"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin :"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin "There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness."


James Arthur Baldwin :James Arthur Baldwin Born in Harlem, New York City, Aug. 2, 1924 Baldwin was the eldest of nine children His stepfather was a minister Baldwin moved to France in 1948 and spent most of his life there. Died Nov. 30, 1987 of stomach cancer.


“Sonny's Blues” :“Sonny's Blues” “Sonny's Blues” was first published in 1957 and was collected in Baldwin's 1965 book, Going to Meet the Man.


2 Brothers – 2 Views :2 Brothers – 2 Views The brothers reflect two sides of African-American experiences in the 1950’s & 60’s: assimilation with limited privileges –vs- isolation/pain


2 Brothers – 2 Views :2 Brothers – 2 Views The narrator has assimilated into white society as much as possible, but still feels the pain of institutional racism and the limits placed upon his opportunity. Conversely, Sonny has never tried to assimilate and must find an outlet for the deep pain and suffering that his status as permanent outsider confers upon him. Sonny channels his suffering into music .


Being a brother :Being a brother Sonny's brother is a brother in name only. He is not a "brother," in the African-American sense; he doesn't even know who Charlie Parker is. To become a brother in that sense, he must accept his heritage of suffering rather than attempt to escape from it.


Darkness & Blues :Darkness & Blues A common thread…


Baldwin’s use of “darkness” :Baldwin’s use of “darkness” Young children are "filled with darkness" as they listen to their parents talk on Sunday afternoons of "the darkness outside." Teenagers, aware of "the low ceiling of their actual possibilities," begin to discover "the darkness of their lives," even as they seek escape from it in the darkness of movie theatres.


Baldwin’s use of “darkness” :Baldwin’s use of “darkness” The darkness of the road Sonny's uncle was killed on (struck by a car filled with white men) stays with Sonny's father for the rest of his life. The streets on which Sonny grew up seem to darken as he passes through them, and convey their mood to him.


The Blues :The Blues The feeling experienced by these characters—all African-American—is deep and heavy, akin to melancholy and depression, impossible to explain, just there. It's called the blues, a mental and emotional state arising from recognition of limitation imposed—in the case of African-Americans—by racial barriers to opportunity.


Escaping the Blues :Escaping the Blues The teenagers attempt to stifle the inner darkness in the fantasy world of the movies The adults in the housing projects turn away from the windows that disclose the ominous shadows of the streets, and watch TV. Those who try to escape on the streets find themselves "encircled by disaster."


Escaping the Blues :Escaping the Blues Sonny first escapes to his music. Sonny later escapes to the streets, ends up hooked on drugs, and goes to prison. For Sonny's father and uncle, escape was liquor. Sonny’s brother tries to escape through military service. Sonny's brother believes his college education and respectable job as a teacher will eliminate the blues.


Escaping the Blues :Escaping the Blues But Sonny and his brother need to learn that "there's no way not to suffer." The difference between them is that Sonny's brother decides submissively to "take it," and Sonny decides to "do something to give it meaning."


Escaping the Blues :Escaping the Blues Through the power and beauty of Sonny's music, Baldwin reveals the intimate relationship between the blues as a state of mind and as a musical tradition in African-American culture. Sonny has found a way, not to escape the blues, but to give it meaning.


The Characters :The Characters


Sonny :Sonny described in a common stereotype of the time: the heroin-addicted jazz musician. Sonny’s interaction with mainstream society has been negative—at the beginning of the story, he has just been arrested for "peddling and using heroin" and must do time in a prison upstate


Sonny :Sonny Sonny was the "apple of his father's eye" In his youth Sonny always had a tendency to stray from what his family thought would be the safe route. Sonny’s choice to be a jazz musician is one his brother finds regrettable. Sonny takes his music very seriously: "it wasn't like living with a person at all, it was like living with sound."


Sonny :Sonny Sonny’s piano playing in the jazz club allows his brother to understand the deep suffering and the blues that Sonny has always been carrying.


Sonny's Brother :Sonny's Brother The story's narrator, unnamed a high school algebra teacher grew up in Harlem but has escaped its cruel streets integrates himself, as best he can, into white society has internalized many of the prejudices of white society Viewed jazz, a black music genre, as being “beneath” him


Sonny's Brother :Sonny's Brother Sonny’s brother has internalized his own blues. Still grieving the loss of his daughter Grace Looks upon the streets of Harlem as a place he has left behind yet still a part of him


Sonny's Mother :Sonny's Mother dies while Sonny is in school and his brother is still in the army charges Sonny's brother with Sonny's care. "You got to hold on to your brother," she tells him in their last moments together, "and don't let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you gets with him." Sonny's brother accepts her request until Sonny begins to spend time downtown with jazz musicians.


Sonny's Father :Sonny's Father Sonny's father dies "during a drunken weekend in the middle of the war" when Sonny is 15. Little is revealed about him He was very strict with Sonny because his younger son was "the apple of his eye." His brother was run over and killed by a drunken group of white men in a car. After that point, the mother reveals, "he weren't sure but that every white man he saw was the man that killed his brother."


Creole :Creole bass player who leads the band that Sonny plays in at the end of the story. functions as a kind of father figure for Sonny believes it is his purpose to guide Sonny through his blues and teach him how to turn them into music attempts to show Sonny's brother how to understand Sonny.


Biblical & Religious References in “Sonny’s Blues” :Biblical & Religious References in “Sonny’s Blues”


Losing Grace :Losing Grace The narrator's daughter's name is, of course, highly symbolic. When the narrator loses his daughter Grace, he simultaneously identifies with the pain and darkness in Sonny's life and realizes his own loss of grace, resulting from the broken promise that he made to his mother the last time he saw her.


Sonny’s “cup of trembling” :Sonny’s “cup of trembling” Baldwin uses the image from the book of Isaiah of the "cup of trembling" to symbolize the suffering and trouble that Sonny has experienced in his lifetime.


Sonny’s “cup of trembling” :Sonny’s “cup of trembling” Like the sinners in the book of Isaiah (51:17), Sonny has sinned; he has, indeed, drunk from the cup of trembling. Sonny has suffered God's fury, but is now free from affliction. The glowing glass on the piano above Sonny, represents his personal cup of trembling


Sonny’s “cup of trembling” :Sonny’s “cup of trembling” As Sonny plays, the cup reminds his brother of all of the suffering that both he and Sonny have endured. His brother finally understands that it is through music that Sonny is able to turn his suffering into something more profound.


Sonny’s “cup of trembling” :Sonny’s “cup of trembling” Sonny’s suffering has become a shining halo above Sonny's head. Sonny's sins, suffering, and redemption, in some way, have sainted Sonny, at least for a moment. For the first time, Sonny’s brother sees Sonny in a positive light, as a contributor rather than burden.


Parable of the Prodigal Son (from Luke's gospel) :Parable of the Prodigal Son (from Luke's gospel)


The Prodigal Son :The Prodigal Son "Sonny's Blues” has been interpreted by some critics as a contemporary retelling of the parable of the Prodigal Son.


The Prodigal Son :The Prodigal Son Like the Prodigal Son parable, "Sonny's Blues" features two brothers, an older brother who has remained on the straight and narrow path and a younger brother who has engaged in riotous living.


The Prodigal Son :The Prodigal Son The death of the narrator's daughter, Grace, prompts the narrator to write to Sonny and then welcome his prodigal brother into his home after Sonny is released from prison. The two brothers reconcile.


The Prodigal Son :The Prodigal Son Like the younger brother in the Prodigal Son parable, Sonny is lost; and Sonny's older brother, like his self-righteous counterpart in the New Testament story, has little sympathy or concern for his wayward brother's situation.


The Cain and Abel story from the Book of Genesis :The Cain and Abel story from the Book of Genesis


The Cain and Abel story :The Cain and Abel story In the story of Cain and Abel, the two brothers each brought their gifts to God when the day came to make an offering to God. Abel (a shepherd) brought some of the very finest from his flocks, while Cain (a farmer) deliberately brought an average-quality offering from his crops.


The Cain and Abel story :The Cain and Abel story God accepted Abel's offering with favor, but He rejected Cain's offering. Cain knowingly had not brought his best, and even then brought it grudgingly. Perhaps the very same offering would have been accepted if it had been the best that he could do, and if he had offered it with the right attitude. In his jealousy, Cain murdered Abel.


The Cain and Abel story :The Cain and Abel story By neglecting his younger brother, Baldwin's narrator has become a contemporary Cain. In Genesis, after Cain kills his younger brother Abel, God asks Cain about Abel's whereabouts. "I know not," Cain replies. "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen. 4.9).


The Cain and Abel story :The Cain and Abel story When he greets Sonny on his release from prison, the narrator thinks back to Sonny's first steps: "I had been there when he was born; and I had heard the first words he had ever spoken. When he started to walk, he walked from our mother straight to me. I caught him before he fell when he took the first steps he ever took in this world"


The Cain and Abel story :The Cain and Abel story Sonny’s brother, as the eldest, has witnessed Sonny’s life and growth That last conversation between Baldwin's narrator and his mother suggests that he should be his brother's keeper, but the narrator has failed miserably at that duty


The Cain and Abel story :The Cain and Abel story Unlike the Cain of Genesis, however, the narrator of "Sonny's Blues" has the possibility of redemption. The story's final scene, which takes place in the nightclub where Sonny's band is scheduled to play and culminates with the symbolic drink that the narrator sends to Sonny, provides evidence that redemption for BOTH brothers is certainly possible.


“Sonny’s Blues”…a tragedy? :“Sonny’s Blues”…a tragedy?


“Sonny’s Blues”…a tragedy? :“Sonny’s Blues”…a tragedy? that suffering and sorrow are inevitable is, of course, the tragic view of life. That is precisely what is happening in this story, not a story of defeat, but one in which the principal character, Sonny, finds hope and meaning in tragedy, and inspires others to that view.


An epiphany in darkness :An epiphany in darkness Sonny’s brother has an epiphany in the dimly lit night club, on a dark street, as he listens for the first time to Sonny playing the blues in the conclusion of the story. In the music he hears, he sees his mother's face, and that of his little girl who died of polio. The powerful incantations of Sonny's art reach his soul, and for the first time, he listens to the dark voice within. “it's the only light we've got in all this darkness."


“Sonny’s Blues”…a tragedy? :“Sonny’s Blues”…a tragedy? As an artist, Sonny has found a way to transcend tragedy He not only uses the blues as an outlet for feeling and as an expression of his states of mind, but he also shares and communicates those feelings and, in the process, makes his music into an affirmation of life.


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