Sonny's Blues, James Baldwind

Paul DOHO

ENGL M01B

Prof. Slattum

2/12/17

Sonny’s Blues

        The short story “Sonny’s Blues” is one of James Baldwin’s chef-d’oeuvre that explores the theme of suffering experienced by Black Americans, in the early 1950s, as people fettered by harsh living conditions. The story primarily features two brothers, from Harlem, constantly trying to overcome Harlem’s grip in different ways. The narrator, who stays unnamed throughout the story, tries to understand his suicidal, yet talented, brother Sonny, who finds it hard to cope with the hold that Harlem has on him. Sonny and his brother have taken two different paths in life: the brother is a math teacher, and Sonny aspires to be a jazz musician. Although the writer examines the struggle of two black men at this time, the entire story revolves mainly around the two brother’s relationships. In “Sonny’s Blues” communication often creates conflict due to several aspects such as misunderstandings arising from different perspectives, but communication also resolves these conflicts because it is the only way to understand each other particularly through various means of communication.

        Different point of views can create misunderstandings which can be a problem for communication. The story is told through the eyes of the narrator. Compared to most of the black men back then, the narrator has somehow succeeded: he is a math teacher, he has a job, and he also has two children. The narrator is somehow the blueprint of the black America that has assimilated into the white bourgeois culture. At the beginning of the story, he says, “I couldn't believe it: but what I mean by that is that I couldn't find any room for it anywhere inside me. I had kept it outside me for a long time” (Baldwin), by striving constantly and aspiring to what the white community considers as “respectable,” he alienates himself from his family and parts of the wider African-American experience. The experience that his brother has inhabited. When the story begins, we find out that Sonny has been arrested for “peddling and using heroin,” (Baldwin); further through the story we also learn that Sonny was the “apple of his father’s eye” (Baldwin), but he had the tendency to stray away from what the family think was the safe route. He decided that he wanted to be a jazz musician. Soon enough, Sonny becomes another “heroin-addict jazz musician.” Having these two different perspectives turns out to be a problem for them to communicate. The narrator fails to write or visit his brother in prison until the death of his daughter. The death of his daughter helps him understand the tremendous suffering of his brother. Even though it is not the same experience, her death is significant because it helps him grasp what Sonny feels and it is only then that he is finally pushed to pen a letter. Sonny’s response to the letter shows his brother that his need to reach him. The letters continue until Sonny’s return to Harlem when the narrator, who has started to “wonder about Sonny, about the life that he lived inside” (Baldwin), takes him to his home. The narrator is still unwilling to see Sonny as the man that he is and not the man that he wants him to be. He still does not understand Sonny’s pain. Although, misunderstandings and different perspectives can have an effect on communication, brother love and different means of communication can be the solution.

        Family dynamics and music play a huge part in the story: they solve the problem. It is a natural human compulsion to be worried for others, and in specific conditions, to oversee others, especially in families. At the point when someone cares for somebody, they feel that they should guide them in the most legitimate and gainful path. After Sonny returns home, the narrator tells Sonny that their mother charged him to be Sonny’s keeper. The discussion between the narrator and his mom is relevant to this point since it is where the narrator takes responsibility to take care of Sonny: “You got to hold on to your brother,” she said. He answered, “I won’t forget,” I said. “Don’t you worry, I won’t forget. I won’t let nothing happen to Sonny” (Baldwin). The connection between the storyteller and Sonny looks like the connection amongst Cain and Abel from the book of Genesis in the Bible. In the story, after Cain killed Abel, God asks where Cain’s brother was, and Cain states in return, “Am I my brother’s keeper” (Genesis 4:9). The storyteller and Cain are comparative since they both held the obligation of dealing with their families. At the point when the narrator finds out about Sonny's arrest, he states, "Look. I haven't seen Sonny for over a year; I don't know what I will do anything. Anyway, what the heck would I be able to do?" (Baldwin) This statement from the narrator has the same meaning as Cain’s statement “am I my brother’s keeper?” They in a sense feel that whatever happens to their brother is not their concern anymore. Despite his anger toward Sonny, he still cares about him. Only strong bonds like family bonds can make one go above and beyond for each other. In most of the friendship dynamics, people aren’t necessarily willing to make the same sacrifices as if it was a family member. It is because of the bond and the willingness to help his brother that he accepts to somehow change his perspective by going with Sonny to the club.

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