Symbolism In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

James Baldwin was a writer and civil rights activist. He was born August 2, 1924, in Harlem, New York. What once was a community of artists and musicians now a neighborhood of African American Culture and a neighborhood deeply affected by poverty and violence. Baldwin would go on to graduate high school in 1942, however he would put college on hold to stay and help support his seven brothers. At the age of seventeen, Baldwin old leave his family and move to a neighborhood in New York City, Greenwich Village, which was famous for its artistic environment and free thinkers.

In 1948, Baldwin in his mid twenties would move to Paris, after becoming aware of his homosexuality and appalled because of the prejudice against both blacks and homosexuals

Baldwin uses symbols such as ice, lightness and darkness, and jazz music to add more depth and meaning to “Sonny’s Blues.” Throughout the whole story, jazz music plays a major role in defining the characters and culture of Harlem, which is overwhelmed by drugs, poverty, and racism. Jazz music has a different meaning to each of the characters of the story. For the narrator it is a reminder of Sonny’s drug addiction, because he believes that a musician needs to get high in order to play music. However, for Sonny it is confortable to him, he loves to listen and play the music. It is an escape for Sonny, the one positive thing in his life. The twist in the story is that the jazz music is what helps the brothers reconnect. When the narrator goes to the club to watch his brother play and he finally

"I was scared, scared for Sonny. He became real to me again. A great block of ice got settled in my belly and kept melting there slowly all day long, while I taught my algebra classes. It was a special kind of ice. It kept melting, sending trickles of ice water all up and down my veins, but it never got less. Sometimes it hardened and seemed to expand until I felt my guts were going to come spilling out or that I was going to choke or scream ( Gioia, Dana 27)." It brought an overwhelming feeling of emotions. He refers to ice as a way to numb the shock of learning that his younger brother Sonny was arrested. Baldwin refers to ice several times in the story, symbolizing fear, dread, and the feeling of being unsettled or