Sonny's brother wakes up and states, "Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did" (47). Sonny was more free and living a life more true than his brother realized. The transformation in Sonny's brother is dramatic. Duncan writes, "By the end of the story, the narrator has gained much more than an astute musical ear. He has learned . . . To listen" (Duncan). Throughout the story, Baldwin designates the act of listening as the linchpin of this moral tale; by focusing on an often-overlooked component of communication, this early Baldwin story illustrates how Brother, initially deaf to what Sonny calls "all that hatred and misery and love," opens his ears to his culture, his brother, and himself. and, through Brother's example, readers might also become more willing to accept attitudes and lifestyles that do not conform to social convention" (Duncan). The connection Between Sonny and his brother become more prominent because of the different directions the men's lives have taken. Sonny, the herion addict, copes with the hardships of life with music. He tells Sonny it is "terrible sometimes, inside . . . And there's no way of getting it out -- that storm inside (43). Here we see that music is more than just a hobby for Sonny -- it is, by many accounts, his salvation. What music does to and through Sonny transcends words but it means freedom and that is exactly what Sonny needs to survive. It truly is something that exists beyond words and for the first time. Duncan writes that after Sonny's brother watches him play, the "first real communication between the two brothers" (Duncan) occurs. Sonny says about him addictions, "You can't talk it and...
So you've got to listen. You got to find a way to listen" (42). Duncan states that this kind of expression is nothing astounding coming from a musician. However, his "uncharacteristically astute assessment of his own role in perpetuating Sonny's problem" (Duncan) is and Sonny's brother realizes any amount of advice he could give Sonny at this point would be "empty words and lies" (42). Sonny communicates with those around him in an almost magical way that only leaves his brother envious.
Sonny's Blues": Two brothers, two parallel lives James Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues" is contingent upon a comparison of the lives of two men, Sonny's brother and Sonny himself. Sonny's brother is a stable family man with a wife and two children, a respected schoolteacher. Sonny is a heroin addict and jazz musician. On a schematic level, they represent two sides of the African-American experience, as chronicled by Baldwin during
Music Report Archaeological finds show that prehistoric man had already played music. Music and dance are the humans' most natural and original forms of expression. Berendt said of modern generations: "Nada brahma - all is sound," in nature. Stones, bones, pieces of wood, hollow vessels and cups make sounds when pushed, beaten or rubbed together. Stretched hides bang, the buzz of the arrow whizzing off the bow can be imitated with
This passage also, of course, reflects Sonny's particular struggle. He tells his brother at one point that the feeling heroine gave him at many times was a feeling of being in control, and that it was important for him to have that feeling sometimes. The rest of the world, it is made clear, does not actually give either sonny or his brother a great deal of control, and though both
Daru is still trying to cling to a sense of morality; yet, the Arab himself shows how this will not work in a world of uncertainty because after he is set free, he goes to the police station himself. James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" Topic 6 James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" is an interesting tale of a lost soul, who finds his solace and ability to express himself through the art of music.
Music becomes the symbol that changes the brothers. To emphasize the importance of the power of music, Baldwin's narrator cannot grasp what Sonny is speaking about until he sees him play. It is only when he experiences the sound does he finally "get it." Music bridges the chasm that has existed between these brothers for so long and it literally saves their relationship from further darkness and turmoil. Sonny's
The following quotation, which appears in an annotated bibliography and is in reference to an article by Susan Robbins entitled "Anguish and Anger" that appeared in the Virginia English Bulletin in 1986, demonstrates this fact. Compares James Joyce's "Araby" and James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" in relation to the theme, "Anger and anguish are the fires that burn away innocence…" (59). Sonny gains his freedom from anger and anguish through his
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