James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”

Brotherly love is one of the main themes in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”. I find it interesting that James Baldwin writes about brotherly love considering the harsh realities that come with growing up African American in Harlem. Baldwin in, “Sonny’s Blues,” discusses the importance of endurance and love when he writes about his brother’s struggles, “the baby brother I’d never known looked out from the depths of his private life, like an animal waiting to be coaxed into the light”. Baldwin’s observation about his brother’s drug addiction is tragic. The lack of relationship that Baldwin has with his brother and his inability to help Sonny who is systematically oppressed demonstrates Baldwin’s caring nature. Baldwin further emphasizes his caring and enduring nature when he proclaims, “it always must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.” Baldwin expresses the importance of brotherly love and that through writing or music even the poorest of brothers can triumph through any amount of suffering.

Baldwin uses symbolism and sentimentalism through the use of lightness and darkness to convey to the reader the lack of opportunities in Harlem. Darkness is more present through Baldwin’s story mostly because poverty, drugs, and a poor education system cause significant problems in Harlem. Baldwin does express the salvation through his symbolism of light yet it is mostly overshadowed through his use of darkness. For instance, Baldwin writes, “All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies.” This use of darkness symbolizes the inequality in America that is represented through underprivileged African Americans in Harlem.

Benjamin Franklin (DM: Summary)

Benjamin Franklin (DM: Summary)

There were various major themes that were common throughout the Benjamin Franklin blog posts. A first major theme identified, illustrated by an overwhelming majority of students, was humility. Many students who chose the value of humility highlighted Franklin’s creation of the library in order to demonstrate his practice of this value. In her blog post, Rachel summed up this idea by explaining that “[Franklin] exemplifies humility through perseverance in establishing the public library in lieu of struggle and initial lack of popularity”, going on to provide the example of Franklin accrediting a number of friends for the creation of the library thus “allowing the popularity of his own idea be dismissed from his name” (Blog Post 1: Ben Franklin). It is also interesting to note that others made the point that while Franklin saw this as a key value in gaining success, he did not actually truly acquire it. In her blog post, Aaron addressed Franklin’s hypocritical nature by claiming “In both readings Franklin thinks very highly of himself and his works. He then turns around and stresses the importance of humility. Contrary to his narcissistic attitude he openly admits that he practices humility because people listen to him and like him more because he portrays himself as humble” (asimmons).

Two other majors themes that were present, though less commonly than humility, were the qualities of being hard working/industrious and frugal. Angeles pointed out the idea that “There is a conception that in the United States you can climb up the economic latter [sic] regardless of your social class because if you work hard then opportunities will present themselves. Benjamin Franklin put a lot of emphasis on the idea that in order to succeed people had to be hard workers” (Mr. Franklin). This is a concept that many other students discussed in their own blogs as well, with many citing a proverb of Solomon that Franklin presented in chapter 8 of his Autobiography. In regards to frugality, Dalton explains, “In both texts Benjamin Franklin mentions America as economically mobile. Americans are not just frugal with money but their time and food. This is because the ideal American should be hard working and dedicated (industrious) to their family” (Blog Post 1). While only few students chose the topic of frugality, their messages were similar: for Benjamin Franklin, frugality is directly related to self-reliance and success.

When describing the techniques that Franklin used to persuade his audience to adopt his values/qualities, a majority of students referenced his use of humor/satire (most notably in The Way to Wealth through the creation of characters Poor Richard and Father Abraham). Oscar underlined the significance of this by explaining that “…Franklin’s rhetorical strategy is providing means to lighten his message to the readers which allows them to absorb the message in a more relaxed way. His overall message is strong and true although placed in a comical form of explanation” (Blog Post 1-Ben Franklin). Other students drew attention to Franklin’s use of emotion and personal experience as a persuasive technique.

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