James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" portrays the theme of suffering through the struggle between two brothers attempting to comprehend each other. The story highlights the challenges faced by African-Americans in the mid-twentieth century, where their societal status was determined by race. Though the brothers seem dissimilar initially, Sonny's brother starts comprehending his sibling's peculiar ways towards the story's end. Despite appearing to have a robust exterior, Sonny's brother comes to terms with how he has suppressed his own suffering over time.
Despite having already lost his uncle, mother, and father, Sonny is now dealing with the recent death of his daughter Grace and living in inadequate housing projects in Harlem. Although he is struggling, his brother still harbors feelings of resentment towards Sonny's lifestyle. Specifically, he disapproves of Sonny's love for ja
...zz music, referring to jazz enthusiasts as "good-time people" who lack depth. However, what Sonny's brother fails to realize is that Sonny uses his love for jazz music as a means to cope with the "darkness" and "suffering" he has endured in life.
The story portrays Sonny as observing his brother and other black Americans in the 1940s who endure discrimination and accept the reality of living in a hostile environment. This is similar to how black slaves sang ‘Spirituals’ during the middle passage, telling stories of their struggles. Later in the story, we meet Creole, Sonny's band member, who serves as a mentor and helps Sonny's brother understand his connection and passion for music. Creole is an enormous black man who shows great care for others and uses reason to bridge the gap between Sonny's brother and Sonny's love for music.
The quoted statement, enclosed in HTM
paragraph tags, expresses the singular source of brightness amidst a vast expanse of obscurity.
- Book Summary essays
- Metaphor essays
- Reader essays
- Rhyme essays
- Literary devices essays
- Villain essays
- Books essays
- Genre essays
- Literary Criticism essays
- Writer essays
- Protagonist essays
- Simile essays
- Poem essays
- Book Report essays
- Book Review essays
- Greek Mythology essays
- Plot essays
- Tragic Hero essays
- Coming of Age essays
- Play essays
- Rhetoric essays
- Rhetorical Question essays
- Translation essays
- Understanding essays
- Reason essays
- Character essays
- Letter essays
- American Literature essays
- Literature Review essays
- Utopia essays
- Poetry Analysis essays
- Dante's Inferno essays
- Between The World and Me essays
- Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl essays
- Flowers for Algernon essays
- Myth essays
- Everyday Use essays
- Boo Radley essays
- Genesis essays
- Richard iii essays
- Alice in Wonderland essays
- On the road essays
- Ozymandias essays
- The Nightingale essays
- Holden Caulfield essays
- Animal Farm essays
- 1984 essays
- A Hanging essays
- Shooting An Elephant essays
- A Tale Of Two Cities essays