Sunny's Blues by James Baldwin

Introduction

“Sonny's Blues" is a powerful story of transformation both of the narrator, a high school math teacher, and of his younger brother Sonny. Sonny spends time in prison for heroin possession, and upon his release he meets his brother again. Yet his brother is angry at Sonny's mistake, and initially he is hostile towards Sonny. Underlying the reactions of both brothers is their origin in a predominately African American housing project filled with drugs and violence (Bigsby, p12). This was during the time that, even in the north, even in New York, there was little opportunity for African Americans to find good jobs or to move out of poverty and hopelessness. The narrator's and Sonny's father had been killed years before by a group of white men who wanted to scare their father by chasing him down with a car he was accidentally run over and killed, and the white men drove away without receiving justice.

The structure is a series of calls and responses (as in African American churches, but also as in jazz and the blues) the narrator and Sonny constantly go over the same territory again and again Sonny wishes to go his own way, the narrator does not understand…. Also present again and again is the theme of the hopelessness of life that no one in the ghetto can really rise above it and be truly free, truly oneself. That continues until the climax, when Sonny plays piano with a band that plays the blues. Creole, the bassist, calls to Sonny through his music for the real Sonny to come out (Bigsby, p12). But Sonny is tentative. But he finally answers the music with a genuine expression of his identity, of his pride, and of his freedom. Music tells the tale of suffering, and by telling his tale, Sonny finds the only real freedom he can gain in his hopeless situation and through his music, others find freedom as well. Sonny gives back everything to the music his self, his past tragedies; his relationship with his mother, his struggle with heroin all is sacrificed, “passing through death” in order to “live forever (Bigsby, p12).” Sonny becomes a Christ-figure who gives himself totally to the music that brings the only temporal salvation such desperate people can receive. The story ends with the cup of Scotch and milk glowing on top of the piano, “like the very cup of trembling,” which is a Eucharistic image again, fitting Sonny's role as Christ-figure (Bigsby, p12).

Discussion and Analysis

Sonny's Blues" is a powerful story of transformation—both of the narrator, a high school math teacher, and of his younger brother Sonny. Sonny spends time in prison for heroin possession, and upon his release he meets his brother again. Yet his brother is angry at Sonny's mistake, and initially he is hostile towards Sonny. Underlying the reactions of both brothers is their origin in a predominately African American housing project filled with drugs and violence. This was during the time that, ...