Sonny Blues
In "Sonny's Blues" we see the relationship of two brothers, both from two very different world emerge into something deeper. Both deal with their two different lives, one chooses to go about it more traditionally, and be a school teacher, the other finds himself caught in the world of jazz and drugs. Sonny's addiction drives the family together but at the same time shows us just how apart they are. Baldwin could achieves this emotional response from the reader when he writes, "I felt just like I did the day I found out my brother was doing Heroin." Most of the general population has not had this experience. Therefore, when Baldwin uses the ice to describe the pain as a feeling that will not go away despite the fact that he must teach his students algebra, the reader feels exactly what Sonny's brother is feeling at the time, dealing with his addiction One example other than the "ice metaphor" is when Sonny and his brother are riding in a cab and they head uptown in New York City, towards Harlem. The two brothers ride silently in the cab as they were reflecting upon Harlem where they had both grown up. Both Sonny and the Narrator are looking for an "escape" from Harlem. The narrator feels
In short, the story "Sonny's Blues" is a story about two brothers trying to see eye-to- eye, and even toward the end of the story when Sonny's brother is introduced to his world of Jazz, he still doesn't see and feel as Sonny does When Sonny tells his brother that he is interested in playing jazz, the essential difference of the two brothers becomes evident. Sonny expresses his admiration for Charlie Parker, whom the older brother had never heard of. For the narrator, jazz means Louis Armstrong. Armstrong certainly was a highly-regarded, popular jazz musician--probably the best known in the world, having become known as Ambassador Satch because of his frequent trips abroad--but among bop musicians he represented the older, more traditional form of jazz. And yet Baldwin may have known what he was doing. Is it possible that in "Sonny's Blues" he is indicating that tradition is very important, but that change is also important (and probably inevitable) and that it bluids on tradition, which is never fully erased but continues Towards the end of "Sonny's Blues" the narrator says, "Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be fr
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 818
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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