James Baldwin’s, “Sonny’s Blues,” is a story about two individuals struggling on both sides of a drug addiction. Sonny is a jazz musician from Harlem, New York who gets addicted to Heroin, and is arrested for selling drugs. The other character, the one that is affected by Sonny’s addiction, is the narrator, also known as Sonny’s brother. Even though drugs are a central part of the story, it’s not only about Sonny’s struggle to reconnect with his family, but his family trying to overcome Sonny’s addiction as well.
Throughout the story, there is an overarching value that is shown through the support that Sonny’s family gives him, in particular Sonny’s brother, also known as the narrator of the …show more content…
In the narrator’s mind, reaching out to Sonny is putting himself at risk. Sonny throughout the story creates a tale of caution of drug addiction, creates a stereotype of “growing up on the wrong side of town with the wrong people.” Because of this the narrator is timid in that he doesn’t know whether to associate with him. This stems from Sonny’s problems threatening the narrator’s life he has built. Sonny on the other hand understands his situation and he understands that he needs to face his situation, make alterations and continue his life. For example, agreeing to pursuing piano by his brother’s request, shows how Sonny is trying to change himself and work with his brother to gain his respect. Throughout the story the narrator remains distant and remains in denial, and can’t bring himself to contact Sonny due to his fears that were previously stated. When a friend suggests that he will write him, this marks a turning point in the narrator internally. A realization then can be seen that Sonny’s blues is more about the internal and emotional struggle, that the narrator, as narrow-minded as he is, understands the process he is going through. He is going through the struggling process of accepting and forgiving his brother for the mistakes he made, but also forgiving himself for not reaching out to his brother sooner. This process shows how hard it is to overcome internal beliefs, but also shows the courage that the …show more content…
Over the Summer of 2015 I was fortunate enough to be able to intern with a Home Health Nurse. This internship not only taught me that I want to be a nurse, but it also taught me a very valuable lesson that I will be able to carry not only in the hospital or wherever I decide to take my nursing career, but it will also help me understand societies difficulties. Through the book, the narrator had difficulty accepting the issue that his brother is going through, and try to find a way to overcome his internal feelings and find a way to help his brother. This was a lot of the trial and error I experienced when I was able to intern with a home health nurse. Many of the patients that I dealt with were mentally disabled and most of the job for them was organizing their pills and giving them their pills. This sounds like an easy task at first, but when the patients I was caring for were non-compliant or drug abusers, as well as them trying to talk to me in a sexual way, this kind of got into my head and didn’t allow me to perform my tasks as efficiently as they should be done. I had to fight every day I worked my internal thoughts to overcome what I thought of the individual and allow myself to be put in their shoes. For example, I had a patient named Sherri that was dealing with a number of illnesses, but the one that