In reading “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, we are shown the story of two brothers and their struggles in life. Drug addiction is a problem that Sonny deals with throughout the story. His brother learns of this addiction by reading it in the newspaper, and it hurts him deeply. He is now scared for Sonny as well as worried about what Sonny must be going through.
It takes a tragedy to bring the brother and Sonny together. The brother’s daughter dies and this gives him a reason to contact Sonny by writing him a letter. Sonny returned a letter expressing his regret for hurting his family with his drug use. After this contact they kept in touch and saw each other anytime they could.
The brother remembers his mother telling him, “If anything happens to me he aint going to have nobody to look out for him” (86). His mother goes on to explain the importance and him and his brother sticking together like families should, no matter what happens. “You may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you’s there” (87). Family was an important aspect in this mothers eyes and she expected her boys to have the same feeling. Families stick together and look out for each other, not just in times of need, but at all times.
Sonny had a drug problem and this resulted from trying to cope with what life threw at him. Luckily, Sonny was able to find a better way to deal; he voiced his want to become a musician. His brother was not sure about this, but he respected Sonny for continuing to pursue this as not a career, but as a way to express himself. Playing the piano at the end was a symbol of the brothers finally coming together with the intent of making their lives better.
In the end we realize that everyone struggles but we should all find the appropriate way to deal with it. We should also be able to depend on our families for help when we need it. This ending of this story was fitting; Sonny and his brother both realized their downfalls, but they were both improving. It was a growing experience for each in that they learned something about themselves as well as each other.
Sipiora, Phillip. "Sonny's Blues." Reading and Writing about Literature. Pearson Education Inc., 2002. 79-102.
1 comment:
Most of your blog entries are summaries of the stories. When you begin a sentence "Evidently, the story is about," it suggests that you are giving a book report rather than engaging the themes of the story. If it's evident, you needn't write about it.
You should be using the critical approaches that introduce each chapter. It's not enough to summarize the events; you must apply a critical method to those events for an original interpretation.
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