The Flawed Relationship Between Two Brothers In Sonny's Blues, By James Baldwin

Sonny’s Blues is a short story written by James Baldwin that showcases a flawed relationship between two brothers because of their opposing ways of seeing life. In the story the narrator and his brother Sonny go through many moments in the story in which expresses how crushed their relationship is and the many times they have tried to see eye to eye. A very heavy theme in this story is the obligation towards brotherly love which means all the things that they have done for each other because of the love they share but cannot properly express for one another. In the story the brothers Sonny and the narrator go through life going through different experiences in their life, and at times the same ones in which we can see their different points of view and they strive to be better siblings. In the struggle to keep their obligations as brothers, they eventually find a place of understanding each other’s differences.
Although Sonny and his brother they have lived in the same environment have become very different people with similar struggles longing to know each other. The two brothers have both grew up in the low-income neighborhood in Harlem which they both desperately wanted to get out of, but have a big age gap which means their childhood were not in the same era and events during these times are not the same. …show more content…
It was hard for them to listen to each other because of the differences in experiences and interests. They both go through life trying while also failing to listen and understand the paths they have dome and the things they have done to cause their relationship to be the way it is. However, in the end they are able to respect the choices they individually made and hope that although their relationship will never be great they will still try to support and respect one