poe works
The short story "Sonny's Blues," by James Baldwin, tells the story of two brothers who come to understand each other. More specifically, it shows, through its two main characters, Sonny and his older brother, the two sides of African-American's experience with much of racism. The narrator, Sonny's brother, has tried to assimilate to the white society, but still feel the pain and the limits on his opportunity. On the other hand, Sonny has never tried to assimilate and has to find the way out for his pain through drugs. Analyzing the plot of "Sonny's Blues," we can understand what happened, why it happened, and why characters acted the way they do. The exposition of the "Sonny's Blues" starts when the narrator introduces characters, scene, and situation of the story. The narrator learns from a newspaper that his younger brother, Sonny, has been arrested "for peddling and using heroin." (Baldwin 83) The narrator is a high school teacher, and his wife is Isabel. Leaving the school, the narrator comes across an old friend of Sonny's in the schoolyard. They talk about Sonny's arrest and tell each other some their fears. The friend says that he "can't much help old Sonny no more." This angers the narrator
"... And then, when I ran away, that's what I was running from ... nothing changed, I hadn't changed, I was just older." (Baldwin 102) Baldwin, James. "Sonny's Blues." The Story and Its Writers. Boston : Harold Ober because it reminds him that he himself had give up trying to help his brother and not even seen Sonny in a year. We can see that the narrator's actions and decisions are influenced by his promise with his mother. On the other hand, Sonny's actions are because that is his choice. There is a closed relationship between playing jazz and using drugs. This suggests that Sonny's action of using drug is "the accident of fate." He can not control it; he uses drugs to "keep from drowning in" the suffering all humans have to go through. "Yes, I understand that ... I understand that ..." Sonny's brother repeated.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 809
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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