Sonny Blues Symbolism

In the story “Sonny Blues” James Baldwin uses the main character Sonny as a symbolism of his theme throughout the story. The theme James Baldwin portrays to his audience is that no matter how tough situations get there is also a way to get back up and make things better. This theme can be seen in many different way in the story, including the way Sonny’s relationship changes with his brother as the story goes on, Sonny’s recovery from drugs and prison and Sonny’s finding of a way to express himself through music. The first way Baldwin uses Sonny as a symbol to send the message that there is always a way to improve things in Sonny’s relationship with his brother and how it changes throughout the story. When first asked about what he is going to do about Sonny going to jail the narrator says, “I’m not sure I am going to do anything. Anyway, what the hell can I do?”(339). Throughout the start of the story the narrator and Sonny never see eye to eye, they could never relate to each other because of the difference in child hood they had with Sonny having no mom or dad and struggling through the challenges that is forced upon a kid with no parental guidance. The relationship of the narrator and Sonny does change towards the end of the story right after the death of the narrator’s daughter. After years of not seeing Sonny the narrator states, “I was suddenly sitting in the living room and suddenly I thought of Sonny” (351). …show more content…
The theme of the story of never giving up and making situations better when they are bad revolves directly around Sonny and his life in this story and how Baldwin uses many examples of this theme including Sonny going from not talking to his brother at all to living with his brother at the end of the story, going from jail to sticking with his dream to be a musician, and from not being able to express himself to expressing himself through