In “Sonny’s Blues”, Baldwin tells the story of a young black adult’s struggles against his family and society in his goals to become a famous jazz musician. In the story, both the narrator and Sonny (his younger brother), grow up the same way, yet have opposite views on what determines future success and how they get there. While the narrator seeks to find a lifestyle that fits the general idea of an American family, Sonny seeks to live a life led by his own ambitions in a field where there is only high risk with little reward. In “The Lost Years”, Paul Adams, gives insight to the history of jazz and how substance abuse and jazz are closely related. Adams also tells us how the life of a jazz musician is very unstable and usually short lived
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Due to jazz being a very specific style on its own, it never really fit into pop music culture, because of this, jazz musicians often felt isolated and unappreciated. According to Adam’s article, some jazz musicians used drugs to get over the loneliness, others used it to stimulate creativity to create new music, even using drugs to get your mind off the dullness of the jazz club was not uncommon. Due to this, heroine and cannabis became common drugs in the jazz community. Furthermore, although jazz musicians were talented, many struggled with financial difficulty. This was partially due to the racial discrimination against black musicians as well as the audience that it appealed too were not the high class men and women who could afford to spend money on good music but rather to the lower classes of society. Death at a young age was also not uncommon among jazz musicians. Due to the constant substance abuse, many jazz musicians were often medically unhealthy and would have a regularly decreased lifespan. Since Anti-viral therapy and vaccination was not available during the time period, jazz musicians that caught hepatitis, cirrhosis or any other disease were not able to seek medical treatment and this would also lead to their premature death. Due to all of this, it is shown that the life of a jazz musician, although might look satisfying has a very dark background. This may explain why the narrator in “Sonny’s Blues” is so disapproved of Sonny’s choice of life and why he deals with Sonny in the manner which he
Due to jazz being a very specific style on its own, it never really fit into pop music culture, because of this, jazz musicians often felt isolated and unappreciated. According to Adam’s article, some jazz musicians used drugs to get over the loneliness, others used it to stimulate creativity to create new music, even using drugs to get your mind off the dullness of the jazz club was not uncommon. Due to this, heroine and cannabis became common drugs in the jazz community. Furthermore, although jazz musicians were talented, many struggled with financial difficulty. This was partially due to the racial discrimination against black musicians as well as the audience that it appealed too were not the high class men and women who could afford to spend money on good music but rather to the lower classes of society. Death at a young age was also not uncommon among jazz musicians. Due to the constant substance abuse, many jazz musicians were often medically unhealthy and would have a regularly decreased lifespan. Since Anti-viral therapy and vaccination was not available during the time period, jazz musicians that caught hepatitis, cirrhosis or any other disease were not able to seek medical treatment and this would also lead to their premature death. Due to all of this, it is shown that the life of a jazz musician, although might look satisfying has a very dark background. This may explain why the narrator in “Sonny’s Blues” is so disapproved of Sonny’s choice of life and why he deals with Sonny in the manner which he