Sonny Blues Short Story Theme

‘’Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor’’ quoted by Sholom Aleichem. Sonny Blues is a short story Written by James Baldwin. Sonny Blues is the story of a young jazz musician from Harlem, NY who gets addicted to heroin, is arrested for using and selling drugs, and returns to his childhood neighborhood after being released from prison. Sonny is the main character who has the drug addiction problem. Sonny’s brother is the narrator who tells the story. Isabel is Sonny’s sister-in-law which is Sonny’s brother 's wife. Creole is a bass player who leads the band that Sonny joined later on his life. The setting of Harlem was realistic, the narrator role was great, and theme of Sonny Blues was very self-telling to me as a reader. At the same time, the setting of Sonny Blues was very realistic. For example, the story takes place in Harlem during the early 1950s. Where the city plays a pretty important role in the narrative. The narrator uses Harlem because it’s part of the reason Sonny …show more content…
For example, the narrator was Sonny’s brother who told the story of his brother 's life of being on drugs and selling drugs. I like that the narrator never mentions his name because the story wasn’t about him; it was about Sonny his brother. He also mention everyone that had an impact on Sonny’s life while growing up in Harlem. He also talked about the career he choose and how his brother Sonny choose a different path. A second example is how told how is brother went to jail and how he couldn’t talk to him while being in jail. Then how he and his brother Sonny got closer after his release from prison. Also for him to tell that he lost a daughter is a very brave thing to do and how it affects his life after she passed away. He made the death of his daughter so heart touching that made me as a reader wants to cry. Finally, I felt that the narrator roles kept me as a reader very