Sonny's Blues

English 112, C 08-55

June 7, 2009

Sonny's Blues

In the short story, "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin the writer gives you a look into love and passion for family. Using the backdrop of 1950's Harlem Jazz scene, he gets the reader to understand a brother's care for his sibling. The story is told in the first person by the brother, whose name is never given. Even though the brother has his share of issues, this story is about Sonny's Blues which are Harlem, heroin and the music.

As you read the story the author gives you a look into the relationship between Sonny and his brother. Even though the brother read about Sonny's arrest involving heroin and saw his struggle with the addiction, you still had the sense that Sonny was a salvageable soul. The rift that formed between his brother and him earlier in life would soon find time to heal, just so long as Sonny was able to walk away from the lifestyle that plagued him.

The setting of the story takes place in Harlem. Since I'm from the Midwest, I have never experienced the numerous accounts that you either see on television or in the movies of how everybody that lives in that part of New York City manages to just eke by and live a hard but fulfilling life. The writer gives you just enough bits and pieces of a much larger city to show the reader what motivates that class of people to succeed in the life they chose. Baldwin says "houses exactly like the houses of our past yet dominated the landscape, boys exactly like the boys we once had been found themselves smothering in these houses, came down into the streets for light and air and found themselves encircled by disaster" (87).

Sonny was a character that you almost believe may have been known as a real person to the writer. There is a warm, caring tone that the author uses in writing this story, but yet at times he seems afraid to be too harsh about Sonny. Sonny held on to his anger from growing up without a father figure in his life which pushed his tormented soul to needing an outlet to express his feelings. Before the pain of life accrued, he was described as "his face had been bright and open ... and he'd had wonderfully direct brown eyes, and a great gentleness and privacy" (Baldwin 83). Unfortunately, as it happens so many times with people who are talented but lack any guidance or direction, after you reach the highest point you can take yourself there is a need for further inspiration which often misguidedly comes in the form of alcohol or drugs. With the added benefit of being a crutch to help him deal with other circumstances in his life, Sonny began using heroin. Instead of opening up the door to inspiration and nurturing his musical talent, it became an extreme hindrance to his countenance and ultimately his lively hood. Like so many other

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