Sonny used the drugs to temporarily tame and overcome his pain and problems. Once the narrator has suffered tremendously himself, he begins to understand that Sonny needs his help and decides to write him a letter. Sonny was mixing drugs and music to create a feeling of actual pleasure, even accomplishment that he was doing something in spite of the brutal limits placed on his life and culture. This particular story digs deep into the mindset of the American Negro during the Civil Rights and Jim Crow eras. Within the jazz scene, Sonny has role models that draw him in, not just with their talent and genius, but also their struggles with racism and addiction.
James Baldwin was a wise and prominent writer who fought against these issues through communication by either writing books or speaking at memorable events. With nowhere left to go, they inevitably turn their anger onto themselves, leading them into a life of darkness. By doing so, he is able to combine the mastery of his craft, his flawless technique and his boundless passion to effectively deliver a message of universal acceptance, morality and freedom to a racism weary world. This also speaks to an emotional intensity that exists within the narrator—an intensity that he is able to bridle through his cunning articulate verbalization. To an outsider, both Sonny and Sonny's friend could easily be perceived as just a couple more drug-addicted African American criminals.
The writer was a poor boy growing up. Their mother suffers from seeing them suffer, and knowing that young Sonny suffers the most. Sonny is a drug addict to heroin. He later confessed in an interview that he, in so many words, saw religion as an illusion. Here, it was not even a question that his veins bore royal blood.
When Sonny returned from the war to New York, the two brothers did not see each other for quite some time. He sees drugs as a temporary escape from the pain of the conditions that exist around him in Harlem as a result of societal racism and oppression. On the contrary, poverty stricken neighborhoods consumed by drug activity, prostitution, racism and scarce resources seemed to have impacted the majority throughout the city. When we look at Sonny, he has particularly has gone through a lot of suffering stating getting caught for smoking heroin and getting thrown in jail to seeing his father torment by the memories of his brother because his brother was one day walking at night with him and as he was crossing the road a group of white people in the car drunk run him over and left. Suffering is something that everyone has to persevere at some point in their life.
Despite the fact that Sonny almost does not communicate with anyone, we discover that he would like to become a jazz musician and play the piano for people. His only brother lacks the support that he needs and this was the start of a destructive relationship between the two brothers. Body The unnamed Narrator who is relatively well-off between the two siblings struggles to understand his suicidal yet talented brother Sonny while the latter finds difficulty in coping up with the mediocrity that engulfs him. This was in reference to the environment that they found themselves growing up. Fictional writing is generally done just to entertain readers.
This is the only thing Sonny wants to do with his life. My God, how would he support himself? When reading a piece of literature, especially a short story, one should pay special attention to the central conflict because it is the key element of the story Clugston, 2014. Sonny expressed his suffering through his music. By striving towards what the white community views as respectability, the narrator has closed himself to part of the African American experience. An equally strong rage is present in the streets of Harlem.
When the narrator and Sonny are finally getting along it seems like it is already too late to save Sonny from the bad habits of using drug. The streets and communities of Harlem are described as being a harsh environment which claims the lives of many who have struggled against the constant enticement of emotional escape through drugs, and financial escape through crime. The author copes with this task perfectly, as he uses brilliant description techniques, combining both emotions and appearance elements to captivate the reader more and more, making him or her feel closer to the characters and start to understand them better. . This reflection on the meaning of the Blues is relevant not only to music but to writing.
The idea of brotherly love extends beyond the relationship between the narrator and Sonny into the community as a whole. She wanted him to promise to take care of his brother. Throughout the story, Baldwin emphasizes the consequences of silence. Please, do not use it as your own essay, just read it for a better understanding of the structure and analytical nuances. He also fled in order to become more than just a label when it came to his talent. He also tries to explain to the narrator what it's like to be on drugs and why Sonny may have gotten hooked, but the narrator just ends up more frustrated and angry.