Discuss in detail the spiritual and emotional growth experienced by the narrator in James Baldwins Sonny Blues - Essay Example

y’s addiction to heroin, their past family history, and their reconciliation, it is clear that Sonny is not the sole protagonist of “Sonny’s Blues.” The narrator plays an equally important role, and the focus of the story is not only on Sonny’s struggles, but also on the emotional conflict, which rages in the narrator and its resolution. Sonny struggles with his drug addiction, his rehabilitation and his need for self-expression. At the same time, the narrator struggles through his own spiritual and emotional conflict to resolve his inner fears and his relationship with his younger brother.

The narrator, who fears the loss of his security and Sonny’s refusal to conform, finally grows to realize that the repression of emotions is pointless. The narrator teaches Algebra in a school catering to African-American boys. He is a family man, with a wife and children, safely established within the stolid walls of conventional society. He uses his established position as a shield against the insecurities and fears, which have dogged him throughout his life. He wishes to remain snug in this refuge, far from “the darkness which roared outside” (Baldwin, 6).

The narrator’s childhood in Harlem mirrors that of his students and his brother. They share the “Killing fields of our childhood” (Baldwin, 10). It is the childhood fear of being “encircled by disaster” (Baldwin, 10) which makes him determined to hold fast to his adult status. He has “escaped the trap” (Baldwin, 10) of Harlem and is wary of anything which might pull him down into the old depths yet again. He is deeply aware of the proximity of his Harlem past: even the house he presently inhabits only “looks like a parody of the good, clean, faceless life” (Baldwin, 10) he aims to live.

His insecurities date back to his childhood. Even when the family is gathered together on Sunday afternoon, he is not secure: “the darkness in the faces frightened him” (Baldwin, 10). His childhood