Sonny's Blues

A detailed Summary of Sonny's Blues

"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin is a short story about the past and present life of two brothers. Pain and sorrow is part of their life, and the world surrounding them is viewed very differently by the two brothers. Sonny and his brother learn to deal with their pain, suffering and desire for primacy from Harlem in different avenues. Sonny's brother is wishful of living a life outside his teaching career and has the desire to live life as sonny does, careless and inattentive. Sonny lives life with avoidance and carelessness, he chalks up heroin to escape the caves of life in Harlem. The narrator tells many stories from their childhood to the time they are grown up with the death of their parents how they separated which explains why they are distinct. Sonny and his brother are both in deep search for breakout from filth and bareness of Harlem, in their own ways both characters want to retrieve some of their past to cope with what has happened in their lives and to find a way to go on.

The two characters are described in the story when riding away in the cab taking sonny home, "..., it came to me that what we both were seeking through our separate cab windows was that part of ourselves which had been left behind". They both are

At the end of the story they seem to find a common bond through sonny's music. Through the music of Sonny all the pain they had felt like the death of Grace, their parents, and drug addiction, come out. The narrator concludes "For while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've go in al this darkness." Here Sonny's music provides for the player and listener a temporary relive away from the despair of their daily condition. The blues that sonny is playing touches the heart without words.

The Blues in the story is used in a more emotional manner which recollects the past, it also repairs the hard broken relationship between the two brothers who have chosen two different paths in hard environment. The music also plays a device of communication between the two brothers. When the brother is at the club listening to the blues he recalls his mother, the moonlit road on which his uncle died, and his wife's tears and he responds deeply to the music and is able to find himself thorough his own suffering.

When playing in the club, the narrator gives a vivid expla

Some common words found in the essay are:
Harlem Sonny, James Baldwin, teaching career, death parents, support music, harlem sonny, sonny's music,

Approximate Word count = 805
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Sonny's Blues

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