Contradiction In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

The story Sonny’s Blues was a very interesting to read with the talking about the brothers with more of the story being about the older brother who is the narrator. Sonny comes from a family that lived in what people sometimes call squalor. The narrator talks about how Sonny and his brother did not see eye to eye with him playing music in the bars and night clubs, also talking about the addiction to drugs. Within the book it can be seen that unspoken approval while at the bar from the narrator and Sonny when he sips the scotch and milk; and places it back on the piano to play the next song. The reader can see how the older brother being the narrator has such a hard time with his brother’s choice of life till after he comes to terms with his mother’s death, his daughter death and having a father who was a drunk. The reader can see the ups and downs of Sonny’s addiction to a good obsession being jazz, and the bad device being drugs. The narrator tells a transition story from when he first finds out about his brother Sonny being arrested for drugs to the end him coming to the realization of Sonny trying to tells his story by playing the piano. The older brother states that “A great block of ice got settled in my belly and kept melting their slowly all day long, while I
Sonny tells his brother that he wants to pursue his dream of being a musician and his bother starts to question him further about it. His brother is almost hounding him about it and it makes Sonny very mad. Sonny tells his brother that he doesn’t wants any of the average jobs that his brothers wants for him, but to be a musician and play jazz. The narrator being Sonny’s older brother makes the statement “Doesn’t all this take a lot of time? Can you make a living at it?” (Baldwin 135). The narrator is questioning his brother about his choice with his career