Brotherly Love In Sonny's Blues

Sonny’s Blues portrays the acts of brotherly love. Even though there are many struggles and conflicts that the characters go through with themselves and each other, the motive is all out of love. The narrator, who is unnamed, wants to look out for his brother Sonny. They have their differences which evolves in to huge problems in their relationship. The fact that they constantly want to be heard without hearing the other is the main cause of their conflict. However, only through music, through Sonny’s Blues, is when the two brothers truly see eye to eye. The narrator finally sees his brother for who he really is when he hears Sonny play. The two brothers have grown up in the same neighborhood, the same conditions and struggles in Harlem and yet they go two different paths. The narrator goes on to be a successful algebra teacher, who has a loving wife and two beautiful children. Sonny on the other hand becomes addicted to heroin at a very young age and follows the path of a life full of drugs and violence. They obviously have two views of the world due to their contrasting lives. This is a contributing factor to their conflicts. They have different morals and priorities. During the flashback, when the two brothers were in the kitchen discussing Sonny’s life, they were bumping heads. Sonny …show more content…
You got to find a way to listen”. Finally, at the end of the story, he does. The narrator finally understands where Sonny is coming from. He finally sees who Sonny is. Throughout the music he hears “what he had gone through and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth”. He saw his mother’s face again, and felt her struggle for the first time. He saw the road his father died. He saw his little girl again and felt Isabel’s tears and also his own. The narrator not only heard his brother throughout the music but he related to it too. He finally listened to his brother and his language was so beautiful to