Devastation And Suffering In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

Devastation and suffering occurs frequently in, “Sonny’s Blues.” It is told through an unnamed narrator that comes to realize that his younger brother Sonny, who he has not been in contact with for some time, has been arrested for using and selling Heroin. After a tragic event for the narrator, the brothers begin to communicate once again. When released, the narrator allows Sonny to stay with him at his apartment, where he begins to have flashbacks, the narrator recounts his mother telling him and his father’s brother getting run over and killed by a car of whites, continuing to tell him to always watch over Sonny. He also remembers all the rough times between him and Sonny and a conversation in which Sonny told him about his love for jazz …show more content…
James Baldwin in “Sonny’s Blues” uses his plot to resemble a quest for two brothers to overcome suffering and devastation through family comfort and also creative outlets, in this case jazz music for Sonny. Baldwin begins his plot by describing the first sign of suffering that occurs right when the narrator reads about Sonny’s arrest in the newspaper. The narrator is an algebra teacher and as he leaves school he runs into a friend of Sonny who tells him how Sonny’s condition really is and how he may never kick the habit. Baldwin states that after jail, “They’ll send him away some place and try to cure him, maybe he’ll even think he’s kicked the habit, then they’ll let him loose, that’s all” (Baldwin 70). This quote shows that the friend believes the Sonny is suffering so much that even if he kicks his drug habit, once he gets back to his normal life in Harlem he will eventually continue what he was doing before. Sonny also makes it evident himself that he is in fact suffering. This comes after the narrator finally decides to send a letter …show more content…
It is sad to think about all the people in the world that go through devastation and then suffer throughout life. It is also very scary thinking about people like Sonny who take their sadness and frustrations out on things like heroin. The positive is that if you have a strong support system and family and you also find something you are passionate about, like Sonny and his jazz, it can make it easier to overcome or cope with, and it allows you to escape reality for that moment. James Baldwin did a great job in structuring his plot to show all the ups and down from the brother’s past and present, he made it feel as if you knew they characters on a personal level, which made the resolution at the end that much