There are a few major themes that are prevalent throughout “Sonny’s Blues” especially the struggle with drug abuse, internal struggles, and family relationships. I want to focus more on the family dynamic and the relationship between the narrator and Sonny. At first the reader wasn’t informed that the narrator is actually Sonny’s brother and the story makes a little bit more sense about why the narrator is so invested in this heroin addicted musician. It is obvious that the brothers love and care for each other, but their lives are so different it’s hard for them to see eye to eye about their lifestyle. The brothers seem to create their own type of family that they haven’t been born into, for instance the narrator has a wife and kids and that is his own family he has made. Sonny has a different type of “family”, his group of friends and musicians. This is most apparent after Sonny and his brother get into a fight over each other’s lifestyle choices, and the narrator tries to find him he describes the scene, “there were lots of people in the room and Sonny just lay on his bed, and he wouldn’t come downstairs with me, and he treated these other people as thought they were his and I weren’t. So I got mad and then he got mad,and then I told him that he might just as well be dead as live the way he was living” (Baldwin, pg. 2208). The situation escalates so quickly because they are brothers and that’s what brothers do, they fight. Later in the story, Sonny is talking to his brother about his drug addiction, how dirty it was, and how the drugs made him suffer. He starts to reconnect and open up to the narrator about how Sonny struggles with being in Harlem because of his drug problem. At the bottom of 2212, Sonny brings up that he is his brother so that he can ensure he was paying attention and being not joking around.
The most prevalent rhetorical technique Baldwin uses is that the story is being told by a 1st person point of view. This literary style has it’s benefits, but also has its drawbacks. It is beneficial to the reader because the brother is well put together and paints a good description for the audience and is trying to look out for Sonny’s best interests. Sonny tries explaining to the narrator, how important jazz is to him and describes the situation as though it is a life or death scenario. Another reason that it is good that the narrator is Sonny’s brother is because it isn’t Sonny. Sonny would be a very inconsistent narrator because of his drug abuse and mental state, his trains of thought would be very challenging to try to understand.
One thought on “Blog Post 5: Baldwin”
I think you’re right — the fact that they are brothers, and that brothers have complicated relationships — is a significant feature of the story and shapes the narrator’s perspectives.
I think you’re right — the fact that they are brothers, and that brothers have complicated relationships — is a significant feature of the story and shapes the narrator’s perspectives.