Nature And Nurture In Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

The nature versus nurture argument has been a vicious and recurring one that has spanned the course of several decades. As human culture has evolved, however, so has the debate. Scientists now concede to a middle ground where nature and nurture may be inseparable. Nature is defined as any “hereditary factors”—emotions and personalities—that influence who people are (Bandura, 575-582). Nurture, on the other hand, refers to any environmental variables—friends, family, society—that can impact an individual’s behavior and growth. In the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, the narrator and his younger brother, Sonny, represent nature and nurture, respectively. The narrator represses his feelings to the point that he fails to truly experience …show more content…
The narrator, in particular, represents more of nature than nurture throughout the majority of the story. To elaborate, the narrator is unable to communicate his emotions which makes him come off as detached. This is observed from the beginning of story when the narrator stares stoically at the newspaper article announcing Sonny’s arrest. Using ice to symbolize hardening of inner emotions, Baldwin juxtaposes what the narrator says to what he is truly feeling every time he remembers “…some specific thing Sonny had once said or done.” It is evident in the literature that the two are completely separate things. Sonny’s brother, though fully conscious of the darkness that presides over his community, turns a blind eye and refuses to be affected. Consequently, this personality, or nature, of the narrator’s makes him unable to relate to Sonny. In the “Moral Contours of Empathy,” Alisa Carse states that empathy is “the ability and disposition to imagine (as best we can) how others feel, what they fear or hope for, and how they understand themselves and their circumstances” (170). When one individual is not able to do so, they fail to truly understand others. This is witnessed in the scene where the narrator is talking with Sonny’s childhood friend about the arrest and thinks: “All this was carrying me some place I didn’t …show more content…
Near the beginning of the story, Sonny is described by his brother as having “always been a good boy” who was never “hard or evil or disrespectful” like the other kids in Harlem. Even when he was younger, Sonny was well aware of the challenges he faced living in one of the most crime-ridden cities. “I don’t want to stay in Harlem no more, I really don’t,” he mentions several times. Unlike his brother, Sonny could not repress his emotions and live in Harlem without being influenced, so defying all stereotypes, he manages to escape and starts a career as a jazz musician. Ironically, this path that Sonny follows eventually lands him in prison for drug use: the one highly probable situation he wanted to escape in the first place. He completely loses touch with his true self and his emotions. Environment plays a big role in how Sonny ends up in the situation that he is in. Looking through a historical lens, the jazz scene was known to have been rampant with drugs. According to a survey conducted by Nat Hentoff in 1957, “409 New York City jazz musicians confirmed the extent of the problem: more than half had tried heroin, with 16% being regular users” (Tolson, 530-538). Even after being released from prison, Sonny tries to break free from this drug addiction and the factors, such as his fellow musicians, that perpetuate the problem. He soon learns that although music caused his downfall, it might