Ultimately, we all find ourselves in that moment when our last breath is released from our body, dying is our final destination, but what truly determines the value of our life is the fight and the will power each individual endures in order to continue living. In the story “Sonny’s Blues” written by James Baldwin, Baldwin writes about the suffering we all face in life and how difficult it is making it through the darkness when one cannot see the light. It is the acknowledgement that one does not give up on his or herself that makes life worth living. Sonny and the narrator 's life chronicle emulate the raw uncensored reality of life. Although Sonny made horrible deleterious life decisions, it is important to recognize that these decisions
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Each character 's death pinpoints significant stages of Sonny 's life. As a boy he lost his father; in losing his father, he lost a bit of himself: “He and Sonny hadn 't ever got on too well. And this was partly because Sonny was the apple of his father 's eye. It was because he loved Sonny so much and was frightened for him, that he was always fighting with him” (256). The authors state that Sonny did not get along with his dad because they share similar personalities. Sonny lost his father, but he did not lose the pain associated with the relationship between his father and him: “Like the car that seemed to drive forever into the night after it hit the uncle, the traumatic effects of the past drive into the present with a reiterative force at both the narrative and the affective level. The emotional resonance of this family’s traumas in the South overflows the past and spills into 1950s Harlem” (Claborn 90). The most significant connection in this story deals with the continuous transfer of pain from different family members to Sonny. Sonny experiences the pain that his father endured, through how his father treats him. He experienced more suffering by living with his mother and seeing how lonely she was after the death of his father. It is due to his mother’s death that causes Sonny to leave home, and this ignited his path to self destruction. As each character dies, Sonny changes as a person and moves towards “darkness” or drug abuse. The last significant death in the story is the death of Grace, Sonny’s niece. It is because of her death that Sonny was able to reconnect with his brother: “I think I may have written Sonny the very day that little Grace was buried. I was sitting in the living room in the dark, by myself, and I suddenly thought of Sonny. My trouble made his real” (261). Often those who are blissful are incapable of acknowledging
Each character 's death pinpoints significant stages of Sonny 's life. As a boy he lost his father; in losing his father, he lost a bit of himself: “He and Sonny hadn 't ever got on too well. And this was partly because Sonny was the apple of his father 's eye. It was because he loved Sonny so much and was frightened for him, that he was always fighting with him” (256). The authors state that Sonny did not get along with his dad because they share similar personalities. Sonny lost his father, but he did not lose the pain associated with the relationship between his father and him: “Like the car that seemed to drive forever into the night after it hit the uncle, the traumatic effects of the past drive into the present with a reiterative force at both the narrative and the affective level. The emotional resonance of this family’s traumas in the South overflows the past and spills into 1950s Harlem” (Claborn 90). The most significant connection in this story deals with the continuous transfer of pain from different family members to Sonny. Sonny experiences the pain that his father endured, through how his father treats him. He experienced more suffering by living with his mother and seeing how lonely she was after the death of his father. It is due to his mother’s death that causes Sonny to leave home, and this ignited his path to self destruction. As each character dies, Sonny changes as a person and moves towards “darkness” or drug abuse. The last significant death in the story is the death of Grace, Sonny’s niece. It is because of her death that Sonny was able to reconnect with his brother: “I think I may have written Sonny the very day that little Grace was buried. I was sitting in the living room in the dark, by myself, and I suddenly thought of Sonny. My trouble made his real” (261). Often those who are blissful are incapable of acknowledging