Two Brothers in Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin Essay

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Sonny’s Blues is a realistic story about two different personalities trying to connect. The family background and challenging living conditions have influenced the relationship between the two brothers. The story tells the reader about obstacles faced by people who lived in the 1950s Harlem, a neighborhood in New York. The purpose of the essay is to analyze the short story Sonny’s Blue written by James Baldwin.

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Family Background

The family background weighs heavily on the relationship between the brothers. Their mother tells the older sibling to care for his younger brother, Sonny, after her death. The mother says, “You got to hold on to your brother…and don’t let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you get with him” (Baldwin 17). The narrator feels the responsibility of being a father figure after both of their parents have passed away. However, the older brother ignores Sonny for a while. He is failing as a parent until Sonny goes to prison. The narrator changes his mind after finding out that his brother has been arrested for dealing heroin.

The Setting of the Story

The setting of the story is the neighborhood of New York, Harlem, in the 1950s. The site of brothers’ living “exerts a powerful influence on the characters” (Kim 140). Harlem’s inhabitants are mostly African Americans living in poverty and insecurity and facing violence. The brothers face many difficulties in the ghetto, which have been created by years of discrimination against African-Americans.

It is possible to note that Harlem is depicted as dystopian America, “where characters are stripped of their agency and forced to rely on illusions, false appearances, or escape to survive” (Garrow 15). Crime, homelessness, and drug use are the norms in the neighborhood, and they contribute to Sonny’s fate. His difficult living situation influences the process of musical creation as well as connects him with others.

Divide between the Brothers

The elder brother is much different from the younger one, even though they grew up under similar conditions. Sonny’s Blues is a story about the divide between two different personalities. Both characters, Sonny and the narrator are searching for happiness in two opposing ways. The narrator takes life seriously and prefers to devote himself to the education and teaching profession to escape negative surroundings. He does not understand his younger brother’s way of living and judges him because of it.

In contrast to the brother, Sonny uses jazz music and heroin to cope with the despair of their living conditions. Sonny can feel compassion toward others. According to Belilgne, Sonny’s music “has a transformative psychic and corporeal effect on the crowd (49). He sympathizes with people’s pain and seems almost to share their sorrow when he performs. Their different preferences in jazz music also reveal the distance between them. According to Perry, “this point of contention over the viability of music as a career creates the primary conflict for the narrative: a falling out between brothers” (25).

The elder brother likes the music of Louis Armstrong, which is more of a traditional style. It is worth mentioning that the younger one prefers the emotional and complex Charlie Parker’s jazz music. Parker’s type of jazz is criticized by the elder brother, who represents the older generation (Braggs 159). The narrator’s non-acceptance of the younger brother’s dream of becoming ‘Parker’s disciple reveals the gap between the two generations and the inability of the brothers to connect.

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Family Ties Revival

When Sonny is out of prison, he is staying with his older brother. They have a heart-to-heart conversation where they reach an understanding. The older brother, instead of putting his brother down for wanting to be a jazz musician, asks him questions and tries to understand him. The narrator attempts to reconnect with his brother and to become a good older brother and a parent figure. The conversation represents a shift and shows that the brothers have a stronger relationship than before.

The Resolution of Sonny’s Blues

In the final part of the story, Sonny’s performance at a jazz club brings his brother to tears. It proves that their relationship has changed, and they found a way to get closer to each other. The elder brother’s seriousness is broken, and he describes his feelings, “I saw my mother’s face again and felt, for the first time, how the stones of the road she had walked on must have bruised her feet” (Baldwin 38).

He continues, “I saw my little girl again and felt Isabel’s tear again, and I felt my own tears begin to rise” (Baldwin 38). Sonny’s music allows him to connect to his family’s past. The narrator has a warmer feeling and compassion toward the younger brother. He is touched by Sonny’s musical performance, his connection with other people, and the way Sonny uses the bitterness of his past to create jazz music. The final scene raises hopes and optimism that the two brothers will find a way to resolve their conflict entirely.

Conclusion

Going through the brother’s eyes, the narrator tells the story of Sonny’s life. Misunderstandings between brothers occur amid tragic family events and a difficult social situation. Nevertheless, the two brothers have managed to find a way to overcome difficulties in their relationship. Sonny’s Blues tells that people have to connect and have compassion for each other despite the misunderstandings in the past.

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. . Ernst Klett Sprachen, 2009, p.39. Litclasses. Web.

Belilgne, Maleda. “Sonic Living: Space and the Speculative in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”.” James Baldwin Review, vol. 4. no. 1, 2018, pp. 45-62.

Braggs, Rashida K. “Evoking Baldwin’s Blues: The Experience of Dislocated Listening.” James Baldwin Review vol. 1. no. 1, 2015, pp. 152-163.

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Garrow, Kate. “Dystopian America in Revolutionary Road and ‘Sonny’s Blues’.” Burgmann Journal VI, 2017, pp. 15-25.

Kim, Eui Young. “Close Reading and Cultural Specificity: Teaching “Sonny’s Blues” in Korea.” British and American Studies, vol. 45, 2019, pp. 131-156.

Perry, Colin. “The Meaning in the Music: Music and the Prose of Chopin, Joyce, Baldwin and Egan.” Senior Theses. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Lesley University, 2019.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Two Brothers in Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin." June 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/two-brothers-in-sonnys-blues-by-james-baldwin/.

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IvyPanda. "Two Brothers in Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin." June 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/two-brothers-in-sonnys-blues-by-james-baldwin/.

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