James Baldwin's Sonny's Blues

“The cup of trembling”

Introduction

Baldwin emphasizes the theme of opposition between the chaotic world and the human need for community with a series of opposing images, especially darkness and light. The narrator repeatedly associates light with the desire to articulate or give form to the needs and passions that arise out of inner darkness. He also opposes light as an idea of order to darkness in the world, the chaos that adults endure, but of which they normally cannot speak to children (Hardy, 52).

Thesis Statement

The artist, by giving voice to the inner chaos of needs and passions, unites humankind in the face of the outer chaos of random and continuous suffering. The artist helps to create a circle of light in the midst of surrounding darkness.

Discussion

At the nightclub, the narrator understands what Sonny means when he finally hears him play. He sees that Sonny's music is an authentic response to life. He sees that one who creates music “is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air.” He understands that his brother's music is an attempt to renew the old human story: “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. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness.” (Hardy, 53) Having witnessed Sonny's struggle to play “his blues,” the narrator recognizes that those blues are humankind's blues, that Sonny's music gives the narrator and all people a way of finding meaning in their pains and joys. This perception enables the narrator to accept his brother, the life he has chosen, and the risks he must incur.

The opposition of light and darkness ...