Sonny's Blues Essay
Sonny’s Blue by James Baldwin is a Jazz fiction anthology written in 1957. This story contains a recollection of an algebra teacher as he reacts to his brother Sonny's drug addiction and recovery. This short story has a plethora of themes to detail, including an articulated suffering and arrant purgatory of the main characters. Sonny’s Blue is written in the first-person narrative where the narrator black algebra teacher, finds out that his younger brother has been arrested for using and selling the drug. The entire story is based in Harlem and describes the difficulty of growing up in this place ethically. There is a theme of dark and light, absence, music and pain. Every character in this story is in his ways, and in most cases, these are inexplicable. The theme of racism is prominent where the narrator himself does not consider the life of a black to be worthy before the whites. He cannot assure his brother will grow with music in future as blacks must not have passion or demands but morality and honesty to reduce incidents of getting killed like their uncle. Avail essay help service.
As the narrator is a teacher, he always realizes that some of his students will end up like his brother Sonny. He remembers Sonny as a child who wanted to be a musician. This is a story of two brothers who have different perspectives of life and diverging path to choose. Finally, they come closer and realize each other. They share the same point of view of life and its philosophy that can pursue the readers to engage with the brothers representing black lives. The book conveys the message that one must not feel guilty upon thinking that he has failed to protect his loved ones well enough. The elder brother may not have protected Sonny entirely but he was always there no matter how complicated the situation is.
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Throughout the story, the narrator has been given no name. However, the audience visualizing the story from his point of view. The narrator here found his brother imprisoned for a heroin bust but did not reach for help because he does not support the idea of using and dealing drugs. It is quite common for the teachers like him to show society's ethical side to their students. While returning from school, he meets one of his friends of Sonny. Despite having other difficulties in his own life, this friend informs Sonny to show that the brother can help him in this situation. However, the brother does not connect Sonny until his young daughter Grace dies of polio. The narrator remembers old incidents of Sonny dealing with their problematic father. Both of them had the same spirit because both of them had intense emotional suffering within. The narrator had learnt from his mother how his uncle’s death in a car accident had affected his father psychologically. The life of a black was explicit before him, and he realized his responsibilities and role as an older brother. In Sonny's case, the narrator does the same by paying no need to his sibling's suffering. The narrator had left Sonny in his in-laws for a better life, but Sonny skipped his class and spent time with the musicians in Harlem. Sonny had confronted several times by his in-laws and realized that family was a burden to him. After two years, he joined the Navy. Who can write my essay for me?
The narrator, by the time, did not know whether his brother was dead until he received a letter from Greece. They meet in New York and head a fallout regarding life decisions. The outcome of this fight was grave because it ended the brothers to have any connection for an extended period.
This story has a lot of flashbacks and going to and forth. Whenever the narrator remembers something, the story goes into the past, making it a little confusing. Previously it was accepted that the elder brother does not have any realization about the passion of music in Sonny. He considered it was a tough time, and the passion for music to be an obsession for black lives. Sonny’s yearning for help and belief in music could never be understood.
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The story comes back into the present, where the two brothers have forgotten all their similarities and differences. They have started to stay together, respecting space between them. The narrator has found a street corner revival taking place outside his window and thinks about the significance. Sonny eventually comes home and invites the narrator to watch him performing in a club. This time Sonny directly explains his heroin addiction in irrelevant analogies. He explained that he wanted to feel in control and reduce the suffering. The narrator had asked Sonny that using the drug can never explain any suffering for the act of escaping life. Sonny replied that he would not die faster than anyone else and explained that he wanted to escape drugs by evading Harlem. You can get essay editing service at myassignmenthelp.com.
However, the two brothers visit a small jazz club in the evening where everybody seems to know Sonny. The narrator was utterly disappointed with the life choice of his own brother to become a musician because it does not enhance respect for a black person in society. On the contrary, music is seen to be just an obsession. Sonny begins to play and falters initially as if he has not played for a long time. However, when he picks up the pace, there was no match. He proved to be brilliant and won over everybody in the club, including his brother. When added finally realizes that it is through music, his brother could transform his suffering into something worthwhile. It was a brief moment of bonding, and the narrator regains the feeling of love for his brother. The theme of music is prominent here as the narrator has no feelings with music. Later, he relises it to be the only medium of emancipation for his beloved brother. It is the famous orign of jazz music of the blacks that gradually became the music of the exploited.
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List Of Few Topics On Sonny's Blues Essay
- The theme of music and its role in Sonny's life
- The theme of addiction and its effects on Sonny and his family
- The theme of racial tension and its impact on Sonny's life
- The theme of brotherhood and the relationship between the narrator and Sonny
- The theme of identity and how it is shaped by one's environment and experiences
- The theme of redemption and the role it plays in Sonny's life
- The theme of suffering and how it is depicted in the story
- The theme of hope and how it is portrayed in the story
- The theme of family and the relationships between the characters
- The theme of communication and the challenges the characters face in expressing themselves
- An analysis of the symbolism in the story, including the blues and the sea
- A comparison of the two brothers and their different approaches to life
- An analysis of the relationship between the narrator and his wife
- An examination of the role of religion in the story
- An analysis of the use of imagery in the story
- An exploration of the theme of isolation and its impact on the characters
- A discussion of the theme of gender roles and their significance in the story
- An analysis of the theme of masculinity and its portrayal in the story
- A comparison of the narrator's and Sonny's perspectives on life
- An examination of the theme of loss and its effects on the characters
- A discussion of the role of education in the story
- An analysis of the theme of courage and its significance in the story
- A discussion of the theme of forgiveness and its importance in the story
- An examination of the theme of self-acceptance and its role in the story
- A comparison of the narrator's and Sonny's approaches to art
- An analysis of the theme of freedom and its significance in the story
- A discussion of the theme of self-expression and its importance in the story
- An examination of the theme of responsibility and its role in the story
- A comparison of the narrator's and Sonny's relationships with their parents
- An analysis of the theme of love and its significance in the story
- A discussion of the theme of alienation and its impact on the characters
- An examination of the theme of conformity and its role in the story
