“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin is a multi-level story.
The unnamed narrator shares the story of his brother whom he learns from the newspaper
has been arrested.
I read about it in the paper, in the subway, on
my way to work. I read it and I couldn’t believe it, and I read it again…I was scared,
scared for Sonny. He became real to me
again…
This initial event
makes the narrator reflect back on his life with his brother Sonny. There are several
themes in the story which portray a man who has struggled all of his life to find his
way.
Sonny’s
Music
Sonny wants to be a jazz piano player,
but the narrator thinks this is a waste of Sonny’s life. The brothers’ inability to see
eye to eye on this is what causes so much strife between them. This is the issue that
kept the brother at odds.
The brother attends the place
where Sonny plays his music. It is there that the brother realizes that Sonny has a
gift and how important music is to him. Finally, he gets what the other people who are
listening to him already know. Sonny belongs in the music world. The brother sends
Sonny a drink, and the inference is that the brothers will be able to resolve their
problems and have a familial
relationship.
Drug
Abuse
Harlem, the setting of the story, has
been a center for drugs and alcohol abuse. The initial event in the story shows that
Sonny is still caught in this world. He claims that he is only selling to make money
and that he no longer uses drugs.
Everyone who uses drugs
impacts all of the people who love them as well. It destroys lives and families. The
purpose of the drug use offers the user an escape for a small interim---away from the
depression and oppression of racial problems, poverty, and suffering. Drug addiction
plagues the user as a destructive force which wrenches his soul
away.
In the story, the brother begins to see that Sonny
despite his own problems tries to help the people around him by using music to change
their frustrations. Members of the community come together to watch over and protect
those who do have problems.
Family and
home
The two brothers love each other, do
not understand the other, and hurt each other. The story illustrates how much the
brothers need each other by the struggles they go through trying to find their common
ground. In the end, the narrator makes the connection by looking closer at his brother
and finding the value in his life.
The narrator’s mother
charged him with becoming “his brother’s keeper” when she asked him to watch out for
Sonny. She understood the difference between the brothers: the younger one was more
stable and knew the way out of the suffering of his situation. On the other hand, Sonny
needed support because he was weaker and prone to making poor
decisions.
Sonny creates his own family from the musicians
with which he plays. The narrator creates his family with his wife and children. In
the beginning, the narrator does not understand Sonny’s ability to surround himself with
people who love the same things that he
does.
Unfortunately for Sonny, these people also serve as
a negative influence because they too have drug problems. Hopefully, with the brother’s
new understanding of Sonny, the narrator will help Sonny find his way back to his real
family.
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