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Edwin Vazquez Angela Jacobs ENC 1102 April 8, 2014 Baldwins Sonnys Blues: An Analysis of how he uses Literary

Elements to relate to his life

Vazquez 1

James Baldwins short story Sonnys Blues illustrates the relationship between two troubling brothers as they conflict on discovering one another. Sonnys Blues is told from the perspective of Sonnys older brother, whose name is not mentioned in the story. The story starts off in the mid-20th century in Harlem, New York where the narrator, on the subway, reads the newspaper about his younger brother getting arrested for using and selling drugs. With their parents dead, it is then that the narrator realizes he must step in to be the parent and help Sonny change his life. Sonny goes on to live with his brother where they reconnect for a few weeks and try to cope with each to find a solution to Sonnys problem. Through the use of literary elements such as setting, figurative language, and theme Baldwin is able to portray how Sonnys Blues relates to his life and why he wrote it. Throughout the story Baldwin uses setting as one of the key points to writing his short story. According to Flibbert he states, the story reflects on Baldwins preoccupation with problems of identity, particularly racial identity (Flibbert 1). The story took place in Harlem, New York, and according to the overview on Short Stories for Students James Baldwin was born in New York City, and grew up in Harlem (247). So, Baldwin based this story off of his childhood hometown

Vazquez 2 where he grew up. The time period was also significant in that it took place during the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance did take place in the 1920s and 30s, but it also did have a profound effect on the 1950s which was when Sonnys Blues was written. The Harlem Renaissance created a place for streams of black writers, musicians, performers and filmmakers, a refuge from the all-persuasive racism of American society (Stuart 40). Harlem completely changed as people were able to do as they pleased, poverty occurred, and it also gave life to drug use. Which is exactly what happened to Sonny, he got lost and fell down the wrong path by using and selling drugs. Later in the story, Sonny decided that it was best to join the military, so thats exactly what he did. Sonnys Blues takes place during the 20th century, which was the time period around the Great Depression and World War II. During the Great Depression, it was a time period of poverty where people barely had money and hope especially for African Americans. Those that left to war were not greatly appreciated and received barley any respect when they came home. Sonny probably didnt feel as respected as he was hoping, causing him to feel alienated from everyone and start using drugs. Baldwin also includes figurative language such as irony in his story. For instance, in the story Baldwin writes I simply couldn't see why on earth hed want to spend his time hanging around nightclubs, clowning around on bandstands, while people pushed each other around a dance floor. It seemed - beneath him, somehow (Baldwin 106). This is a bit of irony as the narrator is opposed to jazz and feels as though it doesn't suit Sonny, but later on he realizes that jazz is what keeps his mind straight and away from drugs. The narrator feels as though jazz is a waste of time

Vazquez 3 and that he should be spending his time finding a way to get better. Towards the end of the story the narrator finally goes to watch Sonny play jazz and is astonished by the impact he has on people. He writes Then they all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played. Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen. Sonnys fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others (Baldwin 117). The narrator seemed to be mind blown by what jazz did to him and how it affected the others around him. After all the narrator was wrong for anticipating something he didn't fully understand. So the irony in this case is that the narrator felt that jazz was not right for Sonny, but turned out to actually be what Sonny needed in his life to keep it straight. Through the works of Baldwins in Sonnys Blues he includes themes to share a message that he is trying to express. He includes a wide variety of morals in his story, for instance, a lesson on drugs and how it can affect you and the people around you. Drugs are a central theme in Sonnys Blues, affecting Sonny and the people around him. Because Sonny did drugs, it caused him to also make other wrong decisions. He started skipping school, and getting arrested for selling and using heroin. It caused his family to think differently about him and they were forced to help him change his life. The story takes place during the 1950s which was a time where drugs were being used by people to escape reality. Drugs offered a momentary escape from environments and served as a coping mechanism to help them deal with the human suffering that surrounded them. So thats the reason Sonny started using drugs, to escape the sufferings that he deals with like the death of his parents. Thats where the narrator comes in and tries to help Sonny with his heroin issue.

Vazquez 4 Another theme presented in Baldwin story is that one should strive towards what they believe in and to never give up doing so. Sonny was having a hard time coping with life and with drugs in his life, it was making it even more difficult. Sonny felt that jazz was what he wanted to do in life, but his older brother, the narrator, felt as though it wasn't right for him. For instance Ill have to study everything, but, I mean, I want to play with - jazz musicians. He stopped. I want to play jazz, he said (Baldwin 106). These words are from Sonny stating that he knows its going to be hard but he wants to play jazz. But the narrator says later on that he disagrees and that he doesn't want him playing jazz. That doesn't stop Sonny; he continues to pursue his dreams in playing jazz and teaches his brother that he was wrong and that jazz supported his life. When the narrator watches him perform, he states, Sonny went all the way back, he really began with spare, flat statement of the opening phrases of the song. Then he began to make it his. It was very beautiful because it wasn't hurried and it was no longer a lament (Baldwin 106). The narrator found Sonnys playing very beautiful and finally approved of him playing jazz. So Sonny proved his brother wrong and pushed towards what he wanted to do with his life. Baldwin wrote Sonnys Blues to relate this story to his life and portray a variety of messages throughout it. He used irony by which Sonny was not expected to have jazz be his solution for drugs, but it turns out that it actually was. He also uses setting in the story relates to Baldwins life by providing the story with a similar setting to where he grew up as a child. With theme, he was able to provide the readers with morals about drugs and never giving up. According to the biography from Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, "Baldwin's ambivalent relationship with his stepfather served as a constant source of tension during his formative years

Vazquez 5 and informs some of his best mature writings (Contemporary Lit. Crit.) Through the use of all these literary elements, he was able give readers a reason to want to continue on by relating the story to real life situations.

Works-Cited

Baldwin, James. Sonnys Blues. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 11th Ed. Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W Norton and Company, Inc., 2013. 95-118. Print

Flibert, Joseph. Sonnys Blues: Overview. Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.

"James (Arthur) Baldwin." Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

Sonnys Blues. Short stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 245-262. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.

Stuart, Andrea. "The Harlem Renaissance in the Twenties Produced a Wealth of Black Talent. But What Was its Legacy and Who Did it Really Benefit?." New Statesman. 126. (1997): 40-41. Print.

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