Suffering In Sonny's Blues, By James Baldwin

Living nevily and showing ignorance towards suffering is no way to live at all, we must accept the tragedies of life in order to move on . In Sonny’s blues, by James Baldwin, the Narrator discovers that his brother, the title character Sonny, has been caught for peddling and using heroin, throughout the story he attempts to understand why and discover how he can change Sonny’s habits. The Narrator, in denial about the suffering he has become accustomed to in Harlem, can deny it no more after the literal and metaphoric death of his daughter, Grace, and only finds salvation after listening to and comprehending his brother sonny’s music at the jazz club. Throughout the story, the Narrator must accept the darkness of Harlem, acknowledge his …show more content…
Throughout the destroy the author has an optimistic and all-knowing attitude towards the suffering of Harlem, he refuses to realize that the darkness of Harlem is inescapable and naively believes that education and a career can make you achieve that American dream. Not until he loses his grace, both literally and metaphorically, does he realize that he is suffering and that his suffering should be fixed. It was not the joyous laughter, which – God knows why – one associates with children. “I couldn’t believe it: but what I mean by that is that I couldn’t find any room for it anywhere inside of me. I had kept it outside me for a long time. I hadn’t wanted to know." That author has suffered greatly, but does not accept or even realize that he is suffering, until he loses his daughter grace. Grace is both psychically and literally the loose in his life that brings everything to the surface, before his lose of grace the suffering was their, but he couldn’t bring the idea to his mind, when losing grace the suffering become a real and understood part of his life. The author soon can begin to realize the importance of listening and the necessity in his life to accept the suffering, and to stop living in the fantasy that the ability to achieve a better life is …show more content…
The Narrator has no realized his suffering and is ready to be open and acknowledge and interpret what others are saying. The narrator may not be able to comprehend immediately but, he is making an effort to listen to what Sonny is saying. “I had never played the role of the older brother quite so seriously before...I sensed myself in the presence of something I didn’t really know how to handle, didn’t understand.” The narrator used to act as though he was sonny’s dad, he thought he was all knowing and that Sonny’s life and choices where he responsibility. But, know The Narrator has come to the realization that he is is Sonny’s brother, not father, and he should be there to listen to Sonny. The narrator is trying to change his role from a commanding figure to somebody to make Sonny feel less lonely. “‘Isn’t it better then, just to—take it?’ ‘But nobody just takes it,’ Sonny cried, ‘that’s what I’m telling you! Everybody tries not to. You’re just hung up on the way some people try—it’s not your way!’” The narrator is trying, he is making a consistent effort to change his ways and to start listening to Sonny. The author may not completely understand why Sonny has an obsession with becoming a musician, nor why he would use heroin, but he is listening and wants to understand what and how Sonny