The Search for Self in Sonny's Blues - Research Paper Example

The search for ‘self’ and in Sonny’s Blues The setting of the story is the area of Harlem: an area in New York populated by African Americans, which remained a cultural symbol of black identity. The narrator and his brother are born and brought up in this surrounding where at that time poverty and crime were prevalent. Baldwin himself opened eye in the Harlem neighborhood and his first hand knowledge of the surrounding makes this depiction credible and realistic. This things lends strength to his characterization and all the central characters including Sonny and narrator have been depicted with such authentication that by the time we finish reading Sonny’s Blues …we are well acquainted with the central characters and find them amply three-dimensional.(Kennedy and Gioia 75). The theme of identity and understanding of that identity runs throughout the story. This locale was the hub of intellectual activities of those black intellectuals who were the harbingers of Harlem renaissance and were struggling to establish black identity in a racially hostile society and produced. The narrator’s family has their uncle killed by white racists. The protagonist of the story Sonny, who born and bred in the Harlem slums, has succumbed to the evils offered by the locale. He strives for the assertion of this personal identity and makes his brother realize his mistake in understanding the truth of his brother’s self. The brotherly relationship in the background of African-American culture becomes the thematic content of the story. The story shows the narrator’s gradual transformation from ignorance to discovery and his spiritual thaw. The un-named narrator at first fails to understand his brother and considers himself worldly wise by sticking to a profession that receives acknowledgement from the society. At first the feelings of the narrator about his brother are hostile as this brother is unable to compromise with the discipline of his brother and indulges in the life of drugs and crime. Though his promise to his mother about the care of the younger brother always remains at the back of his mind, yet the morally unscrupulous behaviour of his brother makes him despise the very mention of his brother. He seems to apprehend that any connection with his brother would ruin his presently acquired status. He is reluctant even to meet his brother even though he is in great crisis. But like all heroes of tragedy the protagonist undergoes from the process of ignorance to discovery. After the darkness that blinds his reason he discovers the mystic pursuits of his brother in the light of filial empathy. Love makes him see things in their true light. The self that blinded his reason is replaced by a self-less filial bond between two brothers in African American culture. The music as a cohesive force is recognized when the jazz song touches the very heart of the narrator and he come to terms with Sonny’s world. Morality remains a pervasive force in Baldwin’s stories .Man’s moral conflicts are depicted in a world which is full of temptations beyond our control. His moral view finds its place in his writing in the form of numerous references from the Bible. Baldwin’s experience as a preacher and through knowledge of the Bible enables him to incorporate numerous biblical references. God visits Cain to ask where Abel is, and in the same way the narrator’s conscience prods the narrator to know where Sonny is. (Baird 118) This is the story of Sonny depicted through narrator’s point of view and the very title suggests close connection of sonny’s fortunes with the theme. Schwen and Bass suggest, ‘The title “Sonny’s Blues” could refer either to the immense pain Sonny has endured or to the wonderful music he is able to create.’ (330). Sonny’s identity is hidden in ‘blues’ or in the music .But like Harlem experience the story seems to suggest that the path to self-recognition is painful and the destination in this case is achieved after so much persecution at the hands of opposing forces. Sonny’s passion for music is at first not approved by the writer and he mocks at the very ideas of his brother being a drummer. Although his brother….had suspected that sonny was wasting both his life and time, he found out differently one night when he went with him to a night club. (Brown 258). Sonny’s passion for Jazz is actually inherited by their father and uncle. Blacks seek refuge in their musical symbols and music is a kind of source of identity for black. Their involvement in music is a bit spiritual. The story uses so many references to the music. Music and especially jazz is symbol of black identity and seems to run in the blood of Sonny’s family as his uncle and father also show interest in music. Baird depicts: The brothers carry on the family’s interest in jazz music, with the narrator preferring Louis Armstrong and Sonny preferring Charlie Parker. The revival singers in the street add spiritual selection, and their struggle to uplift others with music is parallel to the final effort of Sonny in his performance of “ Am I Blue?” at the jazz club.(118) The mention of ‘darkness in the story is not casual as it has specific relationship with the theme. One form of the darkness refers to black identity and another form of darkness refers to lack of understanding the reality around us. The narrator’s comment about the street boys is quite appropriate in this context: All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness, and in which they now, vindictively, dreamed, at once more together than they were at any other time, and more alone.(Sonny’s Blues 410) African American face a very difficult life and they feel themselves in a society where they have two choices either to assimilate themselves with the mainstream or to remain isolated. Both the brothers represent two different sides of the coin. The narrator in his attempt to get assimilated also feels the pangs of racialist dis-concern and lack of progress in his field due to his racial background .Sonny from the outset has been depicted as a character who fails to come to terms with the social norms and develop their own world where they have their own sources of solace, in this case the jazz music which represent the specific black identity. In a way, the two brothers serve as symbols for the two sides of the African American experience: the narrator has retreated to a way of living that is characterized by employment and family duties, and thus leads a way of life according to rather white standards. (Recker 16). Sonny adopts the way that is the combination of his personal aims and inherited racial dreams. He tells the narrator, ‘ I don’t want to be a classical pianist. That isn’t what interests me….I want to play with— jazz musicians’.(Sonny’s Blues 423). This haughty attitude of Sonny causes estrangement between two brothers. Sonny leaves him and this thing further aggravates the situation. The writer is unable to accept this and develops grudge against the younger brother. He expresses his disgust thus, ‘He came by the house from time to time, but we fought almost every time we met. I didn’t like the way he carried himself, loose and dreamlike all the time, and I didn’t like his friends, and his music seemed to be merely an excuse for the life he led. It sounded just the weird and disordered’. (Sonny’s Blues 428) Sonny’s way is at last accepted by the unknown narrator and reconciliation is actually brought about the by symbolic bonds of black identity. Their very blackness brought them together. When they return to their Harlem and to the places where they spent their childhood, there communication further develops and the narrator feels himself more close to his brother. Through one’s own suffering one learns the suffering of others. It is the death of his daughter Grace that connected him to the misery of his brother. And he felt love for his brother. His past love revives and he extends the hand of love to his younger brother. The story depicts all the shades of a brotherly relationship. Though at first writer failed to fathom the secretive inner self of Sonny and he confesses his inability to comprehend his brother’s inner personality. ‘ It doesn’t do any good to fight with Sonny. Sonny just moves back, inside himself, where he can’t be reached.’(Sonny’ Blues 420). But the warm feelings melt the thaw and the reconciliation occurs after understanding of each other. Baldwin’s depiction has many autobiographical tones and his Harlem experiences found their true expression in the story. The social context of the story in Harlem surroundings shows how important is the setting in shaping the destinies of the characters. Works Cited Brown, Frank Burch: Good taste, bad taste, & Christian taste: aesthetics in religious life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print. Oates, Joyce Carol: The Oxford book of American short stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.Print. Kennedy, X.J ,and Dana Gioia: Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry ,Drama,and Writing, Compact edition, 5/e. New York: Pearson Publishers,1991.Print. Recker, Christine: Varieties of literary interpretation of jazz in American writing of the 1950s and 1960.M.A. Thesis. Grin, Verlag Noderstedt Germany,2008.Print. Schwehn, Mark R ,and Dorothy C Bass: Leading lives that matter: What we should do who we should be. Grand Rapids, Mich: William b.Eerdmans, 2006. Print. Shuman, R Baird: Great American Writers: twentieth century. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2002.Print. Read More