“Sonny’s Blues” is the title of one of the stories written by James Baldwin. The word “blues” in the title indicates that it will be about jazz form and grief, sadness, sorrow, and suffering. This meaning in the title is essential because the work itself is compositional, as if built according to the canons of the blues, from a theme and improvisation interwoven with it. It is an account of the terrible plight of colored youth in Harlem, with Baldwin’s work connected in one way or another.
For the author and his characters, Harlem is an octopus that entangles people and drives them out. The high school algebra teacher, on whose behalf the story is told, learns that his younger brother Sonny, a gentle, kind, and sensitive boy, has been arrested for heroin use (Baldwin, 1995). The pain for his brother does not make the narrator forget for a moment the dozens of other blacks, his students, and the children of Harlem.
One day, he sees a bartender with a dancing gait who inspires the hero and gives him a taste for music (Baldwin, 1995). After his release from the penitentiary, the narrator’s brother realizes that the craving for music remains. Sonny is strongly attracted to jazz, so he decides to study in this direction.
The author describes a plot in which the hero’s older brother agrees to let the latter hear him play in a small nightclub. Then, the former prisoner’s real epiphany becomes evident; he finally realizes why he needs music in his life. For Sonny, it’s the only way to speak out, to explain to his listeners all the things burning in his soul. The blues purify him and give him faith in the triumph of humanity over cruelty and greed.
For 400 years, colored people of color have heard the myth of the black subhuman. The worst thing that happens, according to Baldwin, is when a black man begins to believe a lie about himself. In the story, the author puts his characters over this myth to make them believe in themselves.
Reference
Baldwin, J. (1995). Sonny’s Blues. Penguin Books Ltd.