Essay about Sonny's Blues

Submitted By andreajalloh23
Words: 409
Pages: 2

Sonny’s music releases deeply embedded emotions in both the narrator and Sonny. Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin is about two young brothers that are raised in a ghetto in Harlem, New York. The story is narrator by Sonny’s older brother and in the book both brothers tell of their hardships in Harlem. In the quote it says, “But the man who creates the music is hearing something else, is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air” (Baldwin, 146). This quote is talking about how Sonny feels when he’s playing the blues on his piano. Sonny is taking out all his anger, struggles, and demands on his instrument. Sonny plays the music on his piano to tell others that are listening, his own story of the challenges that he has went through and is still going through such as, his jail sentence and drug abuse; and trying to let others know that he is troubled. The narrator, Sonny’s older brother, finally understands Sonny from watching and listening to Sonny play his music and how he played it. In the quote it says, “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…I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth” (Baldwin, 148). This quote shows that the narrator finally understood what Sonny’s message was. The narrator understood that Sonny wanted to tell him that there was a chance for a better