Theme Of Light And Darkness In Sonny's Blues

The roots of the past can become the unbreakable chains of the future. Finding the light he grows towards is unreachable until he disconnects himself, the narrator in “Sonny’s Blues” realizes Harlem will forever hold him captive. Unwilling to leave his brother behind in the darkness of drug addiction and dangerous streets, his hope of a better life seems unobtainable. Accepting him and his brother, Sonny, are trapped, the narrator settles for distance twinkles of salvation. Baldwin uses light and darkness throughout “Sonny’s Blues” to illustrate the harsh choke-hold of reality and the relief hope provides.
The hope the light symbolizes allows for the darkness of the harlem lifestyle to be escaped. “I feel like a man who’s been trying to climb