Cues can often signal the approach of something important in literature. On certain occasions, the cues may be obvious, but more often than not they only truly manifest once the reader gains a full understanding of the text. “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin is a dynamic short story that encompasses both the lifestyle of the African American community within the time period and the development of jazz music as a form of self-expression. Despite having two dynamic main characters the plot moves forward with fluidity. This is mostly due to Baldwin’s use of ongoing themes such as loss of innocence, suffering and self-discovery that manifest in both of the leading characters. In “Sonny’s Blues”, the author utilizes music to highlight these themes
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He represents who Sonny could be and this scares him. His fear taints the surrounding world his view of the people around him is skewed. As he watches a barmaid dance he interprets, “when she smiled one saw the little girl, one sensed the doomed, still-struggling woman beneath the battered face of a semi-whore” (107). Baldwin uses this reflection to exemplify the theme of self-discovery and the way that drugs can pollute the process. In his fear he thinks, “I certainly didn’t want to know how it felt. It filled everything, the people, the houses, the music, the dark, quicksilver barmaid, with menace; and this menace was their reality” (107). To an outside observer the barmaid was joyfully dancing around the bar making conversation; to the narrator, drugs destroy the façade causing the music to fall flat and the barmaid to be broken. This reality, their reality scares him. The text highlights his misunderstanding of his brother’s love of music and also his fear of Sonny’s suffering. Music is unknowingly a part of how the narrator perceives the world and Baldwin uses it to mark his journey throughout the …show more content…
The string that ties this piece together is music. In “Sonny’s Blues” the author utilizes music to highlight the themes of a loss of innocence, suffering, and self-discovery and develop the plot. The imagery created by Baldwin deepens the text to be about so much more than just Sonny’s struggle with drugs. It helps to create an understanding of the human experience as well as encompass how a new wave of jazz music developed into a form of self-expression. Leaving at the end, a picture of hope despite the presence of
He represents who Sonny could be and this scares him. His fear taints the surrounding world his view of the people around him is skewed. As he watches a barmaid dance he interprets, “when she smiled one saw the little girl, one sensed the doomed, still-struggling woman beneath the battered face of a semi-whore” (107). Baldwin uses this reflection to exemplify the theme of self-discovery and the way that drugs can pollute the process. In his fear he thinks, “I certainly didn’t want to know how it felt. It filled everything, the people, the houses, the music, the dark, quicksilver barmaid, with menace; and this menace was their reality” (107). To an outside observer the barmaid was joyfully dancing around the bar making conversation; to the narrator, drugs destroy the façade causing the music to fall flat and the barmaid to be broken. This reality, their reality scares him. The text highlights his misunderstanding of his brother’s love of music and also his fear of Sonny’s suffering. Music is unknowingly a part of how the narrator perceives the world and Baldwin uses it to mark his journey throughout the …show more content…
The string that ties this piece together is music. In “Sonny’s Blues” the author utilizes music to highlight the themes of a loss of innocence, suffering, and self-discovery and develop the plot. The imagery created by Baldwin deepens the text to be about so much more than just Sonny’s struggle with drugs. It helps to create an understanding of the human experience as well as encompass how a new wave of jazz music developed into a form of self-expression. Leaving at the end, a picture of hope despite the presence of