What would you be willing to sacrifice for the one thing that makes you truly happy? Although Sonny does love his family, he also loves his music. The problem being, which does he love more? What is he willing to give up for music? The importance of family is portrayed all throughout “Sonny’s Blue”. Sonny’s has had much suffering throughout his life. But music is what brought him back. First, Sonny is willing to give up his freedom to music. Sonny’s life was hard. He was in and out of jail for drugs. But when he finally got out, music was his one escape. He was a drug addict. So naturally when things got tough and he wanted to get away: there it was. He could just go get a fix and escape reality. Music is life a drug. It can wrap you up and …show more content…
Sonny loved his family but, they were always doubting him. The Narrator was trying to look after his little brother. It was natural for him to be trying to protect and keep Sonny from harm. The narrator had promised there mother that he would protect Sonny. “"Oh, honey," she said, "there's a lot that you don't know. But you are going to find out." She stood up from the window and came over to me. "You got to hold on to your brother," she said, "and don't let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you gets with him. You going to be evil with him many a time. But don't you forget what I told you, you hear?" "I won't forget," I said. "Don't you worry, I won't forget. I won't let nothing happen to Sonny."”(Insert page number). Throughout the entire story every decision that Sonny makes for himself, the narrator is right there telling him why it’s a stupid idea and why he will never be able to do it. Every time the narrator tells him he can’t do something, Sonny works that much harder to achieve that goal. “He looked more helpless than ever, and annoyed, and deeply hurt.” With the narrator consistently belittling Sonny’s dreams, he drifts from his family. Sonny’s family also has a strong hatred for white people. Even the narrator's family has been impacted: the narrator's mother describes how the death of the narrator's uncle led his father to harbor a smoldering rage against white men. There uncle was killed when a car full of white drunk men came at him trying to scare him but the uncle was drunk too. So by the time he jumped he jumped too late and got ran over and the car never stopped. Sonny’s seems to not hold that aggression on all white people because he had been spending time with other musicians in a white girl apartment. “And she finally got it out of him that he'd been down in Greenwich Village, with musicians and other characters, in a white girls apartment.
The narrator keeps in mind that he has an obligation to watch his brother but he tore apart by his emotions which are shifting from love to hate. The reason is, he is unable to accept fully that his brother can change as much as he cares about him. Since he was young, Sonny is haunted
Sonny’s letter written to the narrator in response to the news of the narrator’s daughter dying serves an important role in the story by reestablishing the relationship between the brothers and giving the reader insight into the misery that Sonny felt as a result of his actions. It is revealed to the reader that before the narrator had written his letter to Sonny, that the two had not been on speaking terms for a long time. After hearing of the news, Sonny wrote the letter back to the narrator which formally began their newfound connection to each other. It is revealed within the letter Sonny’s reasoning’s behind his imprisonment as well as the sadness he felt within. Sonny describes himself as “trying to climb up out of some deep, real deep
I chose to write my Response Essay on the story "Sonny's Blues" written by James Baldwin. In Sonny's Blues, the storyteller recounts the tale of his association with his sibling, Sonny. Sonny is a performer not able to get away from the ghetto. Disheartened by his sibling's suffering , the storyteller connects with him, yet discovers that Sonny's hurt powers his music. The narrator is a teacher in Harlem that has changed his life and got out of the ghetto where he grew up.
Throughout the story he struggles to keep this promise. At the end of the story Sonny invites the narrator to come to a music club and hear him play, he accepts the invite. Upon arrival the narrator realizes he is in Sonny’s world. Hearing Sonny play only one set he is in awe and sends his brother a drink of scotch with milk. Sonny accepts it and gives a nod of approval to his brother across the room.
That you shouldn’t let your living situations or surroundings determine your outcome. Sonny's Blues shows challenges that troubled the African-American community, and how drugs troubled the young artists and kept them bound like slaves. How those living in Harlem, felt like there was no escape to the poverty that surrounded them. How a young artist was overcoming his demons, with the support of his family and living out his dream. How one has to forgive and not let the past control one’s future, nor let the surroundings of your environment determine where you will go in
James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" analyzes a very complex relationship between the narrator and his brother, Sonny. Before directing to the attention of the relationship between these two brothers, we have to first understand the personality of each character. Initially, the narrator has a stable job as a hardworking math teacher and makes an effort to assimilate himself to his surroundings, but has never comprehended his brother, Sonny. Sonny is the complete opposite of the narrator. Sonny separates from his brother to become a Blues musician, though becomes addicted to drugs, such as heroin, in order to control his own feelings.
Sonny is the main character in the story who has been through a lot in life. He wanted to be a jazz musician. After going through all the trouble, Sonny was a great musician and he loved to play music more than anything. He used music to escape from all the bad things around him. Most black people grow up in the slums and it is extremely hard to make it out of there without getting stuck on something bad.
Every time the narrator attempted to control what his brother wanted to do in life, the more he lost power over his brother. Not only did he lose power he lost that deep connection one should have with their sibling. Sonny’s desire to not be powerless anymore gave him the determination to gain power which he could not handle. This lead him to lose all of that power once again. People when reading this should really consider how what they are doing to gain power is affecting others in theirs lives.
The theme of determination is really shown by the relationship between Sonny and his father. They are very different people with personalities that tend to clash. Sonny’s relationship with his father became distant when he was young, in part to his mother’s insistence. When his grandfather commented that he’s just like his father she responded by telling Sonny: “No, you’re not, you’re not.” She instilled in Sonny that he’s not like his father, which really affected Sonny and his dad’s relationship later on.
Although both characters were different they found an understanding by trying to feel what each other were feeling. Also by coping with their tough childhood and feelings together without directly communicating. Sonny wanted so desperately to please his brother, but couldn’t find a way to avoid Jazz but still get that feeling he craved. Sonny was clearly disappointed and embarrassed by his choice of actions and despite what anyone said, he realized the choice he made was poor and it was time to follow his dream. At the end, the narrator realizes why Sonny turned to drugs in the first place.
“Sonny’s Blues” is not just about Sonny's decisions and struggles but also about how they affect the narrator. This story is as much about family and brotherhood and the relationship between these two men as it is about the character of
Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin was a short story about the struggles of living in a tough, rundown neighborhood and looking to drugs as a way out. Baldwin’s intent on writing this piece focuses on pain and suffering. The author stresses that not everybody is born in the best circumstances. Sonny was one of those people who grew up in a rickety town where people often did not make it out successful.
Through this conversation, the narrator gained respect and insight on Sonny's life in the times that he was not there. Sonny was cryptic in his speaking at first but eventually made it very clear to his brother and even said, "the reason I wanted to leave Harlem so bad was to get away from drugs" (89). The narrator does not have much to say, but ultimately blames all of this on the "vivid, killing streets of [their] childhood" (73), that neither of them had truly escaped. He once thought they both had, him by becoming a teacher and Sonny by simply not living in Harlem for years, but in this moment, he realizes that not much has really changed - they still faced those streets, the only difference now was that they knew what they inherit. Sonny convinced his brother to come watch him play - the narrator knowing he could not possibly say no.
Sonny Blues Paul Pearshall once said “Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted”. In this story the conflict of responsibility takes place. A brother, who happens to be the narrator, blames his self for the events that takes place in his life, such as his brother sonny’s crack addiction. The Narrator feels responsible for his brother’s heroin addiction because he believed he shut his brother’s career goals down, felt as though he went against what his mother asked him to do, and because he chose not to believe that the way he treated his brother affected his brother life.
Sonny’s escape in music is him moving away from the pain and suffering in his life and moving towards peace and order. In the beginning, Sonny’s brother was not too keen of the idea of Sonny playing jazz music because he thought he could do something more with his life, but he failed to realized that music was Sonny’s escape from life and all its chaos. However, at the end of the story Sonny asked his brother to join him at the jazz club and watch him play. At first his brother was hesitant to go with him, but gives in and goes to watch his brother. When Sonny started playing, his brother realizes how involved Sonny was with his music.