Sonny's Blues Marxist Analysis

Similar to religion, the word empathy has the potential to relate to any number of entities when viewed through a Marxist lens. Merriam-Webster defines empathy as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience full communicated in an objectively explicit manner.” This emotional bond can connect a person to anything, not exclusively a fellow human – in the case of Karl Marx, he experienced this relationship with his homeland of Germany. Although Marx is ruthless in denouncing his home country throughout “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right,” it does not necessarily follow that he despised said nation. On the contrary, harsh criticism is unfailingly born from a deep emotional attachment towards a subject, and …show more content…
“Sonny's Blues” offers an excellent template, containing several fascinating characters and relationships. With his quiet and reserved nature, Sonny is a character with hidden depths – a musician who genuinely marches to the beat of his own drummer. Sonny suffers greatly in his life, losing both parents at a young age and straining his relationship with his older brother, causing him to descend into drug addiction. In such a tortured life, Sonny requires a religion, something to believe in – and he finds it in music, eventually achieving salvation through his passion. Although Sonny and his older brother did not always agree, they eventually gain a mutual understanding of each other – Sonny's brother learns to empathize with Sonny's struggles and his love for jazz, and Sonny realizes his brother only ever wanted the best for him. Their newfound connection finally allows Sonny to free himself from the darkness that had plagued him throughout his