Analysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues - 1366 Words

Discovering Light in The Darkness Darkness can be found everywhere in life. It is easy to be consumed by the struggles and forget one’s true self. That is why even in the darkness, light is often sought. Life has a strange way of teaching lessons that show that even in the darkest circumstances light can still always be found. The conflict between light and dark ultimately guides Sonny and the narrator in their journey to overcome their internal struggles. In the short story Sonny’s Blues, James Baldwin uses darkness and light to show struggles and, transformation as both brothers teeter between the different shades of the blues, using music as a way to bring them both to redemption. Often times, when light is used in stories, readers can very easily relate the idea to happiness and following the right path. Baldwin uses light to illustrate what could be the prospect of a brighter future for Sonny. The narrator in this story seems to be in the light. Even though he is a little uptight, the path his l ife is going is seemingly headed in the right direction. The narrator made choices that many would consider right. He enlisted in the army, he married Isabel, and he works at a local school teaching young kids algebra. To most readers, he comes across as a person who was succeeding in life. Darkness correlates with negativity which narrator has towards his brother, especially when it comes to his music choices. â€Å"Well, the word never before sounded as heavy, as real, as itShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues 916 Words   |  4 PagesJames Baldwin’s story â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† tells the tale of two African-American brothers trying to survive in 1950s America. Both struggle with darkness in their lives, from drugs to bottling up emotions. The following sources were found Literature Research Center’s website. Each of the four sources will be evaluated for the quality of their information, as well as their usefulness on the topic of darkness in â€Å" â€Å"Sonny’s Blues†. Flibbert, Joseph. Sonny s Blues: Overview. Reference Guide to ShortRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues 933 Words   |  4 Pagesstory. Blues is a genre of music that is often used to express a sad mood. The contradictory lives of the two brothers contribute to the theme of being safe and take risks. In this story, James Baldwin writes about two brothers who were raised together. As time passed, they separated from one another and lived completely different lives. â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† by James Baldwin addresses the themes of finding comfort in music, dangers of addiction and the suffering of two brothers. First, Baldwin uses theRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues 1578 Words   |  7 PagesJames Baldwin’s short story â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† was a great tale of the struggles shared between two brothers in Harlem in 1957. This story is about two African American brothers who, unfortunately, grew apart as the aged. The plot shows the struggles the two brothers faced as they grew up in Harlem, and in return, the two drastically different paths they perused. James Baldwin was an African American who grew up in Harlem in the 1930s and 40s. Baldwin was the oldest of nine children, and grew upRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues Essay2104 Words   |  9 PagesSeveral dialectics are at play in James Baldwin’s short story â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† including a dialectic between the narrator and his beloved brother Sonny involving their opposing responses to the sense of oppression and limitation that arises from living in Har lem. This dialectic and its resolution closely parallel Baldwin’s masterful use of Blues, Jazz, and Gospel music. We follow the narrator and his brother Sonny as they traverse the complexities of their individual and interconnected Harlem livesRead MoreAnalysis Of Sonny s Blue By James Baldwin Essay1004 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Sonny’s Blue† by James Baldwin is a story about two brothers who grew up in poverty. One brother went on to become a teacher, while the other pursued his dreams to become a musician and finds himself in prison due to drug use. The story begins with the narrator finding out about Sonny’s arrest. It’s easy to see his shock and almost disbelief. It takes the narrator a while to write to Sonny, but eventually he does, and they regain communication with one another after over a year of silence. Sonny is releasedRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues 995 Words   |  4 PagesJames Baldwin presents an emotional journey through Harlem in the 1950’s with his short story, â€Å"Sonny’s Blues.† From the beginning, the story is in medias res when the unnamed narrator is informed of bad news concerning his younger, troubled brother, Sonny. Throughout the story there is an ocean of emotions witnessed between these two brothers as they battle hardships from their past and present time. The setting plays an important role in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† to an extent where it is practically a characterRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues Essay1154 Words   |  5 Pagesntroduction: James Baldwin, author of Sonny s Blues, once said, I grew up with music...much more than with any other language. In a way, the music I grew up with saved my life (Session 3 Inquiry: Rudolfo Anaya and James Baldwin, 2015).   Blues becomes Sonny s drug and his addiction to it his salvation.       Even though the adults refrain from lamenting their sufferings directly to the children and telling them about the darkness, the child-narrator still intimates its marks in their facesRead MoreAnalysis Of `` Sonny s Blue `` By James Baldwin1474 Words   |  6 Pages Music can be the lead to freedom from darkness. The story â€Å"Sonny’s Blue† by James Baldwin takes places in Harlem around the 1950’s. The story is about two brothers. One of the brothers is the narrator of the story whose name is unknown. The narrator tells the story of the struggles in Harlem but mainly the struggles of his brother with drugs, and his passion for jazz music. Through out the story the narrator avoids giving a sense of his own struggles with himself. However, in the end the readerRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny Blues 1753 Words   |  8 Pagesiniquity, gloom, or without light. In the short novel Sonny Blues by James Baldwin, the word â€Å"darkness† ap peared frequently throughout the reading. I think the significance of darkness of this particular situation of this book that Baldwin is trying to present is fear and suffering. It shows how the characters are in the state of panic and fear, of the situation they are in and all the sufferings they have to go through. Connecting the Baldwin to the novel, Harlem; where the story takes place isRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues 1292 Words   |  6 Pages James Baldwin was raised in poverty in Harlem where, at the age of fourteen, he became a preacher in the Fireside Pentecostal Church. After high school he decided to become a writer and with the help of the black American expatriate writer Richard Wright, won a grant that enabled him to move to Paris, where he lived most of his remaining years. He wrote a variety of novels mostly about the intellectual trials of black men in a white, racist society and homosexual themes. James Baldwin wrote â€Å"Sonny’s