Comparison of Two Novels Essay Example

in the kitchen, however at the end of the story after they are all drunk, the light leaves the room. “The light was draining out of the room going back through the window where it had come from,” Nick noted (Carver, 9). At the beginning when the light is bright, Nick compares the four friends to children who have agreed on something forbidden due to the way they grin at each other. Their conversation t this time is hopeful, friendly and light.

However as the light from the sun slowly slips away, their talk about love begins to turn dark and complex. After the sun disappears completely leaving them in the dark, their friendly conversation also shifts to drunken threats by Mel against his first wife, Marjorie. The threats include a fantasy of him murdering her using since he knows that Marjorie is allergic to bees. “She is allergic to bees,” Mel said (Dourish 27). At the end of the story the friends are in the dark as the sun light has left the room as well as light, hopeful and rosy perceptions of love have left their conversation.

Themes

Various themes are used in this story by the author such as the theme of elusive nature of love and the theme of inadequacy of language. The theme of elusive nature of love is depicted in the fact that despite the efforts of the four friends to define love, they don’t reach a consensus. Mel tries to point the meaning of love but his examples do not bring any coherent conclusion such as the example of the old couple. Terri on the other hand who uses the example

of Ed who was very abusive to her does not bring out the real meaning of love. Terri tries to explain, “Sure it is abnormal in most people’s eyes. But he was willing to die for it. He did die for it.” (Carver, 2)

The theme of inadequacy of language is depicted in the fact that after the four friends talk about love, they are unable to define it. This means that language does not have the capacity to adequately describe abstract or emotional subjects such as love. For instance when Terri is a challenged by Mel about the great deal she talks about Ed, she results to intuition to prove her point. Nick bumps his knee with Laura’s knee when trying to explain what love is. “You’re supposed to say something now,” Laura said (Carver, 4). Nick and Laura say very little about their love but rather result to physical gestures to clarify points that language cannot.
Motifs

Drinking is a distinctive feature in this story. The four friends drink abundant amounts of gin during their talk on the nature of love. The increasing levels of intoxication increases their level of confusion about the nature of love and also increases their inability to coherently define it. “There was an ice bucket on the table. The gin and the tonic water kept going around, and we somehow got on the subject of love,” Nick the narrator notes (Dourish 20). It seems that their conversation is punctuated by the pouring and sipping of drinks.

As these friends get drunk from the abundant intakes of alcohol, their conversation on the nature of love gets blurry as well as incoherent and it

finally completely stops. Drinking in this story acts as a kind of a ritual as the bottle of gin is passed around and toasts are made to love. “Here you guys,” Mel said (Carver, 4). “Let’s have a toast. I want to propose a toast.” A toast to love. To true love.” At the end of the story after a discussion to go out to dinner, Mel suggests that they must finish the drink first. It is as if finishing the drink is the only way to be free from the discussion of love.

Sonny’s Blues. (1958) James Baldwin

“Sonny’s Blues” is a short story written by James Baldwin in the first person singular narrative type of style. This story is about the relationship of two brothers whereby one of them is a jazz pianist while the other is a high school teacher. This story is set up in Harlem and New York in the 1940s and 1950s during the Harlem Renaissance and the Second World War. The story begins with the narrator who is Sonny’s brother reading in the paper about Sonny who has been arrested for both the use and sale of heroin. The narrator thinks about Sonny as a young boy and realizes that his students may end up just like him due to the hardships faced in Harlem. “When he was about as old as the boys in my classes, his face had been bright and open,” notes the narrator (Byerman, 12). The story ends Sonny inviting his brother to a jazz club where he was performing and finally the narrator learns that Sonny is and made of. Baldwin uses various literary elements

such as symbolism, themes and motifs to describe the hardships faced in Harlem and the strong bond of brotherhood.

Symbolism

One of the symbols used throughout in this story is light and darkness. The author uses them to emphasize the hope, warmth, despair and gloom that mark most of the lives of the characters. Light is used to describe the face of Sonny when he was young as well as the warmth that was as a result of sitting with adults after church. “When he was about as old as the boys in my classes his face had been bright and open, there was a lot of copper in it,” the narrator notes (Murray, 11). This means that light symbolizes all the elements of positivity and hopefulness that are a crucial part of life. The light is also a representation of a religious undertone hence symbolizes a form of grace and salvation.

Darkness on the other hand is depicted as always threatening the characters in the story. The narrator notes darkness in his students, “They were filled with rage. All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives and the darkness of the movies.” (Reilly, 13) Darkness symbolizes a list of both personal and social problems that are found everywhere in Harlem. The life of Sonny in prison, his drug addiction and the general life full of problems in Harlem is represented by darkness. Once the sun goes down, everyone is aware that darkness literally haunts them.

Themes

The theme of brotherly love is evident throughout this story. After the narrator learns that his brother Sonny has been arrested he could not believe it and even got

scared for Sonny. The narrator experiences flashbacks of Sonny as a young boy who had never turned evil or disrespectful. He promises his mother that he will always look out for Sonny. “Don’t worry about Sonny. Maybe I’ll write him or something,” the narrator said to Sonny’s friend (Byerman, 15). He kept in constant touch in him while in prison by writing to him. The narrator went to meet Sonny after he was released from prison and acts as his brother’s keeper.

This theme also extends beyond the relationship of Sonny and the narrator into the entire community. Although the community of Harlem is filled with poverty, frustration and drugs, the members always watch over and protect each other. The narrator despite his earlier anger towards Sonny’s friend, he later recognizes his connection with him and even gives him money. “I looked in my wallet and didn’t have a dollar, I only had a five,” the narrator notes. “Here,” the narrator said as he handed it to him (Murray, 16). “That hold you?” Sonny also helps the people around him to survive and endure by directing their frustrations into his music.

Motifs

Imprisonment is a dominant feature in the characters of this story. The characters are imprisoned both emotionally and physically. Throughout this story Sonny and the narrator are in constant struggle to break free from one prison or barrier to another. Sonny is emotionally imprisoned by his addiction to drugs and physically imprisoned in jail. “I read it in the paper, in the subway, on my way to work. I read it and couldn’t believe it, and I read it again,” the narrator notes (Reilly, 13). He

has been arrested and jailed for the use and sale of heroin and it has been written in the papers.

The narrator on the other hand the narrator experiences emotional imprisonment since he is trapped within himself. He is unable to live up to his obligations as a brother as he promised his mother. He is also unable to express his emotions. The death of his daughter brings with it motivation that he needs so as to break away from this imprisonment. “I didn’t write Sonny or send him anything for a long time. When I finally did, it was just after my little girl died,” the narrator notes (Byerman, 15). The narrator also experiences physical confinement in Harlem. His confinement is particularly the housing projects that he intensely dislikes.

Works Cited

1. Carver, Raymond. What we talk about when we talk about love. Vintage, 2004.
2. Carver, Raymond. What we talk about when we talk about love. Random House, 2009.
3. Dourish, Paul. "What we talk about when we talk about context." Personal and ubiquitous computing 8.1 (2004): 19-30.
4. Byerman, Keith E. "Words and Music: Narrative Ambiguity in" Sonny's Blues"." Studies in Short Fiction 19.4 (2002).
   Murray, Donald C. "James Baldwin's" Sonny's Blues": Complicated and Simple." Studies in Short Fiction 14.4 (2007).
5. Reilly, John M. "" Sonny's Blues": James Baldwin's Image of Black Community." Negro American Literature Forum. Vol. 4. No. 2. St. Louis University, 2000.