Music In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

Words: 690

Pages: 3

Open Document

The short story, “Sonny’s Blues”, is about two brothers who lose communication and come back into each other's lives after the narrator loses his daughter, Grace. In the end, the brothers reconnect after finally having something to talk about, music. “In "Sonny's Blues," music is everywhere; it is the atmosphere and soundscape of Baldwin's story.” (McParland 132) The art of music helps people better understand another's life.
The narrator does not understand, his brother, Sonny’s view on music. He believes that his brother will not be able to follow his dream of becoming a jazz pianist because it will not provide him with a lifestyle of fame and fortune. The narrator thinks that music is impossible as a career and a piano will not be an easy instrument to master. However, Sonny’s brother had arranged for him to live with his fiance, Isabel, while he was off in the army. Sonny would often skip school and stay home practicing the …show more content…
The narrator does not write Sonny until Grace passes away. The narrator communicates through only letters to his brother while he is still in prison. When Sonny is released his brother is there to pick him up and take him home. Throughout the whole story the narrator does not listen to how his brother feels or anything he is trying to say… "I hear you. But you never hear anything I say.", until the brothers go to the club for Sonny to perform his talents. Baldwin states in his story, “but the man who creates the music is hearing something else, is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air.” Sonny did listen to his brother all the time. He listened when he told him to stay and continue his last year of school before entering the army. Sonny did his best to listen to his brother but when his brother failed to protect him, got married and moved away, he felt lost and that is when his drug addiction and suffering

Biblical Allusions In Sonny's Blues

James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” includes many motifs. However, three of these motifs really stand out to me: Biblical allusions, suffering, and music. “The biblical foundation of James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’” by James Tackach elaborates on the biblical aspects of this short story. “Troubled reading: ‘Sonny’s Blues’” by Eva Kowalska shows the suffering and musical emphasis in this short story. Two main biblical texts form the foundation of Baldwin’s story: the Cain and Abel story…

Words 823 - Pages 4

the great discovery Essay examples

Michael Proctor Condelli Honors English Pd 8 16 March 2014 In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin the theme individualism is built using plot, characterization, and a jazz motif. Richard N. Albert shares his opinion of Sonny throughout “The Jazz-Blues Motif in James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’” where he starts as a lost drug addict who finds himself through music and family. The road Sonny goes down with heroin is symbolism depicting his unguided life but as the narrator, his brother becomes more…

Words 991 - Pages 4

Essay about Sonny's Blues

Sonny’s music releases deeply embedded emotions in both the narrator and Sonny. Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin is about two young brothers that are raised in a ghetto in Harlem, New York. The story is narrator by Sonny’s older brother and in the book both brothers tell of their hardships in Harlem. In the quote it says, “But the man who creates the music is hearing something else, is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air” (Baldwin, 146). This quote…

Words 409 - Pages 2

Reality In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

The short story "Sonny's Blues", takes place in the streets of Harlem, New York during the 1950's. Sonny's family had never been good at communicating starting with their parents keeping things from them. This leads to all of them searching for alternative outlets to deal with trapped emotions. In "Sonny's Blues" James Baldwin illustrates how trying to escape reality can create communication problems with loved ones. Often those who have a hard time communicating have trouble maintaining good relationships…

Words 765 - Pages 4

Oppressed By Society In Sonny's Blues, By James Baldwin

Reflection Paper In “Sonny’s Blues,” James Baldwin enhanced me as a reader on how the affect of music can help bring people to find solutions of being oppressed by their own society. In the story a major character name Sonny was the men being oppressed by society. “They were living as we were living now… They were filled with rage.” James refers to that living in a hostile environment will lead most to start doing drugs at a young age. In a relatable way sonny reminded me of “black males in America…

Words 307 - Pages 2

Sonny's Blues Contrasts

In his short story “Sonny’s Blues”, James Baldwin uses many contrasts such as light and dark and black and white to emphasize important aspects of the plot. Though there are many contrasts which are obvious, some the reader has to read between the lines to understand. One of the major not-so-obvious contrasts is music being the opposite of darkness. Characters throughout the story use music to brighten their lives metaphorically and deal with the suffering and boredom that surrounds them. Throughout…

Words 298 - Pages 2

Paper 4 Point Of View

View “Sonny’s Blues”, by James Baldwin describes what it is like, for a black male in Harlem, in the 1930’s, and the way music helps someone express themselves. It is told in first-person by Sonny’s younger brother who tells the story through many people. He is very descriptive and really captures what others around him are saying and doing. Sonny’s Blues shows the complex relationship between brothers (Shmoop Editorial). Starting off, you don’t know that the narrator is Sonny’s brother right…

Words 426 - Pages 2

Symbolism In Sonny's Blues

Sonny’s Blues In the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, Mr. Baldwin greatly interprets the lifestyle that the Harlem community has been recycling for years. Mr. Baldwin uses metaphors to explain the symbolism of jazz during the late 1940s in Harlem. The narrator, Sonny’s brother has a change of character from the beginning of the story to the end as he finally appreciates the importance of music through a different perspective. The narrator understands the significance of Jazz and how…

Words 656 - Pages 3

Essay about Sonny S Blues

retracted] [professor retracted] course date Sonny’s Blues The narrator of “Sonny’s Blues” is an algebra teacher, teaching in the same area where he grew up, Harlem. The narrator remains unnamed throughout the entirety of the events that unfold in the story, possibly an attempt to shift more attention to the narrator’s younger brother, Sonny, or even foreshadowing that the narrator will spend a significant amount of time developing Sonny’s character. Although Sonny’s name appears in the title, we are given…

Words 1545 - Pages 7

Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

James Baldwin “Sonny’s Blues Shanta Carter South University Online English 1300 Gabriel Smith, Instructor The story Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin, explores the theme of suffering experienced by Black Americans as people chained around the ankles by, unemployment, housing problems, the state of being dependent on a drug, state of being locked in a prison, and suicide. The narrator shows the struggle of two brothers separated and caught in the tangled-up connections of time, space and thinking…

Words 1014 - Pages 5