysis of “Sonny’s Blue” of James Baldwin." IvyPanda , 19 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-sonnys-blue-of-james-baldwin/.

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1. IvyPanda . "Analysis of “Sonny’s Blue” of James Baldwin." December 19, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-sonnys-blue-of-james-baldwin/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Analysis of “Sonny’s Blue” of James Baldwin." December 19, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-sonnys-blue-of-james-baldwin/.

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Analysis of "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin

Baldwin's story was published in the height of the Civil Rights Era

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"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin was first published in 1957, which places it at the heart of the civil rights movement in the United States. That's three years after Brown v. Board of Education , two years after Rosa Parks refused to sit at the back of the bus, six years before Martin Luther King, Jr. , delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech and seven years before President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

Plot of "Sonny's Blues"

The story opens with the first-person narrator reading in the newspaper that his younger brother — from whom he is estranged — has been arrested for selling and using heroin. The brothers grew up in Harlem , where the narrator still lives. The narrator is a high school algebra teacher and he is a responsible husband and father. In contrast, his brother, Sonny, is a musician who has led a much wilder life.

For several months after the arrest, the narrator does not contact Sonny. He disapproves of, and worries about, his brother's drug use and he is alienated by his brother's attraction to bebop music. But after the narrator's daughter dies of polio , he feels compelled to reach out to Sonny.

When Sonny is released from prison, he moves in with his brother's family. After a couple of weeks, Sonny invites the narrator to come to hear him play piano at a nightclub. The narrator accepts the invitation because he wants to understand his brother better. At the club, the narrator begins to appreciate the value of Sonny's music as a response to suffering and he sends over a drink to show his respect.

Inescapable Darkness

Throughout the story, darkness is used to symbolize the threats that menace the African-American community. When the narrator discusses his students, he says:

"All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness."

As his students approach adulthood, they realize how limited their opportunities will be. The narrator laments that many of them may already be using drugs, just as Sonny did, and that perhaps the drugs will do "more for them than algebra could." The darkness of the movies echoed later in a comment about watching TV screens rather than windows, suggests that entertainment has drawn the boys' attention away from their own lives.

As the narrator and Sonny ride in a cab toward Harlem — "the vivid, killing streets of our childhood" — the streets "darken with dark people." The narrator points out that nothing has really changed since their childhood. He notes that:

"… houses exactly like the houses of our past yet dominated the landscape, boys exactly like the boys we once had been found themselves smothering in these houses, came down into the streets for light and air, and found themselves encircled by disaster."

Though both Sonny and the narrator have traveled the world by enlisting in the military, they have both ended up back in Harlem. And though the narrator in some ways has escaped the "darkness" of his childhood by getting a respectable job and starting a family, he realizes that his children are facing all the same challenges he faced.

His situation doesn't seem much different from that of the older people he remembers from childhood.

"The darkness outside is what the old folks have been talking about. It's what they've come from. It's what they endure. The child knows that they won't talk any more because if he knows too much about what's happened to them , he'll know too much too soon, about what's going to happen to him ."

The sense of prophecy here — the certainty of "what's going to happen" — shows a resignation to the inevitable. The "old folks" address the imminent darkness with silence because there's nothing they can do about it.

A Different Kind of Light

The nightclub where Sonny plays is very dark. It's on "a short, dark street," and the narrator tells us that "the lights were very dim in this room and we couldn't see."

Yet there is a sense that this darkness provides safety for Sonny, rather than menace. The supportive older musician Creole "erupt[s] out of all that atmospheric lighting" and tells Sonny, "I been sitting right here … waiting for you." For Sonny, the answer to suffering may lie within the darkness, not in escaping it.

Looking at the light on the bandstand, the narrator tells us that the musicians are "careful not to step into that circle of light too suddenly: that if they moved into the light too suddenly, without thinking, they would perish in the flame."

Yet when the musicians start to play, "the lights on the bandstand, on the quartet, turned to a kind of indigo. Then they all looked different there." Note the phrase "on the quartet": it's important that the musicians are working as a group. Together they're making something new, and the light changes and becomes accessible to them. They haven't done this "without thinking." Rather, they've done it with hard work and "torment."

Though the story is told with music rather than words, the narrator still describes the music as a conversation among the players, and he talks about Creole and Sonny having a "dialogue." This wordless conversation among the musicians contrasts with the resigned silence of the "old folks." 

As Baldwin writes:

"For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness."

Instead of trying to find individual escape routes from the darkness, they are improvising together to create a new kind of light. 

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Sonny’s Blues

James baldwin, everything you need for every book you read..

The central concern of “Sonny’s Blues” is suffering: Baldwin emphasizes that suffering is universal, and that it is also cyclical—that suffering tends to lead to more suffering. Baldwin demonstrates the effects of suffering on several different scales: he shows the way suffering affects an individual life, the way it affects a family throughout generations, and the way it affects a society overall.

The story—set in 1950s Harlem, a New York neighborhood that was then at the center of urban black life—is particularly concerned with the difficult lives that await young black men in America. This is shown through the narrator’s reflections on the sad futures that his high school students face (lives of drugs, violence, and rage at having “their heads bumped abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities”), as well as the narrator ’s and Sonny ’s difficulty leaving Harlem despite their desire to get out. Baldwin shows that suffering is a central component of the African American experience, and Harlem is portrayed as a trap—a place of violence and suffering that, because of the trauma and racism its residents experience, is nearly impossible to escape.

Throughout the course of the story, Baldwin also reveals the parallel suffering occurring in the lives of different members of the narrator’s family, which emphasizes the echoes between the sufferings of previous generations and the suffering of the present. For instance, the narrator’s father ’s despair over having watched his brother die mirrors the narrator’s own guilt and sadness about his failure to help Sonny with his addiction. Baldwin is not optimistic, either, about the next generation—the narrator, despite his becoming a schoolteacher, has not been able to provide better opportunities for his own children. They live in a rundown housing project and his daughter died an agonizing death of polio. He worries that his sons , like Sonny, will fall into the drugs that are everywhere on the streets of their neighborhood. This suggests that suffering is passed down generationally.

“Sonny’s Blues” also explores the ways that individual suffering ruins lives, particularly due to people’s reticence or inability to talk about their suffering. Baldwin shows how private suffering turns people bitter, estranges relationships, and even leads people to illness, addiction, or death. This is revealed most poignantly through the narrator who, at first glance, seems to be living a better life than Sonny. As the story progresses, however, we begin to understand the magnitude of the narrator’s anger, bitterness, and fear—he seems obsessed with avoiding the suffering that has plagued his family and community, but that obsession has effectively meant that he is fixated on suffering in a way that makes him miserable. While Sonny is more able to speak of his suffering than the narrator, he too seems to have been overwhelmed by suffering, which led him to addiction (itself a microcosm of self-perpetuating suffering), legal trouble, and temporary estrangement from his brother.

Baldwin does not promise an easy escape to such overwhelming suffering, but he does give hints that the burden of these cycles of suffering can be lessened. The narrator’s epiphany at the jazz club shows the importance of expressing suffering in order to take control of it, and Sonny’s friendships with musicians show how creating community can bring relief.

Cycles of Suffering ThemeTracker

Cycles of Suffering Quotes in Sonny’s Blues

These boys, now, were living as we’d been living then, they were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities.

I certainly didn’t want to know how it felt. It filled everything, the people, the houses, the music, the dark, quicksilver barmaid, with menace; and this menace was their reality.

I feel like a man who’s been trying to climb up out of some deep, real deep and funky hole and just saw the sun up there, outside. I got to get outside.

Boys exactly like the boys we once had been found themselves smothering in these houses, came down into the streets for light and air and found themselves encircled by disaster. Some escaped the trap, most didn’t. Those who got out always left something of themselves behind.

The moment Sonny and I started into the house I had the feeling that I was simply bringing him back into the danger he had almost died trying to escape.

You can see the darkness growing against the windowpanes and you hear the street noises every now and again, or maybe the jangling beat of a tambourine from one of the churches close by, but it’s real quiet in the room. For a moment nobody’s talking, but every face looks darkening, like the sky outside…Everyone is looking at something a child can’t see.

The silence, the darkness coming, and the darkness in the faces frightens the child obscurely….The darkness outside is what the old folks have been talking about. It’s what they’ve come from. It’s what they endure. The child knows that they won’t talk anymore because if he knows too much about what’s happened to them , he’ll know too much too soon, about what’s going to happen to him .

“He says he never in his life seen anything as dark as that road after the lights of that car had gone away.”

“I ain’t telling you all this,” she said, “to make you scared or bitter or to make you hate nobody. I’m telling you this because you got a brother. And the world ain’t changed.”

“You got to hold on to your brother,” she said, “and don’t let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you gets with him. You going to be evil with him many a time. But don’t you forget what I told you, you hear?…You may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you’s there .”

“Look, brother. I don’t want to stay in Harlem no more, I really don’t.” He was very earnest. He looked at me, then over towards the kitchen window. There was something in his eyes I’d never seen before, some thoughtfulness, some worry all his own. He rubbed the muscle of one arm. “It’s time I was getting out of here.”

I think I may have written Sonny the very day that little Grace was buried. I was sitting in the living-room in the dark, by myself, and I suddenly thought of Sonny. My trouble made his real.

Not a soul under the sound of their voices was hearing this song for the first time, not one of them had been rescued. Nor had they seen much in the way of rescue work being done around them….As the singing filled the air the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing on something within; the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them and time seemed, nearly, to fall away from the sullen, belligerent, battered faces, as though they were fleeing back to their first condition, while dreaming of their last.

“When she was singing before,” said Sonny, abruptly, “her voice reminded me for a minute of what heroin feels like sometimes—when it’s in your veins. It makes you feel sort of warm and cool at the same time. And distant. And—and sure….It makes you feel—in control. Sometimes you’ve got to have that feeling.”

They were not about anything very new. He and his boys up there were keeping it new, at the risk of ruin, destruction, madness, and death, in order to find new ways to make us listen. For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.

I saw my mother’s face again, and felt, for the first time, how the stones of the road she had walked on must have bruised her feet. I saw the moonlit road where my father’s brother died. And it brought something else back to me, and carried me past it, I saw my little girl again and felt Isabel’s tears again, and I felt my own tears begin to rise. And I was yet aware that this was only a moment, that the world waited outside, as hungry as a tiger, and that trouble stretched above us, longer than the sky.

Sonny's Blues

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Sonny's Blues

By james baldwin, sonny's blues themes.

Art plays an important role in " Sonny's Blues ", acting as a bridge between the estranged brothers. Sonny 's inability to speak and the narrator 's inability to listen prevent the brothers from truly communicating with or understanding one another throughout their lives. Music becomes a channel through which Sonny can make himself understood. Witnessing the music of the street revival brings the brothers closer, prompting their first honest conversation in the work. More remarkably, at the climax, Sonny's music helps the narrator finally understand his life and trials. The connection art facilitates becomes the catalyst for a genuine epiphany in the narrator. As one critic explains, "By understanding Sonny's pain and accepting his humanity, his brother understands and accepts himself" (Nelson 28). Art then functions as a means not only for communication, but ultimately for redemption. Baldwin's commentary about the importance of stories suggests that writing, like music and other forms of art, serves this purpose.

Suffering is a constant presence in "Sonny's Blues." From the death of the narrator's daughter to Sonny's drug addiction to the cold-blooded murder of the narrator's uncle, suffering dominates the community. Suffering is, as Sonny passionately argues, inescapable. This suffering is symbolized throughout the work by darkness, which encroaches upon the lives of the narrator's family and community, something to be borne and endured. Sonny explains that his heroin usage is an attempt to cope with suffering that would otherwise paralyze him.

Yet suffering, for all the pain it causes, is essential to both art and redemption. Sonny comments on "how much suffering [the revival singer] must have had to go through" in order to sing so beautifully (132). One can imagine that Sonny's music comes from similarly dark experiences. Suffering and darkness, if used creatively, can produce works of unparalleled beauty. Suffering also confers the ability to understand and feel true compassion for others, which is essential for redemption. Indeed, it isn't until the painful death of his daughter that the narrator begins to walk down a path that leads to his salvation.

Racism and Segregation

Racism is the dark undercurrent that flows through "Sonny's Blues". It is rarely referenced directly but its pull can be felt continuously. For example, Baldwin mentions decrepit housing projects that rise out of Harlem like "rocks in the middle of the boiling sea" (112). The result of local and federal segregationist housing policies, the projects represent the impact of racism on a down-trodden community. Likewise, much of the narrator's anxiety on behalf of his students can be attributed to the fact that they, like Sonny, are young African American men living in a system that ruthlessly and endlessly discriminates against them.

Much of the darkness and suffering in the story referred to can be attributed to the effects of racism; the narrator speaks of suffering as something inherited from one generation to the next in the African American community. The constant and vague influence of racism finally becomes explicit and clear when the narrator's mother explains how drunken white men murdered her brother-in-law. She warns the narrator that a similar fate could befall Sonny, demonstrating her concern that racism is still a very real threat to the family.

Harlem, the setting of "Sonny's Blues," is packed with barely-contained anger. The community is forced to live in an oppressive and painful world; as a result, many are left deeply angry. The narrator describes the neighborhood as a "boiling sea" (112) and comments that his students are "filled with rage" (104). He then speaks of the "hidden menace" that permeates Lenox Avenue (112). Even the narrator's family has been impacted: the narrator's mother describes how the death of the narrator's uncle led his father to harbor a smoldering rage against white men. The anger and resentment of the community have built up to dangerous levels. Sonny senses the explosive potential of Harlem, when, looking down from the window, he wonders aloud how the anger and hatred "don't blow the avenue apart" (135). Through these examples, Baldwin attempts to communicate the anger and desperation that plague Harlem and the wider African American community.

"Sonny's Blues" is a story about pain, suffering, alienation, and anger; however, it is also a story about redemption. At the beginning of the work, the narrator is lost, disconnected from his family and isolated from his community. A painful act of grace--the death of his aptly-named daughter, Grace --allows him to begin to understand the depth of his brother's suffering. In that moment of pain, he contacts his brother, starting the long path to redemption. The brothers begin communicating and eventually Sonny is released from prison and stays with the narrator. When he finally listens to his brother play, the narrator understands and accepts the meaning of his brother's life. In accepting his brother, the narrator accepts himself and his heritage. The climax is a moment of discovery and redemption, in which the narrator is pulled back to his heritage and community, back to his brother and back to himself. He who was lost is now found.

Imprisonment

Imprisonment is a recurring and persistent theme in "Sonny's Blues." Sonny is physically imprisoned when he is jailed for the sale of heroin. Being in prison is a devastating experience for Sonny, who longs for freedom. Yet much of the imprisonment in the story is abstract. The narrator refers to Harlem several times as a trap which individuals must struggle to escape. He comments that even those who successfully leave the neighborhood "always left something of themselves behind, as some animals amputate a leg and leave it in the trap" (112). A pit of poverty, crime, depression, and anger, Harlem traps the individuals who call it a home. When Sonny pleads with his brother to leave Harlem for the military, the narrator notes that he looked "trapped, and in anguish" (123). Sonny's desperation to escape prison is reflected in his desperation to escape Harlem. Even the narrator fails to truly escape his neighborhood; despite his middle-class position he must still live in a decrepit tenement in Harlem.

Despite the story's title, evidence in "Sonny's Blues" strongly suggests that it is jazz, more specifically bebop, that Sonny plays. For Baldwin, the blues are not a specific genre of music, but rather something more universal. The narrator explains that the blues are "the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph" (139). Given this definition, the story "Sonny's Blues" is itself a blues piece:  it begins with the suffering of two brothers, follows their growing sense of communion, and ends with the triumph of brotherly love over alienation and pain. The narrator admits that this formula isn't innovative, but claims that "it's the only light we've got in all this darkness" (139). The story "Sonny's Blues" is an attempt, much like Sonny's actual music, to commune with its audience and, through that bridge of understanding and compassion, to relieve suffering. Baldwin is not playing, but writing the blues. The title "Sonny's Blues" refers not to the specific genre of music Sonny plays but to Sonny's story of suffering and triumph, of loss and redemption through music.

Sonny’s Blues Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Sonny’s Blues is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

1. How does the narrator describe the streets and the projects?

From the text:

So we drove along, between the green of the park and the stony, lifeless elegance of hotels and apartment buildings, toward the vivid, killing streets of our childhood. These streets hadn't changed , though housing projects jutted up...

How much money does the narrator give Sonny's friend?

The narrator give Sonny's friend six dollars.

Sonny’s blues

"Sonny's Blues" is told in the first person from the point of view of an unnamed narrator who, we find out, is Sonny's brother. "Sonny's Blues" takes place in Harlem during the early 1950s.

Study Guide for Sonny’s Blues

Sonny's Blues study guide contains a biography of James Baldwin, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Sonny's Blues
• Sonny's Blues Summary
• Character List

Essays for Sonny’s Blues

Sonny's Blues essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin.

• Music Effecting Change
• Black Masculinity As Constructed Through Baldwin
• Redemption in "Sonny's Blues"
• Darkness and Light in "Sonny's Blues"
• Baldwin's Fiction: Liminal Agency and the Condition of Blackness

Lesson Plan for Sonny’s Blues

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Sonny's Blues
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Sonny's Blues Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Sonny’s Blues

• Introduction
• References to other works

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Home > Student Scholarship > Thinking Matters Symposium > 2021 Thinking Matters Symposium > Oral Presentations > 9

Presentation Title

Memory and Emotional Estrangement in James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues"

Presenter Information

Robin Davis , University of Southern Maine Follow

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Faculty Mentor

Eve Raimon, PhD

James Baldwin, Sonny's Blues, literary analysis

This oral presentation focuses on a critical analysis of the story “Sonny’s Blues,” by James Baldwin. "Sonny's Blues" follows an anonymous narrator as he navigates a troubled relationship with his younger brother Sonny. As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that the animosity between the two brothers is rooted in their family’s experiences of trauma, and that the narrator’s inability to accept Sonny’s choices stems in part from his own unresolved pain. While racism and classism are underlying themes of the narrative, at its root, “Sonny’s Blues'' is a story of a relationship, acceptance, and reconciliation. Both the narrator and Sonny are products of a shared traumatic history, but represent two different ways of responding to it. While exploring the importance of communication and emotional connection, Baldwin shows that past pain is always present in some way and cannot be denied. Rather, one must accept suffering as part of their identity and find ways to live with its presence. In “Sonny’s Blues,” Baldwin shows that to live well one must be willing to cope with all aspects of life: the joy, sorrow, and love found within ourselves, our experiences and our relationships. The story’s recurring themes of pain and healing, emotional estrangement and connection all speak to this perspective. By breaking down the walls between the two brothers and allowing them to begin a reconciliation, Baldwin shows that there is always hope and the potential for healing even within the encroaching darkness of the past.

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