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Sonny's Blue Analysis

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Sonny's Blue Analysis
The Struggle of African Americans to Derive Meaning and Identity in African American Literature: A Sociological and Biological Criticism

The period 1900s to the 1950s features an increased volume of works of art by African Americans, with these ranging from music, visual art, dance and literature (Jones 4). Jones refers to this period as “the Harlem Renaissance”, a period through African Americans literature writers developed and emphasized on the heritage and identity of the African Americans, giving meaning to what it meant to be an African American. Most especially focused on the struggle that African Americans had to face in order to assert their identity and position in society. This struggle for meaning and identity is strongly expressed in James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blue”, Langston Hughes’s poem “The Negro …show more content…
"Dreams "Deferred" But Identity Affirmed and Manhood Restored: A New Look At A Raisin in the Sun." Studies in Literature & Language 5.3 (2012): 30-39.
Baldwin, James. ‘Sonny’s Blues.’ The Jazz Fiction Anthology. Ed. Sascha Feinstein and David Rife. Bloomington: Indiana, UP, 2009, 17-48
Bloom, Harold. ‘Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: James Baldwin – Updates Edition.’ Pennsylvania: Chelsea House Pub, 2007.
Hughes, Langston. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” In Selected Poems of Langston Hughes. Serpent’s Tail, London, 1999.
Jones, Sharon Lynette. "Langston Hughes 's Transnational Journeys: History, Heritage, and Identity in 'The Negro Speaks Of Rivers ' And 'Negro '." LATCH: A Journal for the Study of the Literary Artifact in Theory, Culture, or History 4. (2011): 74-88. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Leach, Laurie F. Langston Hughes: A Biography. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2004. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Reilly, John M. "Sonny 's Blues": James Baldwin 's Image of Black Community." In Critical Insights: James Baldwin. Salem Press,
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