Exploring the Dualities of Jazz in Esi Edugyan's Half-Blood Blues

Jazz as a Corrupting and Liberating Force

Given this exam is open-book you must have an argument (a thesis)—a central claim that runs throughout the essay and ties together the ideas in a coherent manner. Further, given you are allowed to use the primary text, you should incorporate textual evidence to support your ideas. You do not need a References or Works Cited list and you should not use secondary sources beyond the primary texts. Please take the time to formulate your ideas rather than writing for the sake of writing. Good luck! Write an essay on ONE of the following two topics: 1.Esi Edugyan’s novel Half-Blood Blues examines the notion of jazz and racial others as parasitic to Nazism, as narrator Sid states with fierce satire: “Jazz. Here in Germany it become something worse than a virus. We was all of us damn fleas, us Negroes and Jews and low-life hoodlums, set on playing that vulgar racket, seducing sweet blond kids into corruption and sex. It was a plague sent out by the dread black hordes, engineered by the Jews. Us Negroes, see, we was only half to blame—we just can’t help it. Savages just got a natural feel for filthy rhythms [...] We was officially degenerate” (76-77). On the other end of the spectrum, jazz unites and frees people as Sid describes their final recording as a moment of transcendent freedom: “We was all of us free, brother. For that night at least, we was free” (279). Discuss the dual ways that jazz is seen as something that corrupts and liberates within the context of the novel. Write a 5-paragraph essay responding to either one or both parts of this question. Ensure you make references throughout to the novel. 2.In the final section of the book, Louis Armstrong becomes a very real—albeit larger than life—character in the novel.What do you think of Edugyan’s portrayal of Armstrong? Furthermore, the novel touches on the theme of genius (161, 202, 211, 245), not only of Armstrong’s, but of Hiero’s, which Sid finally realizes when Hiero plays with Armstrong: “It was then that I finally heard it. I heard how damn brilliant the kid really was. I hated it” (235). Do you agree with Sid when he states,

“Geniuses ain’t made, brother, they just is” (245)? Why or why not? Write a 5-paragraph essay responding to either one or both parts of this question. Ensure you make references throughout to the novel