Directions: 1) Read "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin.
2) Next, compose a thoughtful blog post using evidence from the text and anything from the documentary I am Not Your Negro (2017) in an attempt to explore one of the complex issues Baldwin examined in his discussion of race in America. Be okay with feeling uncomfortable. Ask questions. Look for feedback. Also, practice kindness. We can discuss these matters with passion AND civility.
3) Also, peruse the additional materials, including the musicians referenced in the short story: Charlie Parker and Louis Armstrong, along with a list of influential artists I love from the past and present. Comment on one that resonated with you in your blog post.
I Am Not Your Negro (2017)
The first-person narrator of "Sonny's Blues" tells the story of his relationship with his younger brother, Sonny. The story begins with narrator, saddened by his brother's choices, reflecting back on their childhood, wondering what caused his brother to become an addict. How does Baldwin use jazz as a means of discussing the complex emotions of his characters? This is the most anthologized of Baldwin's stories. However, how would this story end up perpetuating "the danger of the single story?"
Article: “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin —“The most famous jazz short story ever written”
December 6th, 2013, from Jerry Jazz Musician
In the introduction to The Jazz Fiction Anthology, editors Sascha Feinstein and David Rife cite James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues” as “the most famous jazz short story ever written,” and is pointed to by Baldwin biographer David Leeming as “the prologue to a dominant fictional motif in the overall Baldwin story, the relationship between two brothers that takes much of its energy from the close relationship between James and [brother] David Baldwin.” The story, originally published in Partisan Review in 1957, centers on the narrator’s need to, in Leeming’s words, “save his brother [Sonny] from the precariousness of his life as an artist.” Sonny, in turn, finds his voice by playing bebop in the Village, which results, according to Leeming, in the narrator seeing “that the artist, especially the black artist, is a prophet of freedom, not only of freedom for his own race but of freedom for all those suffocating under the repressive blanket of emotional safety and innocence.”
when shall we start posting responses...?
ReplyDeleteIn both the movie and the story by James Baldwin the setting is mainly based in the New York City borough of Harlem.Harlem was one of the central areas where African American culture thrived and many black people lived there. It’s also where jazz music evolved and was very evident in clubs around Harlem. The place is often described as a safe space and sanctuary for black people who are discriminated everywhere they go. Baldwin states in the movie that, “the country which is your birthplace has not in its coldest reality evolved any place for you”. It’s one of the few places were black people feel like there was a place for them. Yet Baldwin also knows that Harlem is not an incredibly great place to live for it did have a lot of crime poverty and drug usage throughout the area. In his short story “Sonny’s Blues” we see the hardships that many black people face within their families and struggles witht the area that they grew up in through two brothers. Sonny notes in the story as he looks out at Harlem, “All that hatred down there, he said, all that hatred and misery and love. It's a wonder it doesn't blow the avenue apart." Harlem is in fact filled with all kinds of different aspects both good and bad. It’s a place with thriving culture but also filled with a lot of violence and drugs which Sonny himself had succumbed to. With all sorts of love and hate in Harlem Sonny notes how it’s surprising that all of it exists in one place.
ReplyDeleteOn a little side note, I was looking at the songs and I personally love the song “What a Wonderful World” because it's on my oldies playlist that I made for my dad whenever I'm driving in the car with him. My dad is super old so it’s actually a song that he listened to when growing up and it puts us both in a good mood when we listen to it. :)
In the story Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin his takes a look at race and poverty and how they are connected. With the constant drug use and crimes being committed in Harlem New York it is bad and it is taking over that area. It is a problem because even today people of poverty are being exposed to worse things and have a better way of being picked up by and being exposed to drugs and all of the nasty things that come with living in poverty. “All that hatred down there,” he said. “All that hatred and misery and love. It’s a wonder it doesn’t blow the avenue apart. “ Is a quote from the story and it is right after he exits the prison. He is shocked at how bad the situation is and how bad the poverty is in Harlem and why nobody is doing anything about it. Why are people in poverty more exposed to drugs than people in privileged societies? Why do people in poverty have it worse and are more open to crime? Why do people do what they do? I resonate with Miles Davis because he is a trumpet player and the way he plays his songs and the way he speaks resonates with what I believe as well.
ReplyDeleteThe story is titled ‘Sonny’s Blues’, referring to Sonny’s life of playing jazz music. Throughout the story we are told Sonny’s history and how he ended up in jail. Sonny uses his music to cope throughout it all and in a way, his music represents him. As Isabel describes when writing to Sonny’s brother, she says “It wasn’t like living with a person at all, it was like living with sound.” due to how much time he spent by her family’s piano. Another example of this is when his music came to an abrupt stop after having an argument with Isabel’s mother, “The silence of the next few days must have been louder than the sound of all the music ever played since time began.” His music was his way of speaking, since he was always described as quiet. Louis Armstrong can also be described in the same way, becoming one of the first African American men in jazz. He told his story of segregation through his music. In ‘I Am Not Your Negro’, James Baldwin talks about being referred to by his race above everything else, when he simply wants to be “a man”. Throughout his writings of Sonny’s Blues, there isn’t a specific time where he blames Sonny’s heroin addiction to his race- in fact, there isn’t truly a time he really addresses it in depth. Sonny is just a man.
ReplyDelete“Sonny's Blues” was a short story written by Baldwin about an African American narrator and his relationship with his brother, Sonny. The narrator is a math teacher living a middle-class life and rarely interacts with his African American friends. His younger brother Sonny is a drug addict and has been in prison. However, he is passionate about Blues music and wants to pursue a career as a musician. In the narrator’s mind, his brother’s job is only temporary and informal. The brothers attempt at communicating but often end in arguments and fights. In the end, the narrator agrees to listen to his brother’s music and understands that his brother’s suffering fuels his art.
ReplyDelete“Sonny's Blues” raises a topic of African Americans' self-identity after decades of racism and segregation. In “Sonny's Blues,” The narrator and Sonny represent two different paths for African American men. The narrator has an education and stable job and income; his little brother is a drug addict and an ex-prisoner. Baldwin uses his characters with contrasting experience and to illustrate the harm which the systemic racism has had on the African Americans and their community. The narrator disconnects from his community and his African American Identity and but doesn’t aware of this. He doesn’t like Harlem, where he lived and grew up. To him, it is like “rocks in the middle of the sea” and he believes it is “filled with a hidden menace which was its very breath of life.” The narrator can’t understand why Sonny pursues Blues as a career. In the narrator’s mind, Blues only a form of entertainment to release emotions and the bars Sonny plays at are filled with awful people. When the narrator finally decides to accept the invitation to listen to Sonny’s music at a bar, he feels that he starts to understand him.
In the nightclub, Sonny is so popular in the bar and people love his Blues very much. The nightclub is “Sonny’s world, his kingdom” and “his veins bore royal blood.” His Blues music resonates with people’s deep rage and desperation and brings them joy and hope.
To bring a glimmer of light to the darkness of the oppressed community, Sonny risks himself “of ruin, destruction, madness, and death” just to “find new ways to make [people] listen” and allow the oppressed minorities to experience “delight” and “triumph.” With their music, Sonny and his partners tell their community and people not to be “a pessimist” and cheer them up (Baldwin).
Through the Blues, the narrator understands Sonny’s and other people’s feelings and thoughts. The Blues “helps [him] to be free,” bring him comes back to his community and makes him embrace his Identity, an African American.
As a side note, my favorite song is John Coltrane Quartet - Impressions. It is elegant, limpid, bright, and energized. There is no boundaries in that song, resonating with all people. It brings listeners into a celestial world.
I have a bit of a soft sport for this story because I went through the same artistic dilemma that is presented in the short story. I love to draw and use visual arts to complement and enrich any products I make. I think of it as a little gear with detailed teeth that helps keep the machine going. As a sum of a part, it may not seem like much, but it definitely makes sure the machine functions to its full potential. All art, just like the music genre of the blues faces a short of stigma. When my parents saw that I designed greeting cards to send to our families during the holidays and draw them religious art, they became more tolerant. They became exposed to the positives of art just like the narrator felt after he sees Sonny thrive in the nightclub.
DeleteI wanted to focus on the quote, “Creole began to tell us what the blues were all about. They were not about anything very new. He and his boys up there were keeping it new, at the risk of ruin, destruction, madness, and death, in order to find new ways to make us listen. For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard.” The narrator is awakened to this idea when he watches Sonny perform at a jazz club and I think it really defines the issue of race in America. Racism begins with ignorance. Eyes and ears are closed to people’s cries because we do not want to feel guilty for not taking action. It is also common for us to turn the other cheek because one person’s suffering sounds exactly like another’s. However, if we continuously choose not to listen to the “common” stories, then we will never end up listening at all. In “I Am Not Your Negro,” segregation is defined as when “You don’t know what’s happening on the other side of the wall but you don’t want to know.” Because we often do not care to sympathize with the pain of others, we look to stereotypes which is no different than staring at the wall that divides us. There are people risking their lives “to make us listen,” yet we judge them with our backs turned. There are people who desire for us to look through them, not at them, yet we take a single glance and categorize them by their outward appearances. Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” stood out to me because she uses her musical talents to protest against racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. Her song represents not only her own voice, but the voices of all African Americans who desperately want to be treated with respect, so we must listen.
ReplyDeleteDuring the dark ages of segregation and racial discrimination in America, African-Americans were able to connect with their authentic selves through the transportive power of music. The US has, since the genocide of indigenous people 300 years ago, always been a white man’s world, so African-Americans, especially those living before and during the civil rights movement, were forced to live under the customs of another race. This unfortunately kept many of them, including Sonny’s brother from “Sonny’s Blues”, from living their genuinely best lives, thus prompting movements like the Harlem Renaissance that helped spread black culture across the states. Harlem is actually a major area discussed in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”, but not in the way you might think. What was once a city of African-American rebirth, Harlem is described by Baldwin as a dangerous place to grow up in the mid-20th century because of its high concentration of opioid drugs. As Sonny’s brother states, “Those who got out always left something of themselves behind, as some animals amputate a leg and leave it in the trap. It might be said, perhaps, that I had escaped, after all, I was a school teacher.” (24) He is a common example of an African-American man who avoids identifying with his own culture, having “escaped” from what is considered to be one of the most African-American influenced cities in the country to pursue success in a teaching career. I think this was the case for a lot of people living in the US during the 20th century, not just black ones, who felt they weren’t allowed to be themselves for fear of becoming social outcasts. A quote relating to this idea really stuck out to me in the reading. It speaks in reference to the black students in Sonny’s brother’s class, saying “All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness, and in which they now, vindictively, dreamed, at once more together than they were at any other time, and more alone.” (18) Sonny’s brother has a pessimistic view about the future of his people, and therefore is upset to hear about his brother’s interest in a music career, something he considers not to be a serious profession and potentially something that could endanger his little brother’s life down the line. Musicians are carefree, emotional, and expressive. Despite the atmosphere around them, Sonny and his musician friends are able to experience all of these qualities by jamming out in secret, effectively liberating them from the whitewashed world around them and letting them embrace who they truly are. As Sonny’s brother explains while listening to Sonny’s music, “Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did.” (47) I think this piece of writing is very powerful, and brings up some insanely relevant points about race and embracing your culture. We can’t hide from what makes us different, but embracing it through mediums like music can certainly make a difference in identifying who we are.
ReplyDeleteHow do you get out when everyone is determined to keep you in. One of the central themes in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” deals with leaving Harlem, getting out of the historically black neighborhood to leave the filth, drugs and violence behind. Behind a system of systematic oppression, crouch Sonny and his brother. From a past muddied with trouble with the law, drugs and skipping school, Sonny emerges into a new world, transcending the bars of his neighborhood and leaving spiritually. This story presents itself as a foil to Baldwin’s personal story, where he left a racially accepting France to pursue life in racially segregated America.
ReplyDeleteDrugs will only get one so far. The period after administration results in a burst of euphoria, a boundless sense of freedom. However, as pointed out by Sonny, drugs like heroin leave the user “...warm and cool at the same time. And distant. And- and sure.” To feel in control, something that blacks in this country and especially at the time at which this story takes place, did not have. Choosing one’s own destiny, making decisions that will positively affect one’s life and having the ability to leave were all restricted options. Control is a dangerous thing in large quantities, but satiating on the small scale. The curved backs of the peasantry is not appealing, and it is certain that a life without any kind of power is detrimental to the mental state. Living in Harlem, Sonny is undoubtedly living a life where he has no control: the region is poor, and opportunities beyond those in the drug world don’t manifest themselves.
Jazz is not something that is written down, not something that is concrete and structured. It deals with the human condition in the moment, and is most similar between a conversation between the musicians and the inner feelings provoked by the intensity of playing. As noticed by Sonny’s brother, Creole, an accompanist to Sonny, “held them all back… he was listening to everything, but he was listening to Sonny. He was having a dialogue with Sonny.” Jazz, with its avante-garde free form composition, was what Sonny needed. There were no rules to break, and he could express himself as he pleased, with intense passion and everyone listened.
Since I watched a lot of “Charlie Brown” growing up, I couldn’t help but be drawn towards “Miles Davis: Articles from Jerry Jazz Musician.” I really like its simplicity and of course it brought back lots of family memories, especially around the holidays where “Charlie Brown would air on television. Music that is tied to particular memories or location can be the most powerful of all.
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ReplyDeleteIn James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues”, Sonny had a conflict with the law and went to jail. He also belonged to the black community in Harlem. Knowing those specific things about Sonny, people would think that those things are the main parts of Sonny’s identity throughout the story, but that simply is not the case. Baldwin decided that the main focus would be Sonny’s passion for jazz music not him being a black man in Harlem. There is an emphasis on Sonny’s jazz career, the way he plays and how it affects people around him. “They all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played. Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen. Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life.” Baldwin talks about Sonny’s energy when he plays the piano, his vibe during his performances and not another his drug problems, and time in jail. He steered away from the stereotypical story of a black man’s life after jail time. The typical story of Sonny would most likely include his struggles after prison; getting a job, earning people’s respect, trying to start a new life, all that along with being black. Baldwin does not care to mention any of that most likely because he does not want Sonny’s race and condition to identify him as a person. There are some points where Baldwin does tie Sonny to his culture in Harlem saying, “he has a slow, lopping walk, something like the way Harlem hipster walk.” But the loose tie was broken when he went on to say, “[Sonny] imposed on this his own half-beat.” His brother described his walk as “Harlem hipster”, stereotyping him as a type of person with a type of culture, but then went on the say that Sonny puts his spin on that stereotypical walk, “his own half-beat.” This means music identifies Sonny as a person more than his race. Similar to Toni Morrison, Baldwin does not let the race of his character defined them. He makes it clear that Sonny’s passion for jazz music is what defines him as a human being, not the color of his skin and the stereotypes that are tied to his home, Harlem. Baldwin allowed his character to develop without the significance of race.
ReplyDeleteJames Baldwin had one overarching message that particularly struck me: a theme of evil beyond closed doors. It targeted all, especially if they had had rough childhoods or had trouble asserting themselves in the world. Specifically for Sonny, it was his dream to assert himself in the music world. He wanted to produce a free form of music that showed off his originality and prowess. While his life was caught up in making that dream come true, it was easier to slip off the tracks. He got caught up in drug deals and was eventually arrested and put into rehab. This evil had encompassed him and taken hold. It was something that swallowed his father too when his brother was killed. His brother was also an important case in that his death was caused by white men. Their game of chicken had cost the young man his life. The narrator’s father had “never in his life seen anything as dark as that road after the lights of that car had gone away” (29). After the car drove away in what clearly had a racist motive, the father was left with nothing. He was only left with more darkness than had been possible to get in Harlem.
ReplyDeleteAnd such was the fate of people living in that time period. I find it ironic that Louis Armstrong could sing such positive things in “What A Wonderful World”. Of course, it’s always better to focus on the good things, but he’s praising so many things that men like him years before him couldn’t even hope to experience. He sang about these wonderful things in, as James Baldwin had put, “a country to which you owe life and identity” that doesn’t even accept people for who they are. Positivity is wonderful, as the narrator of “Sonny’s Blues” had once experienced––as all children described in “Sonny’s Blues” had once experienced––but there comes a point when that will become overridden by the immense hatred and evil that is present outside on the streets of America.
Throughout the short story Sonny's Blues, James Baldwin addresses countless ideas regarding race in America as well as perfectly crafting, and tying it to the beauty of music. One of the key ideas addressed is the fact that regardless of race, everyone is similar in one way or another and can understand and connect with others. This is clearly demonstrated through the relationship between Sonny and his brother. As the story progressed, more and more is explained regarding the dynamic between the two, at first, the brothers are unable to see eye to eye, especially when it comes to Sonny’s dreams and aspirations of becoming a musician. Sonny desired to “get out of Harlem” and explore the world on his own while his brother attempted to be the voice of reason and protect his brother just as he promised his mother years before, refusing to “let him fall” irregardless of the status of their relationship. Eventually, the brothers are transformed into “Sonny’s world” and “kingdom” in which Sonny had made a name for himself and when his brother finally gave his dream and aspiration a chance, he was moved and understood “for the first time” just what the power of music truly is. People of all races all have ups and downs in their lives and in no way is anyone perfect. Humans are in fact far from perfect and it is because of these faults that leads people to the desire to improve in several aspects of life just as Sonny and his brother worked on their own relationship. Sonny’s music tells the story of all the hardships he has faced in his life serving as a way to bring him and his brother together. The same is true for people of all races. We all use music as a way to connect with those around us as well as parts inside of us that we try to hide. Billie Holiday used her music as a way to bring people away from their daily lives and to understand the horrors of history. Holiday used haunting imagery through the lyrics of the song “Strange Fruit” with an eerie voice as a way to connect to the heart and soul of everyone around her to understand just how horrible the actions of people have been in the past. The connection all humans hold is shown through the film I am Not Your Negro when James Baldwin highlights the connection between the three men, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Martin Luther King Jr. who at first are on opposing sides continuously fighting with one another over the way things are to be down then overtime, the three men realize that they themselves are truly one in the same despite the different tactics and methods of doing things.
ReplyDelete“Sonny’s Blues” is a description of the life of Sonny in the format of the short story. It is told from the view of Sonny’s brother. I believe that the theme of the story is that two people can react to the same thing in completely different ways. As a first example, the title can be taken in two ways. Blues can be referring to the style of music that Sonny plays or it can be referring to his state of mind. Depending on how you interpret the title, the story might be about how great Sonny’s music is or how depressing his life is. Baldwin also explores how people react to the same thing in different ways through jazz. Jazz can often be very confusing to listen to as a result of its perceived confusion, but jazz is not easy. Jazz is, if not a bit on the nose, what you make of it. Baldwin uses this to tell the story of Sonny’s life through his brothers eyes. It becomes very clear to the reader that Sonny’s brother does not approve of Sonny’s decisions in life. The narrator constantly makes comments about how Sonny’s decisions had negative consequences for the people around him. Sonny on the other hand has so such doubts. He is happy with his life decisions and does not regret them. This is a prime example of how different perspectives can result in different interpretations. Sonny and his brother are both reacting to the same actions, but they are having vastly different responses. To me this is shown perfectly in the last line of the story. After being blown away by Sonny’s music, the narrator mentions one last line: “For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother’s head like the very cup of trembling”. The narrator believes that Sonny is using his music to evoke emotions in the people around him, using his own bad feelings into music that will bring joy to many people. This line is also important because of the words “For me”. These two words show to me that Baldwin is using his characters as tools to show how people react differently to the same event. This is an important discussion because it is the base of our political system. Both parties must accept what is fact, but they are free to decide what they believe should be the course of action. We should, as a rule, be open to opposing opinions, because the most powerful way to win someone over is to make someone understand, and this can be achieved by using your past experiences to create a song that will change their world.
ReplyDeleteThroughout “Sonny’s Blues,” James Baldwin beautifully crafts a story around the metaphor of darkness and the loss of innocence. Baldwin builds this metaphor of darkness representing a loss of innocence, and awakening to the racism and hatred in the world when the narrator has a conversation with his mother. She explains that ‘the child is filled with darkness….he’s moved just a little closer to the darkness outside.” The innocence that is taken away from a child when they become aware of racism in society, they know “too much about what’s happened to them...and too much of what is going to happen to them.” The narrator’s brother, Sonny, used the piano as almost a coping mechanism to deal with the struggles in this life and “that music..which had been life or death for him” was his aid in not thinking about the racism and hatred outside. This idea of music being an escape is developed throughout the story, and is a shared experience among the characters at the end. The narrator explains that, “music seemed to soothe a poison out of them...the blues are not about anything new...it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.” The light of the music shared amongst people is an aid against the darkness of racism once it becomes apparent. Louis Armstrong’s rendition of “It’s A Wonderful World” is used to help people return to the innocence of a peaceful world before they step into the darkness.
ReplyDeleteI believe that “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin is a phenomenal example of the African American struggle in America. It opens on a narrator finding out through the newspaper that his little brother, Sonny, has been arrested for using heroin. The narrator is surprised by this because his little brother was- "wild, but he wasn't crazy". The narrator believes that Sonny turned to drugs because of the music, but I think it was more complicated than that. Early in the story, the narrator says- “Those who got out always left something of themselves behind, as some animals amputate a leg and leave it in the trap. It might be said, perhaps, that I had escaped, after all, I was a school teacher.” This helps to understand how bad growing up in their conditions really was, the situation they were faced with was similar to the one pictured in “I Am Not Your Negro”, so I believe that Sonny had a tough life, growing up on the streets as an African American boy had to have been rough, and Sonny used music to cope with his struggle. However, music was like a drug to him, a sort of release from the pain, and after a while, it lost his effect on him. I believe that this is why Sonny turned to heroin. I think that when Sonny gets clean after jail, and he rekindles his love for music when he plays in the club, there is a chance he might go back to drugs after that, if his life continues to be in a rut, but if he finds meaning in his life, music will be enough to keep him satisfied.
ReplyDeleteThe musician that resonates the most with me is Miles Davis, I thought that his music was very simple but still sounded good and I think that’s cool.
One of the most complex issues i found woven within Sonny’s Blues was the struggle to escape poverty along racial lines. Throughout the piece, Baldwin constantly inundates the reader with bleak description of Harlem, for it is where he was raised, where his parents were raised, and where he is raising his own kids. He speaks of a sort of constant aura of squalor and temptation within the neighborhood, describing that although times have changed, “These streets
ReplyDeletehadn't changed, though housing projects jutted up out of them now like rocks in the middle of a boiling sea...houses exactly like the houses of our past yet dominated the landscape, boys exactly like the boys we once had been found themselves smothering in these houses, came down into the streets for light and air and found themselves encircled by disaster. Some escaped the trap, most didn't.” This constant cycle of misguided youth plagues the primarily African-American Harlem, and when the cycle gets to his brother Sonny, Baldwin’s life gets turned upside down. He is forced to see the world from a whole new perspective: his brother’s perspective. The piece flashes back from past to present, highlighting tensions between the two. When Baldwin returns from the military, Sonny wants to leave Harlem with a fierce indignancy, crying out, "I ain't learning nothing in school," he said. "Even when I go." He turned away from me and opened the window and threw his cigarette out into the narrow alley. I watched his back. "At least, I ain't learning nothing you'd want me to learn." He slammed the window so hard I thought the glass would fly out, and turned back to me. "And I'm sick of the stink of these garbage cans!" The one place in the world where it seems as though Sonny escapes from Harlem and its poisons is music. Although I truly love music, my experience with it pales in comparison to his. Nevertheless, I too have felt the amazing escape of performance, the feeling of letting yourself go to the whims of the improvised rhythms and scales and chords and melodies. It’s an incredibly gratifying experience. When Sonny finally gets back on stage, his brother finally understands what he’s gone through. With a, “damn brand-new piano”, Sonny exudes all of his highs and lows, just as Coltrane squealed out his life on his trusty saxophone. Although this point of view is foreign for Baldwin, its undeniable beauty and expressiveness gets through to him, and in a fleeting glance, the two brothers finally reach a point of unspoken loving understanding.
“Sonny’s Blues” is a story of light in the darkness. It is the story of two paths: one, which the narrator follows, a path of education, prosperity, achievement; the other paved with obstacles: addiction, crime, prison. I find it interesting how Baldwin chooses to juxtapose these two paths he frames them as if they are two sides of the same coin. The fact that those who inhabit the two paths are brothers elucidates this further. The way that Baldwin speaks of the two paths implies that they are the only two paths and this, in part, lends itself to the creation of a single story. Additionally, the way Baldwin speaks of Harlem, things are hard “especially in Harlem” how aside from his two paths there, in Harlem, “isn’t any other tale to tell” creates a one-sided picture. By focusing on only the extremes Baldwin neglects an entire middle ground and it is within this middle ground that the average person thus by focusing on the radical ends of the spectrum Baldwin neglects an entire segment of the population in favor of painting a melancholy picture.
ReplyDeleteI will concede, however, that “Sonny’s Blues” is a profound work. The messages of resistance in the face of adversity and pursuing what you love are both incredibly poignant messages. They were (and still are) messages that needed to be heard, so badly so that the dismissal of an entire section of the population may have been necessitated to articulate them. The way Baldwin portrays the people of Harlem as people shrouded in darkness how darkness is “what they've come from... what they endure.” sets the end of the story, in which Sonny plays jazz with his band, very nicely. Sonny is a metaphorical light in the darkness. Form a place of ill esteem he has become a prominent jazz musician, a musician “whose veins bore royal blood”. Through jazz, sonny created a place that people could come not just to “endure” but to actually enjoy.
Side note (just thought of this): I find that “Sonny’s Blues” is the answer to the question posited by Baldwin in the following: “There are days, this is one of them...when you wonder...what your role is in this country and what your future is in it. How precisely are you going to reconcile...yourself to your situation here, and how you are going to communicate...to the vast, heedless, unthinking...cruel white majority that you are here.” I think that Baldwin’s prerogative was to articulate to the “unthinking...cruel white majority” the African American struggle and any “single story” is just a by-product of that.
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ReplyDelete“You root for the hero but then you realize, as a minority, the “villain” was you. “The other” is you.” That line, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson from the documentary by James Baldwin, particularly stuck with me because it is so painstakingly accurate. When I was reading the part where Sonny’s mother told him that his father watched his own brother get run down by a car full of white men who never bothered to stop when he was younger, the image of the white men shooting the Native Americans popped into my head. In Hollywood pop culture, the white cowboys were presented as the “good” and we, the audience, are supposed to be on their side. They fail to elaborate that the experience traumatized and damaged the narrator’s father in Sonny’s Blues for the rest of his life. It can be equated to the “secondly” part that is essential to add according to “The Danger of a Single Story” TED talk.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong resonated with me because it is a positive outlook on life. At present, the world seems to focus too much on the negative happenings of day to day life so it is nice to step back and look at the positive bits that make life worth living too. They could be used as inspiration for a utopian future. It is also one of the songs in our Marching Band show and I dance to it during the second production. The theme of our performance is “The Time is Now” because the present is the best time to evoke change in our society. Tying the fine and performing arts to the song has made it resonate even more in my life.
I agree that “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong certainly creates an Utopian future, but I think it is also a realistic reflection. The African American population has suffered from racism for centuries and it is still continuing in multiple aspects today. They inspire themselves with an Utopian world, depicted in the music and in their mind, to move forward , even in the benighted age.
DeleteOne of the most important things that James Baldwin does in his writing, at least in “ , is that he likes to play with the idea of light and dark. Light and dark are two of the most polar opposite comparisons that a person can make, and adding this contrasting tone to his voice is key to adding a higher level of detail in his writing. Baldwin’s description of the young boys who study in Harlem, a rougher city in New York, is effective to the reader in using this stark juxtaposition. The illustration of this scene by the narrator is saddeningly beautiful and complex, describing young men with so much potential growth before them, without the resources or means of reaching these possibilities. “All they really knew were two darknesses,” writes Baldwin. “The darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness, and in which they now, vindictively, dreamed, at once more together than they were at any other time, and more alone.” (pg.18) The narrator realizes at this moment that there is a slim chance that these students will ever find substantial success in their lives, despite their immense potential, because it will be too difficult for them to find their way out of the poverty and violence that they were born into in Harlem. I think that this connects very well to the film “I Am Not Your Negro”, which is based on the unfinished story of “Remember this House,” also written by James Baldwin, and is focused on the stagnation of civil rights and racism in the United States. This film uses multiple forms of media, such as letters, the original “Remember this House” manuscript, film from TV shows, news segments and so forth. It was honestly rather uncomfortable to watch, which was the point of the film because it’s purpose was to stoke conversation about racism. Racism was not only prominent in the 1970’s, as seen in “Sonny’s House,” but also in present day, as the timeless “I Am Not Your Negro” offers. This is truly concerning, and begs the reader or viewer to step back and think about what they have done to get rid of racism, because it is truly on the backs of all citizens to make the change.
ReplyDelete^ Livia Iwanicki
Delete* ....."At least in "Sonny's Blue's"...
In “Sonny’s Blues”, James Baldwin explores the problems of racism, drug use, and poverty. The theme of darkness is used to represent the issues that the narrator and character deal with, evidenced with quotes such as “The darkness outside is what the old folks have been talking about. It's what they've come from. It's what they endure. The child knows that they won't talk any more because if he knows too much about what's happened to them, he'll know too much too soon, about what's going to happen to him”, “All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness,” and “the streets darken with dark people.” At the beginning of the story, Sonny gets arrested for drug dealing, and the narrator, who is a schoolteacher, can't help but think his students could easily turn out exactly like Sonny, saying drugs could probably do “more for them than algebra could.”
ReplyDeleteJazz music is also a key part in this story. At the beginning, the narrator doesn’t appreciate it, and even links it to Sonny’s drug use. But as the story goes on, he starts to realize how important it is to Sonny, and it brings them closer together in the end, when he watches Sonny play.
I enjoyed listening to the song “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. I loved the positive lyrics and vibe of the song. It is easy to see how jazz is a big part of Sonny’s life after hearing this.
Sonny’s blues goes through many different aspects of racial experience in America. The ones that stood out for me are drug use, poverty, living on assistance, missing parents, hatred of whites, and lack of formal education. In this fictional family, there is no father figure present during the later stages of Sonny’s life. Instead, this role is taken up by his brother. While admittedly, the narrator is portrayed as well intentioned and invested in his brother's well being, they have a disconnect at a pivotal time in Sonny’s life. It starts with drugs. Sonny does not take his brother seriously under the reasoning that his brother already engaged in what he wanted to do at his age. The presence of drugs in Harlem is always kept at the back of our mind during the story, starting with the dance around Sonny and drugs, how at every turn we are reminded about his good sense. He goes to rehab of course, but there is no hopeful feeling around that rehab, only a sense of resignation that there will be a relapse. Sonny brings up drugs specifically as a reason to leave Harlem, that the environment is something pulls him back into old habits. We hear about this in part through these awkward father-son talks from the perspective of someone trying to be a father for his brother, revealing a distorted family structure where they should both be looking out for eachother but instead the guidance is one way. Our narrator throws out classic dad lines, stay in school, don’t do drugs, think about your future more. On the side, we are shown that their birth father was never a great communicator himself, as well as the story behind his brother and death that looks like it could mirror the narrator’s. The story also covers the general poor quality of life they had, through their living conditions and the school the narrator teaches at.
ReplyDeleteThere is also the role of music in the story, which does not truly make an appearance until the end of it. Music historically, is one of the areas where african americans have had the greatest cultural influence. The jazz music Sonny is so enamoured with is something rooted deeply in his heritage. It is, however, seen as lesser to western music. That combined with a musicians poor earnings brought his brother against the idea. However, there is no denying that for Sonny jazz music is what keeps him going.
I read Miles Davis’ interview, and the part that stood out the most to me was his experience dealing with racial expectations in his performances.
Some pretty primary concepts explored in this story are the topics of jazz and community, and the huge roles they play in the everyday lives, elaborated on the lives of African Americans. Obviously music and community are important to everyone, but in this case, the author used jazz as the genre of choice. The influence of community is prominent in this story, and it is easy to tell because it is observable in nearly every single page of the story. From the first few pages, where the narrator is sharing a cigarette with a bum, to the end of the story when Sonny was playing the keys in a jazz combo. Community what was what had influenced Sonny to leave Harlem because of the drug crisis, it is what brought him back, and it is what rehabilitated him. Community was what encompassed his family, his friends, and the people that distantly knew him. Now, although it was community that helped him with a huge portion of this, it was also jazz that had such a huge impact and influence on his life. I used to be a busboy at a jazz bar in town, and I saw first hand all the characteristics of the music that Baldwin described. I’ve witnessed the conversation that musicians have with each other on stage, the coming to life of the instruments and the other worldly incarnation of the tools. Jazz has this power, and it is no surprise to me that it influenced Sonny to do any of the things done in this story. I know that with all music brings a new culture, and it unfortunately had to be a culture of early rock and drugs for Sonny to encounter. However, I believe that this could also be called an effect of the context of the socioeconomic status of African Americans, especially in a place like Harlem, that was not as deeply explored in this, at least not as much as the ideas of community and jazz were.
ReplyDeleteWhen his uncle was run over his father heard the haunting sound of the guitar snapping and the music dying. “They was having fun, they just wanted to scare him, the way they do sometimes, you know.” (Baldwin) Although the white men did not intend to kill the narrator's father their intention was to scare him for their own pleasure. If these men had seen the black man as an equal they would not have felt the need to display their power over him, by scaring him. The white men, regardless of whether they were driving the car or not, felt as though they possessed this unspoken power. The idea that one race holds power over another still exists today and if we do not address it no progress can be made.
ReplyDeleteThe world went silent night the guitar was crushed and decades later Sonny’s fingers stopped playing the music once again. The piano was the only escape Sonny possessed and it was the only source of support and hope for the future he had. “The silence of the next few days must have been louder than all the music ever played since time began.” (Baldwin) Without playing music all day it was clear that Sonny had abandoned his only goal and his passion had dissolved. Music fills the space in our lives we feel is missing and in Sonny’s case it was the support he needed when his parents died.
Isabel found her daughter Grace lying helpless after she had fallen without even letting out a scream. This bitter silence Isabel found is the same deep emptiness the narrator's father found when the guitar snapped and the same hollow space Sonny left in the house when his fingers stopped playing. The silence is a dark helplessness, but music allows one to fill this void with hope as Sonny did. As Sonny sang his blues he was able to explain to his brother the pain he had endured and he finally, “heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest on this Earth.” (Baldwin) Sonny’s brother never could understand or find the words to talk to his brother about his addiction. The song allowed him to feel the same suffering Sonny had endured, but it also surrounded him with the same freedom the music had given Sonny.
I enjoyed listening to What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong and I liked how it sounded soft and smooth, but it was exciting. I think everyone can picture the image he displays and can feel the emotion in the song.
Throughout my reading of “Sonny’s Blues” I could not help but think about Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story”. The most explicit example in the short story presents itself when Mama is explaining the death of Dad’s brother. How he was crushed to “blood and pulp.” She goes on to describe that “Till the day he died he weren’t sure but that every white man he saw was the man that killed his brother.” Of course this in no way diminishes the trauma the father was going through, but I found it worth noting that through one moment of fear, pain, and suffering, the narrator’s father condemned the race of his brother’s murderer in its full entirety. In a wider view Mama’s story and the PTSD the narrator’s father struggled with for the rest of his life can be seen as reflective of where a racist mindset stems from. Whites see a black person in an instance of evil, of malice, and of self ignorance which sets the stage for fear of the entire race. Fear turns to prejudice, and prejudice turns to hate. We often create these prejudiced views to cope with the understanding of that terrible things happen in the same way that the narrator’s father did. As James Baldwin in the “I Am Not Your Negro” movie clip states, “If you think I am a nigger, that means you need it.”
ReplyDeleteWhen listening to the music selections I was drawn to “Strange Fruit”, a song which I have heard many times, and a song which I am always drawn to. It reminded me of what Sonny said about the lady singing in the streets of Harlem: “‘While I was downstairs before, on my way here, listening to that woman sing, it struck me all of a sudden how much suffering she must have had to go through- to sing like that.”
Throughout the story Baldwin emphasizes the darkness that overcomes his community and how it affects and impacts their lives. He describes this darkness in a dual sense as it symbolizes the struggles and racism faced by the Black community due to their exterior as well as the individuals inner darkness that arise from living in Harlem. The first person narrator states how “These boys, now, were living as we’d been living then, they were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities. They were filled with rage. All they ever knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them,and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness." He conveys how his students have now come to an age where they have realized how limited their opportunities are and that some if not all have already fallen into the same path as his little brother Sonny. We see how the narrator describes Harlem as inescapable as he realizes that even though he did not follow this predestined path of drugs and has traveled the world, he still ended up living in Harlem. This first person narration can be linked back to Adichie's message of “The Danger of a Single Story” as the audience is only exposed to the narrator’s view on Sonny’s struggle and how he blames jazz to Sonny’s drug addiction and life decisions. This ultimately creates a further divide between the brothers as the narrator negative views on jazz makes Sonny hold back on expressing his hardships.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie “I Am Not Your Negro” and the story “Sonny’s Blues,” James Baldwin touches base on poverty and race and how both these themes are connected. He also mentions that for these people their escape root was that of Jazz music. Music was a way for those in poverty and those discriminated against to feel safe and as though they are normal human beings. In “Sonny’s Blues” James Baldwin states exclaims that “music seemed to soothe a poison out of them...the blues are not about anything new...it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.” Both the movie and the story focus on trying to get out the prison cell, the discrimination and unfairness they are surrounded with, and the journey in doing so. He goes as far to explain that it is a shock to children when they are older that although they are American citizens, because the color of their skin is different, they have no place in “their world”. In “I Am Not Your Negro”, James Baldwin states that “It comes as a great shock to discover the country which is your birthplace, and to which you owe your life and your identity, has not in its whole system of reality evolved any place for you.” (I was late to class and forgot to post)
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