Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin is a thrilling story about the relationship between two brothers. There are many ideas that I noticed while reading this story, there is the idea of safety. Safety is a key part in family, I think. THere is always the security of knowing that your family will be there for you and protect you. Safety was talked about a great deal throughout this story. Sonnys brother wanted to protect him from the bad things he had gotten into. It may not have been apparent at the begginning of the story, when the brother really had no reaction to Sonny being in the news paper. Towards the end though, the brother took him in, he went to one of Sonnys shows, which in a way itself is safety and security. He supported his brother, when it may have been hard or difficult for him.
Safety is also talked about when they talk about where they live. The brothers did not grow up in one of the safest neighborhoods. After their parents died, Sonny just wanted to get out. He did not want to be around the things he knew he would get into if he stayed. He ended up staying and the things he wanted o get away from, ended up hurting him.
Relationships is the biggest theme throughout this story. There are many differnet relationships that we see. Some we see between the same people, they seem to evolve throughout the story and others are between different people from the past. There is a lot of talk about their parents during the middle part of the story. About the relationship their father and his brother had. I thoguht that it was good for the older brother to hear that story. I think that maybe that is how he helped Sonny in the end, by thinking about his father and his brother. The relationship is strained between Sonny and his brother throguhout the whole story, it even seems that when they were kids it wasnt all that great. It might have been the age difference but it could have been that they were so different from eachother. The ending was so simplistic and classic I thought, it was beautiful. I thought is was so amazing that the brother got to see Sonny play and that everyone in the club admired him so much, the people in his band admired him. Sonny let the music take him where it wanted to go.
This was a long story but it was easy to read becuase it was interesting and their were so many ideas that palyed throughout it.
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7 comments:
hey, I really liked that you talked about safety. Family is a form of protection, and I felt like the brother was trying to protect Sonny too much, and not understanding that the things he went through made him stronger and he should back off a little. Everyone wants to have that security in their family, everyone knows that your family will love you and be there for you no matter what and that is a good thing to have. I think that maybe the brother needed Sonny more than Sonny needed him. Sonny granted him a perspective change, and the brother really needed that.
I think that safety is a big issue in this story. I think you should write about that on your next paper. your thesis could be about how your family is your safety net and you could show how it changes or how it stays the same.
Sonny's brother clearly loves him. he takes him in and helps him through his problems no matter how hard it was for him. I can understand some of Sonny's brother's problems with wanting to keep his kids away from their uncle. I mean I would have not been so leant with having an ex-herion addict in my house
Your connection between safety and the two examples you gave were great. I agree, but I don't know if I believe the narrator would've been so obligated to protect Sonny's if he hadn't heard the story about his father and uncle and his mother's last wish.
I've noticed throughout all of these stories that the idea of your family "protecting" you is repeated. Think back to Bone Black when the daughter wanted to protect the mother(switching roles) and how the mother "thought" that her brother was going to come to the rescue. In Rappacini's daughter, the daughter was overly protected by her father and here in Sonny's Blues, the brother is protective to SOnny(like a parent would. Naybe a good idea for an essay,eh? if it's not good for you, hey I think i'll take it! lolz. :)
Interesting comments. Safety and protection are key compents of familial relationships. I actually disagree with Alice in that I think that Sonny's brother backed off so much he was really in denial. He didn't seem to take his mother's plea seriously, leaving Sonny to protect himself when he's away in the Army. He was hardly in a parental role and did not seem to see himself as responsible. I'm not sure he was responsible of course and this begs the question of what is our responsibility towards family?
When i first read the story i didnt link safety to it, more the use of drugs and family issues. But i think you could defenitly get some good ideas out of safety and security. You could possibly link it to Once Upon A Time, becasue thats all about security and safety. Both stories are about families, so that could possibly work. We'll talk later.
Shakerrie and Jovan
I agree with both of you about the idea for our next essay. I think that it is a wonderful idea and thank you for showing me a thesis!
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