Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Review of James Baldwin's Sonny's Blues

Better Essays
1581 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Review of James Baldwin's Sonny's Blues
In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” the unsaid brotherly relationship amongst the speaker and his younger brother Sonny is illustrated throughout the narrator’s point of view. The two brothers have not spoken in time until the narrator receives a note from Sonny following his daughter’s death. He takes this moment as a vital indication from Sonny and feels the need to act in response. Despite the fact that both Sonny and the narrator reside in separate worlds, all Sonny desires is a brother to care for him while the narrator finds himself in the past, ultimately learning his responsibility as an older brother.
The speaker and Sonny at last get a chance to have a word with each other following many years, they begin to gradually open up to each other the dismal reality that they faced. ’But there’s no way not to suffer--is there Sonny?’ ‘I believe not,’ he said and smiled, ‘but that’s never stopped anyone from trying.’ He looked at me. ‘Has it?’ I realized, with this mocking look, that there stood between us, forever, beyond the power of time of forgiveness, the fact that I had held silence…. so long! -- When he had needed human speech to help him. (848)
The narrator realizes that it was his responsibility to be at hand for his younger brother for all the years that Sonny looked for him, even if it was just to talk or listen. He doesn’t know if Sonny will be capable of forgiving him, or if too much time has passed to be any forgiveness. Even though the narrator is there for his brother now, he could have been an authority figure to him for his entire life, just as any brother should be.
The two characters come to the appreciation that they do share a brotherly acquaintance, and that the narrator cares immensely for his brother, even after all the time of detachment. The narrator says, “I don’t give a damn what other people do, I don’t even care how they suffer. I just care how you suffer.’ And he looked at me, ‘Please believe me,’ I said, ‘I don’t want to see you--die--trying not to suffer”(848). He knows his brother has a drug addiction, but he does not desire to witness him give up without a fight. He cares about his brother, which is what Sonny has desired all this time, an elder brother to tell him that he ought to not give up, that he must make smart decisions and make something of himself. Sonny’s brother is trying to make up for all the time apart from Sonny during his time of need. This will be his way of making himself feel better for abandoning his younger brother countless years beforehand.
Sonny has had trouble with drugs for some time, which leads him having to serve a prison term. Sonny’s brother tries to stay unaware, which is part of the reason he turned his back on his younger brother for numerous years. “I couldn’t believe it: but what I mean by that is that I couldn’t find any room for it anywhere inside of me. I had kept it outside me for a long time. I hadn’t wanted to know. I had had suspicions, but I didn’t name them, I kept putting them away”(831). The way that he dealt with his younger brother’s problems was by turning his back on them. He knew that Sonny was dealing with heavy problems, but chose to look past them and live his own life. He also knows that leaving his brother during the time he needed him the most was wrong of him to do. The narrator goes on to say, “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”(831). The narrator has seen many kids around him in Harlem that went down the wrong road, but tried to convince himself that that would never happen to his brother. He was never there to steer him in the right direction, which could have possibly lead Sonny past drugs and jail, and onto a promising future. He knows that Sonny lives in a place where many kids make bad decisions with drugs and crime, but by turning his back on Sonny he was never there to protect him like an older brother should.
Sonny tells the narrator that he has always had a dream of becoming a musician. As a natural instinct, the narrator objects by saying that he should finish school first. This important part in the story shows dialog from a protective older brother, a brother that Sonny has never had the chance to have in his life before and desperately needs now more than ever.
‘Sonny.’ I said, ‘I know how you feel. But if you don’t finish school now, you’re going to be sorry later that you didn’t.’ I grabbed him by the shoulders. ‘And you only got another year. It isn’t so bad. And I’ll comeback and I swear I’ll help you do whatever you want to do. Just try to put up with it till I come back, Will you please do that? For me? (843).
The narrator is finally coming to his senses; he knows that his younger brother needs him to be a role model and guide to set his life in the right path.
The moment the narrator finally remembers that Sonny is a person who should be an important part of his life, not just a past memory, was the moment he saw a story in the newspaper about Sonny being arrested for peddling and using heroin. “Then perhaps I just started at it, at the newsprint spelling out his name, spelling out the story.” He goes on to say, “And at the same time I couldn’t doubt it. I was scared, scared for Sonny. He became real to me again”(830). This turning point in the narrator’s life is a crucial aspect of the story because it is the moment when he remembers his past, and the fact that his younger brother is dealing with serious problems. The reality of the imperfections of the world, especially the dangers of his hometown of Harlem come back to haunt him. He has put his past behind him for so many years that the reality of his brother being arrested for drugs to him is like “great block of ice got settled in my belly and kept melting there slowly all day long”(831). He began wondering what Sonny looked like, and if he still had his bright face. Although he does not respond to his brother right away, this moment strikes the beginning of the narrator’s memory of his younger brother.
Harlem plays a major role in the narrator’s life and his relationship with Sonny because it is where they were both born and raised. It is not the best neighborhood for children to grow up in, which is associated with the reasons for Sonny’s poor decisions. “All this was carrying me some place I didn’t want to go. I certainly didn’t want to know how it felt. It filled everything, the people, the houses, the music, the dark, the quicksilver barmaid, with menace; and this menace was their reality”(833). The narrator realizes that Harlem is a main reason for why Sonny is going through such struggles. He does not want to go back and face his past life. He brings Sonny into his house, which reminds him of the house in which they grew up in. “The same things happen, they’ll have the same things to remember. 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”(836). The narrator is acting like the protective older brother that he should have been all along.
After the narrator’s daughter dies he receives a condolence letter from Sonny, which leads him to keep in touch with him as often as possible and eventually see him. “When I saw him many things I thought I had forgotten came flooding back to me.” He goes on to say, “He looked very unlike my baby brother. Yet, when he smiled, when we shook hands, the baby brother I’d never known looked out from the depths of his private life, like an animal waiting to be coaxed into the light”(835). The narrator describes Sonny as somebody he has never known. All the years apart has turned the two brothers into complete strangers. This moment between the two men is very important to the central theme of the story, which is the importance of a bond between brothers.
Throughout the story, the narrator learns how important it is to Sonny for him to care and listen to him. Sonny is vulnerable and in a state where he is getting into trouble with drugs and alcohol perhaps because he feels as though no one cares enough to help him. The narrator lives his life as a teacher while Sonny spends his days using drugs hoping someday to pursue his dreams of music. Both characters end up in a place they are meant to be; acting as family and leaning on each other for support, which is the true importance of an older brother.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The story, Sonny’s Blues, describes the lives of two brothers growing up in Harlem in the early 1960’s. Sonny and his brother are different in the way the go about life in general. They were both raised in the same household, yet they grew up to be totally different people. As the story progresses we see that both brothers have troubles in their lives and we get to see how each thinks and acts when facing such ordeals. While the brothers differ in the way they internalize and cope with their problems, they both show selfish characteristics, but ultimately feel remorseful for not being in each others’ lives.…

    • 1083 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Sonny is faced with the hardship of having to go to prison , this is hard for him but having the narrator their for him makes it easier . Sonny at first doesn't talk to the narrator while in prison but towards the end of him being in prison , he and the narrator start writing letters to each other . These letters don't stop until Sonny gets out of prison and now he…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sonny's Blues Theme

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, the main idea is: the obligation towards brotherly love. The short story expresses this idea through the use of strong characterization, focusing on Sonny and his older brother, and their life together. This short story is meaningful with several emotional experiences that are heart-breaking and life changing. Taking place in Harlem, the story describes the relationship of two brothers, the narrator and Sonny, and their different and similar ways for coping with the African American struggles of that time.…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sonny's Blues

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In Sonny’s Blues, the narrator is self-reflecting his experiences 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 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”.…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Sonnys Blues Writemode

    • 1557 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “Sonny’s Blues” is a short story by the author James Baldwin. It is a story about two brothers and `their severe struggles in Harlem and the different ways in which they handled them. The author shows through the narrator and his brother Sonny how two individuals can follow two totally different life paths, be distant for most of their lives, but in the end find common ground through a shared understanding of the pain of human struggle, which this case expressed by Jazz. Through giving the main character specific character traits, the author shapes the central conflict that gives meaning to the story. The central conflict follows the formula person vs. self, because the narrator struggles between feeling the desire to take care of Sonny and the impulse to throwing Sonny to the curb because of his always values and bad decisions. The narrator starts to realize many things starting after the death of his daughter Grace and culminating with him finally listening to his brother play music. The central idea resolves it self by the Narrator empathizing with his brothers struggles in life and finally understanding through Sonny’s music how he dealt with that suffering. This allows him to realize that he must embrace the conflicting nature of his feelings for Sonny and that the bonds of brotherhood should transcend these things.…

    • 1557 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Salvation In Sonny's Blues

    • 1521 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The dynamic between Sonny and his brother is a flawed one. Their relationship is complicated, and this causes a lot of suffering for the two of them. This is done to show the differences in life that can exist before,…

    • 1521 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    James Baldwin’s literary piece “Sonny’s Blues” is one that can be interpreted in Various ways. However, it is clear that one theme repeated throughout the short story is the idea of emotional complications attached to brotherhood. One which evokes positive intentions along with an extremely strong desire to make sure your brother is okay. Still, this feeling can unintentionally become dreadful. This is depicted in Sonny’s Blues as it overcomes the narrator's senses suppressing him from not only understanding but listening to other people's perception, which Keith E. Byerman also illustrates in his piece, “Words And Music: Narrative ambiguity In ‘Sonny’s Blues.’” Baldwin’s use of Blues depicts the power of nonverbal communication that enables…

    • 1227 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    These articles summarize the character view points from the narrator and his brother Sonny. It helps to sum up the main events in the story “Sonny’s Blues”. I am going to use this article to help support my points in how the character begins to change his view point on his brother Sonny, and how the character meets that change he needed to find to keep his promise to his mother and to regain faith in his brother.…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sonny’s Blues is a famous short story written by James Baldwin. The story tells about the brotherhood between 2 black-men siblings – an elder brother and his younger brother named Sonny. Sonny wanted to be a musician but his brother disagreed with him, the conflicts between them and his unableness to reach his dream to become a musician led Sonny to start using heroin.…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin a schoolteacher from the city of Harlem struggles with life and figuring out how to helped his troubled brother. All though named Sonny’s Blues the main character is actually Sonny’s brother who is the narrator and goes through his life and how he reacts to the many problems his younger brother has come into. The brothers grew up in the poverty stricken city of Harlem where the brothers had to avoid drugs and violence constantly. Growing up, Sonny struggled to stay out of trouble and ended up making some bad decisions throughout his life and ends up landing him in jail and addicted to heroin. The un-named brother of Sonny who is the narrator of the story begins to realize he should help his brother instead of pushing him away after the arrest and by the end has completely changed his view on what he thinks of Sonny and becomes sympathetic.…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sonny's Blues

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sonny no more." This angers the narrator because it reminds him that he himself had give…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sonnys Blues

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When reading this story you find out right away that the narrator and his brother Sonny do not have a good relationship. This stems from Sonny’s struggles between substance abuse and wanting to play music instead of finishing school like the narrator wanted for his brother. The narrator states within the second paragraph of the story that, “He had been picked up the evening before, in a raid on an apartment downtown, for peddling and using heroin.” (Baldwin 68) This resulted in him being thrown in jail. The narrator saw his brother’s life spiraling out of control and didn’t know how to cope with it or even how to help him. This resulted in him going through a conflict within himself to decide whether he wants to reconnect with his brother and mend the fences or to cut off all ties. Another reason being that he and his brother Sonny do not get along comes from when their mother passed away and the narrator wanted Sonny to finish school and stay in Harlem but Sonny had a different idea. He wanted to escape the streets of Harlem and get away and pursue his dream with music, piano/jazz music in particular. While the Narrator was away Sonny was to stay with his soon to be wife’s parents. Sonny did not agree with this at all. When discussing the matter Sonny states “’I want to join the army. Or the navy, I don’t care. If I say I’m old…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin makes excellent use of multiple literary elements. Namely, I think the writer utilizes symbolism and the nuances of point of view to give the story a deeper connotation that could not be said plainly. The meat of the story is about an unnamed older brother’s relationship and differences with his younger brother, Sonny. Sonny’s aspiration to become a jazz pianist leads him in an opposite direction than his brother, and into a world where the common suffering is dealt with by heroin and music. The fundamental differences between the brothers in their lack of understanding for each other and their gradual acceptance of one another is highlighted and explained by what the symbolism adds to the story and the change in the narrator’s point of view at the end of the story.…

    • 1558 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” the reader meets Sonny, a recovering addict, and his older brother, a high school teacher. Although these two brothers have completely different lives and personalities, the author’s use of symbolism brings them more tightly together like a real family. Baldwin uses symbols such as ice, lightness and darkness, and jazz music to add more depth and meaning to “Sonny’s Blues.”…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The oldest brother in the family has strong values but can't understand how his brother could get himself into so much trouble like this. He explains in the story that he and his family were trying so hard to be a model middle-class family in the Harlem 1950's. The brother, Sonny, had just returned from the military and didn't seem to be much of a hero, more of a rebel, kind of like he stuck out to the family. He starts to get into things that his family would never imagine him doing, drugs and trouble.…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays