Crystal Reynoso

Earth

Sonnys Blues

In the 1950s, America was in a completely different cultural environment than
now. There was still segregation and racism flooding the country especially in the South.
Television portrayed the perfect white family and how things should be. It was a
time of discrimination and unjust opportunities. African American communities did not
have the same access to these opportunities such as living in certain areas because
neighborhoods were also segregated. African Americans faced many difficulties and it
only made their life a lot harder. Poverty was also a huge problem because they were not
allowed to have to good paying careers because of all the racism.
James Baldwin, an African American author of the 1940s and 50s, wrote about
the experience for the African American community during the time before the Civil
Rights Movement. Baldwin wrote Sonnys Blues, a story that really depicts the life of
African Americans living in Harlem in the 1950s. The story is about two brothers, Sonny
and the narrator, and how they cope with their struggles. Sonny is a heroin addict but also
an aspiring musician. The narrator is Sonnys older brother and he too deals with his
suffering internally. The story shows the reader how suffering can lead to addiction, but
also how people still have the ability to prosper regardless of their environment. Sonnys
Blues talks about the little hope there is that still lurks the streets of Harlem and how the
people of Harlem wanted to get out and leave, but oppression, disillusionment, and
addictions kept them there. They were all struggling to survive. Regardless of their
specific reason for hurting, the characters in the story are trying to live and move on past
their suffering.
Both of the central characters in Sonnys Blues, the narrator and Sonny have
different ways of dealing with their environment and moving forward in their lives. One
thing that unifies them is their desire to succeed and mend their relationship. They are
able to come together and reconcile their differences after the narrator begins to become
more open minded and see Sonny as an individual and an equal. This change occurs
when the narrator comes to his senses and realizes that he does not want to lose his
relationship with his only remaining family member.

Addiction is a unhealthy way for the people to relieve their stress and suffering.
Many young people in Harlem became addicted to heroin before the real dangers of the
drug were known. Sonny was addicted to heroin and caved in to the majority around him.
He was trying to escape his reality and this helped him, or so he and every other drug
addict believe. The high let him forget everything that he went through but it would only
last a certain amount of time before he had to take more, thus becoming an addict. Music
was also an escape for him, it was his passion. Music really let me him express his
feelings that he couldnt say. It let him express his pain through another form, rather than
suppress those feelings with drugs. As he played his instrument, the piano, he was able to
release his deep feelings that couldnt of been brought out any other way, he released his
suffering and shared it with others to listen. The only way he felt people could really
listen. He had a passion for the piano, and the narrator recalls a memory when he was at
that piano all day Saturday and all day Sunday. The narrator had never understood
Sonny and his music. He didnt get how someone could like it as much as Sonny did,
especially since it wasnt a secure career. The narrator did not accept Sonnys choice for
the majority of his life, he looked down at Sonny. He couldnt accept his brother for
whom he was and what he loved. It wasnt because the narrator hated his brother but he
hated the irrationality of it all. Sonny never let it go even after his drug abuse began.
The narrator was Sonnys older brother and he was not like his younger brother at
all. They had many differences and fought all the time. He remembers a time when their
relationship was beginning to fall apart and [Sonny] came to the house from time to
time, but we fought almost every time we met. They fought so much because they were
opposite. The narrator wanted Sonny to be clean and be on a better path, he wanted him
to become educated and get a real job. The narrator was a math teacher and was very
aware of the drug abuse, poverty, and crime that plagued their community. He was fully
conscious of the dark side his surroundings had to offer. He dealt with his very
differently, he didn't do drugs or have a passion for music. He simply tried to ignore his
feelings. He didnt like feeling anything too much, and he had a very difficult time
expressing his feelings and emotions. Almost as if he didnt really know how. The only
time he expressed any sort of emotion and opened up was when his daughter died, and he
decided to write to Sonny. The narrator is continually torn by emotions throughout the
entire story. He is unable to understand the way his brother Sonny can embrace change
and has the capacity for it as well. Many people of Harlem were suffering and they all
dealt with it differently, the community itself was just an ocean of people struggling to
swim and stay afloat as they were slowly, and inevitably, sinking to the bottom, one by
one.
The community had many defaults and this is what the narrator knew. He knew it
was far from perfect outside his home and he knew the troubles that were constantly
happening. The playgrounds werent known for being filled with joyous innocent
children, The playground is most popular with the children who dont play at jacks, or
skip rope, or roller skate, or swing, and they can be found after dark. Everything about
the community is corrupt and as much as people try and pretend, it just cant be fixed.
After Harlem started becoming overly populated with people, they had to start building
more houses which they called a housing project. Sonnys brother lived in one of these,
It looks like a parody of the good, clean, faceless life-God knows the people who live in
it do their best to make it a parody. Everyone was suffering, there was no way to escape
it. The whole city reeked of distress and hardship. Everything that seemed to be normal
never was and always had some flaw in it, theyre just human but it was a place filled with
many broken people. When broken people associate themselves with other broken
people, they only cut themselves with their shattered pieces. It was not a good place to be
yet it seemed almost impossible to leave. The word community meant something
completely different to them. It mean a place where people would get into trouble and
harm themselves and others, it was frightful word. The people within the community,
whether or not they contributed to the harm, had their own ways to deal with it.
The community members were all different but incoherently the same. The same
in the suffering aspect yet different in how they expressed their feelings. They held
revival meetings and people of the community came and sung, they expressed their
sorrow through music for everyone to hear. These happened a lot and were normal for
Harlem. These were usually church folk who participated in these meetings. As the
singing filled the air the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing
on something within... This was a way to cope, to really let out everything they had been
feeling. It seemed as though whenever members of the community did this, it was just the
feeling of sorrow that they portrayed. It struck me all of a sudden how much suffering
she must have had to go through to sing like that. Its repulsive to think you have to suffer
that much. They rarely sung to express their happiness, they did but it was more
common to hear sad songs, or blues.
Music is a huge way for all kinds of people to release their feelings whether it is
listening or composing, it is very therapeutic. In the final scene of Sonnys Blues, Sonny
invites his brother, the narrator, to one of his performances at a local club. The narrator is
hesitant at first but agrees, he slowly realizes it would mean a lot to Sonny. He gets there
and is still not fully open to the idea, he sits down not knowing what to really expect from
this new environment. After a while of listening and observing his Sonny perform, the
narrator can finally see the passion and enthusiasm Sonny holds and what it means. He
sees how the music affects not only Sonny but the audience. The music even hit
something inside the narrator at the point that made him realize, he too can relate to the
music.
Through all the suffering and sorrow there was still some hope in Harlem. The light in
this story was all the positive things in life, all the good life still had to offer. There were
still many opportunities people could take, it just a matter of determination and
perseverance. The light, or hope, in the story also symbolized a form of salvation and
grace. The author also used light to describe a young Sonnys face when he was a child,
all children had hope of escaping and not caving in to the Harlem norms. Just as much as
people suffered, they still had hope. They had to, without it life wouldnt of continued,
they needed something to look forward to, to let them know that all their suffering is
because of something, because something greater that is going to happen to them. They
all have faith that one day all their suffering will end and they can all be happy, one day
and thats what keeps them alive.