SONNYS BLUES.

JAMES BALDWIN

Id like to begin by saying a few words about the author. James Baldwin grew up
in Harlem, New York. He always reflected in his works where he lived: his big
and very religious family, the neighborhood, the racism an oppressive
atmosphere of wich he escaped by the literature. In the seventies, after the
murder of Martin Luther King, he embraced the Black Power. Therefore, most of
his works are protest novels about racial and gender conflicts.
1. Introduction: When and where does the action take place? Who are the
characters? (BACKGROUND)
The story is set in Harlem, the underworld of New York, in the fifties. Its a
realistic story about two brothers who grow up together but become totally
different. The older, the narrator, is a serious and responsible person. The
younger, Sonny, is a troubled teenager, a bohemian who wants to get away
from school and run his own life.
2. A brief outline of the story.
Sonny' Blues is a story written in the first-person singular narrative style. Its a
story about two brothers and their relationship. They both suffer, but differently.
On the one hand, the older is a good boy, a conventional person who thinks
that people cant always do exactly what they want to do. He works hard, gets
married, becomes a professor and holds on. On the other hand, Sonny, the
stray bullet thinks that people ought to do what they want to do, because, as
he says what else are we alive for? He looks for the way to escape suffering.
3. A description of the main characters.
Sonnys brother is the narrator and main character; his name is never
mentioned throughout the story. He is a high school algebra teacher and family

man. Unlike Sonny who is constantly struggling with his feelings, he chooses to
ignore his own pain.
Sonny is the main character's brother. The reader sees him through his
brothers eyes, as a quiet, introspective person with a tendency to retire inside
himself. Sonny is also described by the narrator as wild, stray bullet, but not
crazy. He has a heroin addiction, which led him to jail, but because of his
passion for jazz, he became a musician.
Isabel is Sonnys sister-in-law, she is open and talkative. After Sonnys mother
died, he lived with Isabel in her parents' house for a while, while his brother was
in the army.
Creole is a bass player who leads the band that Sonny plays in at the end of
the story. He functions as a kind of father figure for Sonny.
Sonny's Mother
Sonny's Father
Sonny's Uncle (His father's brother)
Sonny's Friend

4. A description of the main events.

The story opens with the narrator, who reads about his younger brother named
Sonny who has been caught in a heroin bust. The narrator then goes about his
day; he is a teacher at a school in Harlem. However, he cannot get his mind off
Sonny. He thinks about all the boys in his class, who dont have bright futures
and are most likely doing drugs, just like Sonny. After school, he meets a friend
of Sonnys, who tells him that they will lock him up and make him detox, but
eventually he will be let out and be all alone.
He decides to write Sonny a letter. Then Sonny writes back, so they got in
contact again. They keep in contact, and after Sonny gets out of jail, he goes to
2

live with the narrator and his family. They eat a family dinner, which remind them
about their parents:
His father, a drunken man, and his mother, who tells him the story of how his
uncle died (was run over by some drunken white kids) and that the narrator has
to watch over Sonny. The narrator was married to Isabel two days after this talk,
and then he went off to war. The next time he came back to the states was for
his mothers funeral.
When he comes back for the funeral, he has a talk with Sonny, trying to figure
out who he is, because they are so distant from one another. He asks Sonny
what he wants to do, and Sonny replies that he wants to be a jazz musician and
play the piano. The narrator does not understand this dream and doesnt think it
is good enough for Sonny, who argues that he does not want to finish high
school.
It is soon found out that Sonny is not going to school. Instead, he is going over
to Greenwich Village, and hanging with his jazz friends (and most likely doing
drugs). It is soon found out that Sonny is not going to school. Instead, he is
going over to Greenwich Village, and hanging with his jazz friends (and most
likely doing drugs). Sonny drops out of school, and joins the navy.
They both get back from the war and live in New York for a while. They would
see each other intermittently, and whenever they would they would fight.
Because of these fights, they did not talk to each other for a very long time.
It then flashes forward, and he decides to write to Sonny. It seems that the
narrator could better understand his brother now. (My trouble made his real.).
He has to asume the present.
Sonny asks the narrator if he wants to come and watch him play in Greenwich
Village, and the narrator, unsure, agrees to go.

Sonny then begins to talk about his heroin addiction. Sonny says heroin makes
you feel in control, and sometimes you just have to feel that way. The narrator
asks if he has to feel like that to play. He answers that some people do. They
talk about suffering. And the narrator asks Sonny if its worth killing yourself, just
trying to escape suffering. Sonny says he is not going to die faster than anyone
else trying not to suffer. Sonny divulges that the reason he wanted to leave
Harlem was to escape the drugs.
They go to the jazz club in Greenwich Village. The narrator realizes how
revered Sonny is there. He hears Sonny play. It becomes completely magical
and enchants the narrator and everyone in the club. His brother finally
understands that it is through music that Sonny is able to turn his suffering into
something worthwhile.
5. The meaning. What is the writer's intention?
From my point of view, the writer wants to express
- suffering, how Sonny and his brother endure suffering. This reveals how
different they are and the reason why Sonnys brother cannot understand him.
While Sonny feels more intensely all the hardships in his life, his brother keeps
his feelings locked in. Most importantly, the short story focuses on the sufferings
of black people in America.
- racism and segregation. The story reveals a separation made by society
between blacks and whites. In spite of being an algebra teacher, Sonnys
brother has to continue living in Harlem and cope with the poverty and violence
existent in the neighborhood. In this manner we can see that his efforts to have
better lifestyle were not successful.

6. The best ideas. (The ones you like best; the ones you do not like at all).
I like the way Baldwin believed in art as a powerful mean to ease or relieve
ones suffering. It is only through music, by playing jazz, that Sonny is able to
externalize his pain and also help his brother to face his own issues.
7. Some quotations of significant bits of text (these can be read aloud in
class).
68-69 blues
53 revival meeting
9. Conclusion: would you recommend the book? Why? (Give reasons to
support you point.).
Id recommend the book for those people who are keen on sad stories about
inner worlds, feelings and senses, as in this case blacks sufferings and people
who have lost hopes. So, despite the fact Its a haunting story, some people
could feel its depressing.