Sonny's Blues Criticism
Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin, written in 1957, is a poignant exploration of identity, race relations, and the transformative power of art, particularly music. The story is set in 1950s New York City and is narrated by an unnamed high school teacher who grapples with understanding his younger brother, Sonny, a jazz pianist recently arrested for heroin possession. As the narrator reflects on their shared past, he is haunted by familial obligations and the systemic challenges faced by African American communities. This narrative intertwines personal and social struggles, as Principal Works suggests, highlighting the interdependence of personal and social experiences.
Baldwin’s story delves into existential themes influenced by the philosophies of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, depicting a world in which suffering is a fundamental human condition, exacerbated by the racial injustices of the time. As noted by Sigmund Ro, Baldwin universalizes existential predicaments, which becomes a core aspect of the African-American literary canon. Music, and specifically jazz and blues, is central to the narrative, symbolizing both personal expression and a communal history of struggle and resilience, as elaborated by Pancho Savery.
The story culminates in a powerful epiphany when the narrator hears Sonny play, finally grasping the redemptive power of music and beginning to mend their strained relationship. As Suzy Bernstein Goldman notes, this moment signifies a profound communication between the brothers, revealing the depths of Sonny’s sorrow and resilience through his music.
Sonny's Blues has been lauded for its depiction of Baldwin’s themes of racial and existential suffering, with critics like John M. Reilly noting its dramatic motive in Baldwin's broader civil rights discourse. Despite some criticism regarding the sometimes overt social commentary, the story is largely celebrated for its emotional depth and literary craftsmanship, affirming Baldwin's status as a vital voice in American literature.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Essays
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Black Literature Revisited: 'Sonny's Blues'
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In the essay below, Ognibene examines the main themes in 'Sonny's Blues.'
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The Black Musician: The Black Hero as Light Bearer
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Williams examines the significance of music and the musician in 'Sonny's Blues,' arguing that the musician embodies alienation and estrangement, representing Black lives and experiences, while also serving as a symbol of hope and the pain of the past.
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James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': A Message in Music
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In the following essay, Goldman discusses the main themes in 'Sonny's Blues.' The story tells of two black brothers' struggle to understand one another, with the older brother as the unnamed narrator and the younger brother, Sonny, a jazz pianist. The narrative explores themes of communication and musicality, culminating in the narrator finally hearing his brother's sorrow through his music.
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The Black Musician as Literary Hero: Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues' and Kelley's 'Cry for Me'
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In the following excerpt, Ro discusses the intellectual and philosophical influences on Baldwin at the time he wrote 'Sonny's Blues,' examining in particular the ways in which the story reflects the existential philosophies of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Ro also situates this and other examples of Baldwin's work in the larger context of African-American literature in the pre- and post-Civil Rights eras, suggesting that Baldwin's strategy for writing about the human condition by emphasizing, or universalizing, his characters' existential predicaments was rejected by later generations of black writers.
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James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': Complicated and Simple
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In the following essay, portions of which appeared in CLC-13, Murray explores themes of identity, loss, and transcendence in 'Sonny's Blues,' linking them with the story's key metaphors of light, dark, and water.
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The Fear and the Fury
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In the following excerpt, Pratt discusses the ways in which Sonny is portrayed as the older and wiser of the brothers in "Sonny's Blues."
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James Baldwin's Blues and the Function of Art
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In the following essay, Lobb discusses Baldwin's characterization of the nature and purpose of art in 'Sonny's Blues,' arguing that he juxtaposes key images and metaphors at a symbolic level distinct from that of the narrated events.
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Words and Music: Narrative Ambiguity in 'Sonny's Blues'
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In the following essay, Byerman analyzes the narrator's discourse in 'Sonny's Blues,' arguing that his use of language necessarily contains and blunts the impact of his experiences. Byerman further states that Baldwin's body of work stands in ironic contradiction to the notion that language is insufficient to convey reality.
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The Jazz-Blues Motif in James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues'
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In the following essay, Albert discusses the meaning of Baldwin's references to blues and jazz in 'Sonny's Blues,' suggesting that what appear on first inspection to be inconsistencies that betray Baldwin's incomplete knowledge of the music, may in fact be deliberate 'contraries' designed to enhance the inclusive, humanistic closing theme.
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James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': Childhood, Light, and Art
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In the following essay, Clark examines the ways in which Baldwin uses images of light and darkness in 'Sonny's Blues.' The story is a sensitive examination of the reconciliation of two brothers, the importance of black heritage, and the central role of music and art in human existence, using childhood as a metaphor supported by images of light and darkness.
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James Baldwin's Vision of Otherness in 'Sonny's Blues' and Giovanni's Room
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In the following excerpt, Bieganowski discusses the ways in which the characters in 'Sonny's Blues' acquire self-knowledge and the implications such knowledge has for their relationships with others.
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Baldwin, Bebop, and 'Sonny's Blues'
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Savery is an American critic and educator who has written extensively on African-American literature. In the following except, he discusses the historical and musical contexts relevant to 'Sonny's Blues,' noting in particular the social, political, and aesthetic significance of the form of jazz known as Bebop.
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Black Literature Revisited: 'Sonny's Blues'
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- Further Reading