Relationships between characters
A close comparison and contrast of the literary works "Sonny's Blues" written by James Baldwin and "I Stand Here Ironing" written by Tillie Olsen show similarities between the effects of the family relationships and overall themes of sin, redemption, grace, and forgiveness even though they were set in a different time and place.
The author of "I Stand Here Ironing" was named Tillie Olsen. Olsen was born in Nebraska during the Great Depression in 1912. "I Stand Here Ironing" takes place during the Great Depression. James Baldwin, the author of "Sonny's Blues", grew up in Harlem. Baldwin was also a spokesperson for the American Civil Rights movement and racial issues of his time and so he incorporated …show more content…
Sonny's worst pain was caused by his brothers disapproval of his choices to be a musician. Sonny's biggest obstacle in the future will be keeping his sobriety from his addiction to heroin. The theme of "Sonny's Blues" is suffering is all a part of our lives, it just depends on how you cope with it. "He and his boys up there were keeping it new, at the risk of ruin, destruction, madness, and death, in order to find new ways to make us listen. For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness" (Baldwin 57). Sonny is able to finally take back control of his life and be free of the weight of his drug addiction because he was finally …show more content…
The iron in "I Stand Here Ironing" is meant to represent "the physical act of smoothing wrinkles with an iron echoes the mental realignment of memories of the mother's actions and emotions" (Snodgrass 280). The cup of trembling in "Sonny's Blues" is a biblical reference to the book of Isiah. This symbol connects with the theme of redemption. James Tackach drawls another biblical comparison between "Sonny's Blues" and the Prodigal Son parable in the Bible. Both stories have an older brother who is on the straight and narrow path and the younger brother who is wayward. "Like the younger brother in the Prodigal Son parable, Sonny is lost; and Sonny's older brother, like his self-righteous counterpart in the New Testament story, has little sympathy or concern for his wayward brother's situation"(Tackach 112). The author paralleling "Sonny's Blues" with the Prodigal Son parable from the bible is meant to foreshadow that Sonny will return home and be forgiven of his
A close comparison and contrast of the literary works "Sonny's Blues" written by James Baldwin and "I Stand Here Ironing" written by Tillie Olsen show similarities between the effects of the family relationships and overall themes of sin, redemption, grace, and forgiveness even though they were set in a different time and place.
The author of "I Stand Here Ironing" was named Tillie Olsen. Olsen was born in Nebraska during the Great Depression in 1912. "I Stand Here Ironing" takes place during the Great Depression. James Baldwin, the author of "Sonny's Blues", grew up in Harlem. Baldwin was also a spokesperson for the American Civil Rights movement and racial issues of his time and so he incorporated …show more content…
Sonny's worst pain was caused by his brothers disapproval of his choices to be a musician. Sonny's biggest obstacle in the future will be keeping his sobriety from his addiction to heroin. The theme of "Sonny's Blues" is suffering is all a part of our lives, it just depends on how you cope with it. "He and his boys up there were keeping it new, at the risk of ruin, destruction, madness, and death, in order to find new ways to make us listen. For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness" (Baldwin 57). Sonny is able to finally take back control of his life and be free of the weight of his drug addiction because he was finally …show more content…
The iron in "I Stand Here Ironing" is meant to represent "the physical act of smoothing wrinkles with an iron echoes the mental realignment of memories of the mother's actions and emotions" (Snodgrass 280). The cup of trembling in "Sonny's Blues" is a biblical reference to the book of Isiah. This symbol connects with the theme of redemption. James Tackach drawls another biblical comparison between "Sonny's Blues" and the Prodigal Son parable in the Bible. Both stories have an older brother who is on the straight and narrow path and the younger brother who is wayward. "Like the younger brother in the Prodigal Son parable, Sonny is lost; and Sonny's older brother, like his self-righteous counterpart in the New Testament story, has little sympathy or concern for his wayward brother's situation"(Tackach 112). The author paralleling "Sonny's Blues" with the Prodigal Son parable from the bible is meant to foreshadow that Sonny will return home and be forgiven of his