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The Cask of Amontillado
"The Cask of Amontillado" builds towards a suspenseful conclusion by presenting, in a chronological way, the method that the narrator uses to get revenge on Fortunato. At the beginning of the...
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Sonny's Blues
The main character of "Sonny's Blues" is the narrator, who tries to come to terms with what has happened to his brother. At the outset of the story, after he hears that his brother has been...
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Sonny's Blues
[Please be advised that only one question should be asked at a time; therefore, this one has been chosen for you from the list on the web site.]******************* The narrator begins to realize...
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Sonny's Blues
Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" takes place in the pre-civil rights era in Harlem, which was and still is a largely African-American part of New York City. The title of the story is a play on words,...
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Sonny's Blues
We can learn a great deal from "Sonny's Blues." One lesson we learn from "Sonny's Blues" is that experience brings empathy. After learning about his brother's heroin addiction, the narrator does...
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Sonny's Blues
Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" opens in the subway as a way of setting a particular kind of scene, and it also acts as a symbol. A subway is generally an urban form of transportation, and this tells...
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Sonny's Blues
The housing projects in the story, like public housing in many cities, are isolated places, even though they might be in the middle of a city; they are isolated by poverty and usually by race. The...
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Sonny's Blues
The narrator reads about his brother Sonny in the newspaper as he rides the subway to the school where he teaches. Sonny has been arrested in a raid for selling and using heroin. Because he has...
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Sonny's Blues
In "Sonny's Blues," the narrator, who has recently found out that his brother (Sonny) was arrested for heroine, is speaking to one of Sonny's friends. This friend is telling the narrator about when...
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Sonny's Blues
James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" begins in a way we call in medias res. This means he begins in the middle of his story. From there, the story goes back and forth in time. Beginning this way draws...
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Sonny's Blues
Baldwin begins "Sonny's Blues" with the narrator in the subway as a means of setting the scene and the theme simultaneously. The scene is clearly an urban environment, since suburbs and rural...
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Sonny's Blues
The title of this bittersweet story is a play on words by author James Baldwin. The word "blues" has two meanings. First, it refers to being down or depressed, as we say that someone has the...
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Sonny's Blues
The narrator in "Sonny's Blues" is Sonny's brother, and we are told this story from his point of view, in the first person point of view. We know that something is in the first person point of...
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Sonny's Blues
There are many aspect to this famous story that you could write an essay about. The idea is to choose one theme or idea and then use the text of the story to support your idea. We will discuss a...
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Sonny's Blues
In "Sonny's Blues," the narrator and his brother Sonny are similar in that they, arguably, are struggling to come to terms with the loss that they have experienced in their family life. Early in...
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Sonny's Blues
In "Sonny's Blues," the narrator's brother Sonny is a sympathetic character. At the beginning of the story, the narrator learns that Sonny has yet again been arrested for being involved with...
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Sonny's Blues
While Sonny is with Isabel's family, he certainly does take advantage of the opportunity to practice on the piano and listen to music. This becomes his life. The narrator adds that Sonny is not...
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Sonny's Blues
One point of flashback in "Sonny's Blues" occurs after the narrator takes leave of the young man who had been Sonny's friend. The narrator goes back in time to when his daughter has died, and he...
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Sonny's Blues
In parts of this story, the narrator's cadence has the musical quality and rhythm of a preacher in a sermon. The opening paragraph shows this. Note the repetition which establishes a rhythm and the...
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Sonny's Blues
The climax of "Sonny's Blues" occurs after Sonny returns to Harlem to live in Greenwich Village, and they have a heated argument. James Baldwin, who composed songs at one time for Ray Charles...
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Sonny's Blues
The narrator in "Sonny's Blues" does not have a healthy way of dealing with fear and pain. For the most part, the narrator keeps his feelings bottled up inside him, and he finds distractions from...
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Sonny's Blues
One example of internal conflict in Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" is within the narrator. The narrator is conflicted about his brother, Sonny, whom he loves but cannot help but judge. As the story...
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Sonny's Blues
Two adjectives that may be used to describe two conflicting feelings within the narrator when he examines his feelings about his younger brother, Sonny, are shadowed and burning [participle used as...
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Sonny's Blues
"Sonny's Blues" is the tale of brothers who grow to understand each other as one brother has assimilated somewhat into mainstream society while the other remains marginalized. But, the two brothers...
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Sonny's Blues
It seems that the primary form of conflict in James Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues" is man vs. man, but there are others as well. There are several types of conflict. They are: man vs. man...
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Sonny's Blues
Mama tells the narrator about his uncle because she wants him to know "It ain't only the bad ones, nor yet the dumb ones that gets sucked under" in their environment. She tells of the...
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Sonny's Blues
‘Sonny’s Blues’ shows that suffering is a manifestation of the general chaos of life and cannot be avoided. One can struggle against it and one can support others in their struggles. James...
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Sonny's Blues
It is intriguing that the title of James Baldwin's story can be read two ways: "Sonny's Blues" can mean the music that Sonny plays, or it can mean his depression, his "blues," or state of...
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Sonny's Blues
Lacking definitive parameters on this essay, a working definition will be created here for the purpose of assistance: Of course, the word essay is derived from the French verb essayer, which means...
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Sonny's Blues
Young Jane Eyre and the younger Sonny share similarities: Both are subjected to hostile environments Through no fault of his family, Sonny and his brother grow up in the "killing fields" of Harlem...
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Sonny's Blues
I think that one of the most significant aspects of Baldwin's short story's thematic relevance is what it says about the youth of American society. Baldwin takes on a topic that is not immediately...
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Sonny's Blues
James Baldwin’s 1957 short story “Sonny’s Blues” is a product of a culture than should have never existed but for the legacy of racism and the depths to which some African Americans...
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Sonny's Blues
Rage and fury are the conduits for shared suffering, the roots of which stem from the pain and secret fears of the struggle to find fulfillment. This struggle is, perhaps, more manifest for Sonny...
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Sonny's Blues
In being able to write this story, I think that you can use much of Baldwin's frame of reference to assist you. In the end, it will not be difficult to develop a situation where two brothers are...
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The Blues I'm Playing
One theme shared in both works is how the artist struggles with the external reality that surrounds them. Sonny and Oceola both find themselves struggling to make sense of the world around them....
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Sonny's Blues
The first person narrative impacts the story in a couple of ways. One of the most significant ways is that it makes the individual narrative a universal one. The initial description that enables...
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Sonny's Blues
Yes, Harlem did play a role in leading Sonny to start using heroin. In line 76, the narrator says that he is bringing Sonny "back into the very danger he had almost died trying to escape." This...
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Sonny's Blues
In James Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues" the two main characters are set up as fantastic character foils. The are brothers but very different in the way they view life and the world. The...
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Sonny's Blues
The relationship between Sonny and his brother is extremely complex, to say the least. Baldwin designs these characters to act as character foils; therefore, accentuating each's character by...
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Sonny's Blues
Sonny is an extremely interesting and deep character in the short story "Sonny's Blues". The best way to understand Sonny's character in this story is to analyze it against that of his brother, the...
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Sonny's Blues
“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin tells the story of a young man who becomes addicted to heroin both using and selling it. He serves time in prison for dealing drugs. The story’s point of...
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Sonny's Blues
Without knowing what has already been written, suggestions may well be " stabs in the dark." However, since the narrator/brother is included in this analysis, there may be a comparison/contrast set...
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Sonny's Blues
Since Sonny's brother, the narrator, has internalized many of his "blues," or sufferings, they are subtly revealed and the reader feels sympathy for him. When he first reads of Sonny's arrest,...
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Sonny's Blues
Flashback is important in “Sonny’s Blues” because it provides a context for the events of the story. Knowing what happened in the past informs us of the present. Time in the story goes back...
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Sonny's Blues
A narrative of human suffering's role in both the African American experience and the human condition, "Sonny's Blues" is, indeed, both about escapism and redemption. James Baldwin tells the story...
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Sonny's Blues
The narrator copes with his pain and fear by ignoring it and pretending it does not exist. The story begins when the narrator reads an article telling him that his brother Sonny has been arrested...
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Sonny's Blues
The narrator in "Sonny's Blues" is deeply ambivalent about his brother. The narrator has created a successful life for himself, as a teacher, with a family, living well for his time and place,...
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Sonny's Blues
This is one of my favorite stories to teach and to write about. There are many themes in the story. One that comes to mind is the title itself, which is a kind of play on words. There are "blues"...
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Sonny's Blues
In "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin, the narrator is Sonny's unnamed brother. The narrator is older, and he promised his mother before she died that he would take care of Sonny. When he insisted...
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Sonny's Blues
In James Baldwin's short story, "Sonny's Blues," we are introduced to two men: brothers. The narrator relates the story of his family's history, and his promise to his mother before her death that...
