Theme Settings In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blue’s” makes great use of different literary devices throughout the story. Sonny’s Blue’s is about an older brother’s relationship and differences with his younger brother, Sonny. Sonny’s ambition to become a jazz pianist points him into an opposite direction than his brother, and into a place where the common suffering is handled with drugs and music. The fundamental differences between these two brothers in their lack of understanding for one another and their gradual acceptance of one another, is presented and explained by their personal and social conflicts. The author uses setting, symbolism, and the narrator’s change in his point of view to give the story a deeper meaning and significance to the

The short story is narrated by Sonny’s older brother. He is a school a responsible school teacher, with a family of his own. The story begins by the brother, whose name is unidentified in the story, finding out that his young brother Sonny got arrested for possession and selling drugs, specifically heroin. He is the type of older brother that is protective yet he is angry for what his brother has

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

James Baldwin’s, “Sonny’s Blues,” illustrates the story between two different brothers as they struggle to discover the character of one another. “Sonny’s Blues” is narrated through the older brother’s point of view, as he portrays their difficulties in growing up, separation, and reunion. Baldwin purposely picks to tell the story in the first person point of view because of the omniscient and realistic effects it contribute to the story overall. The mother, father, and Sonny all express their accounts to the older brother, making him the perfect character to tell the story. In addition, the first person point of view allows the reader to experience the vicarious feelings that the

The narrator goes to a club to watch Sonny and his band play. He begins to understand how deeply his brother feels and thinks, “I had never before thought of how awful the relationship must be between the musician and his instrument. He has to fill it, this instrument with the breath of life, his own.”(Baldwin 102) The music gives Sonny a chance to release his hopelessness and depression. Even though the narrator believes Sonny could have done more with his life if he had turned to classical music, he understands that Sonny is being true to who he really is. The anonymous brother, however, has not found

The experience of using music as an emotional escape when one is experiencing frustrating times is one that is almost universal. This application of music, more specifically the blues, is especially true for the title character in James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues.” Told from the perspective of his older brother, the writing depicts the hardships that Sonny has been through, including the loss of both of his parents and the ordeal of going to jail for drugs, all of which result in a strained relationship between him and his brother. In "Sonny's Blues," Sonny has a deep dedication and emotional connection to the blues. The author depicts this through the continuation of an extended metaphor, the description of music being played, and the application of blues as a narrative device.

“Sonny’s Blues” introduces two brothers who have differing mindsets about how to best cope with suffering. The narrator is Sonny’s responsible, unnamed older brother, who follows a very ordered path, using military service, marriage and teaching math to gain stability and escape the downward pull of Harlem. In contrast, younger brother Sonny lives his life like his music hero plays his jazz: improvising. Sonny experiments with drugs, skips school and eventually drops out, all the while feeding his obsession with piano. Sonny’s older brother sees no legitimacy in Sonny’s art and aspirations to become a musician. He disparagingly deems it “to be merely an excuse for the life he led”. The brothers are unable to set their differences aside, and are only reconnected in a time of immense grief, as the brother’s daughter, Grace, dies.

While reading “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin theme, symbolism, and motifs were discovered throughout the entire short story. Sonny one of the two main characters, is dealing with a drug addiction and is now following his dreams of becoming a jazz musician. The narrator, whose name was never given, does his best to keep the promise he made his mother years ago, to be his brother’s keeper.

In the short story “Sonny’s Blues”, the story takes place in an Urban Neighborhood in Harlem. The narrator is a guarded man who tells a story about his younger brother. Sonny, who is a troubled man who’s trying to seek a way to escape the shameless streets of Harlem. Sonny goes to prison and the narrator doesn’t speak to his brother for a long period of time until after his daughter’s tragic death. Sonny reaches out to his brother to send his condolences. After Sonny is released from prison he returns to his brother and family. Sonny explains to his brother about his passion for jazz music and the narrator is not very supportive or understand how significant it is. But he doesn’t know that Sonny’s music is how he copes and escapes from all the horrible things that has happened in his life. After the narrator sees his brother play one night he realizes Sonny true passion for his music and the real person he is. It even helps the narrator with his own personal problems and he didn’t realize he had until Sonny’s performance.

Fictional writing is generally done just to entertain readers. Some authors create stories with a singular point of view, while others introduce more complex plots and storylines. When it comes to author James Baldwin’s short story Sonny’s Blues, there is much depth given to the storyline and the characters. Sonny’s Blues has been analyzed by many different people throughout time because the story has many elements. From Baldwin’s skillful use of metaphors and similes to his incorporation of religious references, this story is insightfully and complexly written. A simple story about a man and his brother leaves readers with an inside look into family, drug addiction, socioeconomic struggles in the Black community, and the language of Jazz

Many families experience difficulties with their interpersonal relationships that make it hard for them to connect and understand each other on a deeper level. Their disconnect can either lead them to either drift apart more, or work through these detachments in order to form a closer relationship. In the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, the struggles of detachment between the two brothers who are constantly trying to connect is made apart through Baldwin’s use of imagery. The contrasts of light and darkness, and music throughout the story illustrates the difficulties of brotherly and family connections and the strength of love. The relationship between the two very different brothers and their contrasting personalities is key

In “Sonny’s Blues,” Baldwin shows how the bond of brotherhood can withstand many disheartening choices one can make in life. “Sonny’s Blues” is a story about a brother who has made a life for himself the best he could. The unnamed character in the story describes the heartbreaking experience of witnessing his younger brother, Sonny, fight to stay sober. While the unnamed character grew up, joined the military, and got married; his brother Sonny, took a less travelled path that lead to some trouble. When Sonny was younger, his musical dreams seemed to upset the unnamed character and he felt his brother needed to grow up and make a real life decision about a career. The unnamed character didn’t believe

“Sonny’s Blues,” which is an outstanding short story by James Baldwin, describes many obstacles in lifestyles and relationships of African-Americans in the influential time of post Harlem Renaissance and discrimination in the 1950s. In the end of the story, the nightclub setting is the most important and emotional turning point of the brotherhood between narrator and his young brother, Sonny. After many conflicts and arguments about their different ideals and lifestyles, Sonny tries to open his heart to let his brother understand him by inviting the narrator to come to his jazz music performance at a small nightclub in Greenwich Village. At this place, he meets friends of Sonny, acquaint himself with jazz music and tries to get into Sonny’s world. He carefully observes any changes of his brother on the stage. Sonny is nervous and has trouble in the beginning of the performance. However, Sonny quickly gets back on track. His music seems to touch everyone, including his brother, by its beauty and freedom. The narrator becomes proud of Sonny. Eventually, he recognizes his brother’s talent and understands that Sonny was born to be a real musician.

James Baldwin is known for works that highlight the concept of conflicts and rejections that developed because of complex personal identities, sexuality, self-awareness and relationships. The Sonny’s Blues is also no exception as it highlights the relationship between the two brothers that went from rejection to acceptance as Sonny became clearer about music as an essential part of his identity. In the novel, the familial relationships are given critical importance in the process of exploring one’s identity. The relationship of Sonny and his brother is significant as it develops gradually and metaphorically reflecting on the life struggles and realizations of Sonny. Their relationship began with conflicts, rejection, and differences that ended up being developed into a stronger bond and acceptance.

Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin is about the suffering two brothers from Harlem try to reoncile with. The story is by The Narrator Sonny’s older brother, who is unnamed. As the reader, we only have the narrator's, perspective, memories, and thoughts to understand Sonny’s blues and how Sonny’s blues is the reflection of the African American community and its suffering in Harlem. Using the reader's response to analyze this story, James Baldwin using Suffering as the main theme to prove that, to appreciate the love and all that is good one must go through suffering and darkness to see the light in the world.