Category: “Sonny’s Blues”

While reading “Sonny’s blues” by James Baldwin, something that was big that came up was the use of drugs. That is something that is big now and at anytime because it can affect anyone. When reading  Baldwin brings up that sonny is gone “ What’s going to happen to him now? I asked again. They’ll send him away someplace and they’ll try to cure him he shook his head. Maybe he’ll even think he’s kicked the habit, then they’ll let him loose… that’s all.” (21) He is saying it in a way that has a lot of truth to it.  They bring up a big problem that could happen to anyone. Burning up Sonny drug problem is a good thing many don’t want talking.

Reading “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin for the second time did open a new understanding for the story. When I first read I guess I wasn’t fully putting all my attention into learning and dissecting the story properly but this time around i made sure I did. One thing that i wasn’t able to figure out and i vaguely remember my Highschool teacher asking this question of “ Who’s Telling the Story?”. And this is still a question i have after reading it again, I’m not sure who’s the person telling the story or what their relationship is with Sonny. Maybe it’s more obvious than I noticed but i don’t find it as transparent as to who is the narrator in this story. One part in the story that i found resonated with me was when Sonny’s brother went to the club to watch Sonny play that then there was a new found respect for his passion of playing music. Seeing this reminded me of my family, for a very long time I felt like I had to have a career that would guarantee a stable future. I want to make movies and a career like that doesn’t always prove success, but when my teachers told my parents i was a good writer and very creative i think that made them open more about the possibilities of my career choice.

The part that moved me in this story was when at the end Sonny is at the bar playing music with his friends. Sonny’s brother while listening, memories come back to him. ” I saw my mother face again and felt for the first time how the stones of the road she had walked on must have bruised her feet. I saw the moonlit road where my father’s brother died.” He remembered the sad feeling his parents were going through while listening to the brother who also didn’t grow up with a happy life. In Addition, there was another part where Sonny’s brother went to visit his brother they were arguing and Sonny took his brother outside. “Then he pushed me to the door and the other people looked on as though nothing were happening, and he slammed the door behind me. I stood in the hallway, staring at the door. I heard somebody laugh in the room and then the tears came to my eyes.” His brother cares a lot about Sonny, he is trying to make him a better person, but Sonny looks like he doesn’t care about his brother’s feelings. Furthermore this line of the text moved me because earlier his mom told him that watch out for his brother when they are no longer in this world, but he replied as if nothing bad will happen to Sonny and the relationship of each other. But the mom’s words were right at the end that there will be difficult times but try to always look out for him.

As i’ve read through the work of James Baldwin in “Sonny’s Blues” I came to the conclusion that we can all be set in the same body of water but its actually up to us to teach ourselves how to swim. I also came under the impression that you could be the best swimmer of the lot but still fall prey to the dangers of the sea. This idea came into my head after reading something that the protagonists mother says when talking to him about his brother, where she states.” It ain’t a question of his being a good boy”…. “nor of his having good sense.” What this says to me is that his mother already has a good idea of the fact that in life things can happen to even the best of us. Branching off of that idea, I had come to make the connection that the best of us can fall prey to what is known as the “darkness”. This darkness clouds one’s judgement and leads them on a decline. This can be seen where the protagonist is speaking with a friend of his brothers, where he states, “they’ll let him out. And then he’ll just start working his way back again. You mean he’ll never kick the habit. Is that what you mean?” This idea is one even seen in shows demographically aimed for children. This idea of one being lead or leading themselves on a constant decline. The tragedy of this however is the fact that when compared to reality it can seem all the much better since in the show there can be an element of saving the person on the decline where in real life or reality, that’s not always the case for some.

While reading “Sonny’s blues” by James Baldwin, I found that I related to the speaker, a lot, mainly in the beginning when he reads about his brother being on drug as well as picked up in a raid. When he sees “ that kid he hated” who use to hang out with Sonny and chose to begin speaking to him about Sonny’s drug problems it hit close to home. Reading“ What’s going to happen to him now? I asked again. They’ll send him away someplace and they’ll try to cure him he shook his head. Maybe he’ll even think he’s kicked the habit, then they’ll let him loose… that’s all.” (21) You realize that it’s  a process that is spoken about so nonchalantly by this guy to Sonny’s brother, a process that it seems like he’s been through himself before he didn’t seem to trust in the process of either “ listen to let him out and then it’ll just start all over again that’s what I mean” (21). He is saying it in a way that has a lot of finality to it once to her when addict always heroin addict. It just shows the harsh reality that is drugs in the control that they can have over a person, no matter how brilliant their mind is or how much they love something in particular like Sonny when I came to his music. Even though it had such a sad start did have a very nice ending, especially when he goes to the nightclub with Sunny , he gets to see Sonny’s world with music and how it wasn’t a bad thing to start with.

In the story, Sonny’s Blue’s by James Baldwin, I immediately noticed that the author has a way with words. What I mean by that is that the words that James Baldwin use create vivivd imagery for the reader. In the first few pages, we learn a lot of information regarding Sonny, the main subject in the story. We learn that Sonny is the younger brother to the author, and that he obviously cares very much for Sonny. We also learn that the narrator is an algebra teacher. But the thought of his brother being locked up, over heroin abuse, as well as peddling, seems to be interfering with his work. The narrator has a very deep love for his brother Sonny. This is made clear when the narrator recalls how he was there when Sonny was conceived, and also was present when he spoke his first words. One passage that I found particularly interesting is on page 36. ” The silence of the next few days must have been louder tab  the sound of all the music ever played…he went as far a she navy would carry him. The narrator tries to understand why his brother would want to leave Harlem, especially to join the Army, when he made it clear he has a passion for music, the piano in particular. I admire this story because it expresses raw emotion, for what it is. It’s realistic, and the conversation between these brothers is something that all siblings can relate to. That is sometimes not being sure how to express emotion to others, even though you both know deep down that you love each other. That is one of the things that stuck with me, while reading this short story.

While reading this, I found myself relating quite a lot to it. Primarily in the way that James Baldwin describes the relationship between the two brothers.  When he describes the situation that Sonny found himself in, with drugs and all, I couldn’t help but relate.  It hit hard when he stated, “I didn’t want to believe that I’d ever see my brother going down, coming to nothing, all that light in his face gone out, in the condition I’d already seen so many other.” You never imagine someone so close to you falling down this road, possibly ruining their life. I had a friend who fell down this road and we were so far from each other for me to even help her through this. But then even if I was I would think just like Sonny’s brother, “I haven’t seen Sonny in over a year, I’m not sure I’m going to do anything. Anyway, what the hell can I do.”  You can only help people who see the wrong in what they’re doing. The part of the story that interested me the most was when Sonny and his brother are at the nightclub. At the nightclub, his brother gets a glimpse of his world.  This is when Sonny’s brother finally realizes that Sonny’s love for music was not such a bad thing after all. You can see how moved he was by this side of Sonny when it states, “I saw my little girl again and felt Isabel’s tears again, and I felt my own tears begin to rise.”

 

In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”, he shows how music is a distraction that takes away suffering, addiction, and feeling alone. In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”, the passage that was relatable to me was on page 45, the second paragraph because a song to you could have a totally different meaning to someone else. Every song has a meaning but it’s up to you to find the one that you can relate to. “And even then, on the rare occasions when something opens within, and the music enters, what we mainly hear, or hear corroborated, are personal, private, vanishing evocations”, shows something that the musician is feeling that we can’t because there’s something they are feeling that we can’t ever feel. “But the man who creates the music is hearing something else, is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air”, many artists deal with pain through their music which heals a piece of them and their music is reaching out to others showing which shows them they are not alone. When I’m feeling stressed out or just want a break from the world I put my headphones on and close my eyes like nothing is around me. Music is a art form that comes in different shapes and sizes no matter where your from we all listen to the same art. Music brings everyone together no matter your background or race.

In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” the narrator, a teacher in a Harlem high school, reconnects with his younger brother, Sonny, a jazz musician. This occurs after Sonny is arrested for peddling and using heroin. A particularly striking passage from the short story is, “Some escaped the trap, most didn’t. Those who got out always left something of themselves behind, as some animals amputate a leg and leave it in the trap. It might be said, perhaps, that I had escaped, after all, I was a school teacher; or that Sonny had, he hadn’t lived in Harlem for years.” This could mean those who grew up in Harlem and survived or got out of the area left behind their innocence, hope, or the positive aspects of themselves. It is interesting that there are two different types of escape the narrator is referring to in the passage. The first is being unscathed by the pitfalls of growing up in the area. Although the narrator is physically still in Harlem living in the projects, he escaped the detrimental lifestyles present. He became a positive aspect in the community and is successful having a career and a loving family. In contrast, Sonny left Harlem physically but made negative lifestyle choices which resulted in him becoming a drug addict. This brings to mind the saying, “You can take the boy out of Harlem, but you can’t take Harlem out of the boy.” In the case of Sonny, he was a product of his environment and was unable to overcome the challenges Harlem forced him to face.

Hey, everyone– you did a really great job on your presentations today! I hope this gives you some sense of the scene you will be reading about in “Sonny’s Blues.”

Your homework is to print out and read the story HERE. It’s not super short, so make sure you allow yourself enough time to read it the entire way through! Remember our reading strategies– take breaks, eat snacks, put your phone away, etc… There will be a quiz on it next week! MAKE SURE YOU ACTUALLY PRINT IT OUT!

Read and annotate “Sonny’s Blues.” Please also post a response to the reading on OpenLab, of about 250 words in which you respond to the story. I would like you to pick a passage (a few sentences) which moved you in some way and: Describe how this passage moved you. What specific emotions did you feel when reading this passage and why– be as specific as you can. Was there something in your own experience you can relate to the text? Or something about the language or story that struck you? Please be specific! And feel free to mark your shares as “private” if you like.