Analysis of Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin and The Things They Carried by Tim Obrien - Essay Example

Sonny’s Blues By James Baldwin “Sonny’s Blues” is one of the finest stories to have been penned by James Baldwin, a prominent Afro-American litterateur. The story is steeped in tragedy and suffering, in fact, we could call it a tale of hopelessness. However, at the end of it all, we see a ray of hope, when the brothers try to reconcile with each others way of thinking. It is the story of Sonny and his elder brother- Sonny, a rebel and his brother a conformist, who is referred to as the narrator, throughout the story. This story is set in the iconic Harlem district of New York, which is home to the Black community. Harlem is also popular for being the cradle of the blues and jazz music. The story unfolds with the narrator being told about his younger brother Sonny’s arrest on charges of possession and sale of heroin. This news unnerves him, but being the conscientious man that he is, he continues on his way to school, where he teaches Algebra. The narrator does not go to the prison to meet Sonny till he himself experiences pain in the form of death of his own girl Grace.  This point is made clear when he states, "My trouble, made his real" (62). He brings Sonny back to his home, all the time worried that Sonny will return to his drug habit. From here on, the narrative flashes back to their childhood and we get a glimpse into the sorry lives of the brothers, whose childhood was marred by their father’s drinking habit and his ultimate fall into the hands of this evil. The narrator remembers the promise he had made at his mother’s death-bed, when he promised her that he would be his brother’s keeper. This point is clearly seen through this pattern of the love hate relationship he has for his brother. “You got to hold onto your brother… and don’t let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you gets with him.” When leaving for the war front (probably the Korean War) he left Sonny at his fiancée Isabel’s house, where the piano became his refuge from the cruelty of the outside world. Sonny ultimately turned to music, but in addition to the more dangerous habit of drugs just to assuage his loneliness and this feeling is expressed well when he tells his brother: “It’s terrible sometimes, inside,” that’s what’s the trouble. You walk these streets, black and funky and cold and there’s not really a living ass to talk to….” The story weaves itself in an out of the past and present and culminates with Sonny, once again, sitting at the piano in a bar, where his brother watches him, finally coming to terms with the fact, that this is the life Sonny is made for. James Baldwin has infused his story with many deep-layered meanings while he uses a plethora of literary devices to convey the many emotions that rage in the hearts and minds of the various characters in the story. The story juxtaposes the light and dark, sound and silence, religious and secular to bring home the point that our lives, inspite of our best intentions are very often shaped by the environment around us. Sonny’s life, was a result of the dissatisfaction and alienation that he sensed all around him. Sonny’s mother was well aware of the circumstances of Sonny’s life and all her fears manifested themselves soon enough and it became clearly evident to her that Sonny had to be taken care of or he would soon be in a very bad shape. The reason for the addiction, Sonny told his brother was because of the isolation and loneliness he had encountered all around him. Life in Harlem was not easy and the angst of the neighborhood is mirrored memorably in the mind of Sonny, when he tells the narrator , his brother, “All that hatred down there, all that hatred and misery and love. It’s a wonder it doesn’t blow the avenue apart”. Another striking image in the story is that of the blues music which Sonny enjoyed and which was responsible for lifting him out from the depths of despair. The reason he turned to music was to find an outlet for the sorrows that weighed him down and also to find an expression for the turmoil within his soul. Blues music was a way to make people hear the sadness, madness and ruin floating around and to let his cry be heard, so that somebody may take notice and remedy the sad state of affairs. One of the most striking images Baldwin employs is that of darkness and whenever the mood is somber, the darkness envelopes us, while in the moments of hope, there is light falling all around. This pattern of both darkness and light can be evidently seen when the narrator reads of Sonny’s arrest by the phrase “darkness roared outside”. In his students, he could catch glimpses of his own troubled childhood, and the bleak future which lay ahead for the residents of the urban ghetto which was Harlem. Speaking on the same point of darkness, Baldwin once again drives home this point when he says, - “All they really knew were two darkness’s - 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” (Norton Introduction to Literature 48). Baldwin has skillfully woven together the various strands of conflict, inherent in modern life but what shines brightest in the narrative is the redemptive power that each of us have within ourselves. When trials and tribulations overwhelm us, the author says that each of us has a great inner strength that helps us overcome it. Sonny finds his redemption in music while his brother finds redemption when he begins to come to terms with the fact that Sonny is not a wastrel after all. The Things They Carried By Tim Obrien ‘Necessity’ is like a doubled edged sword- on one hand it could be useful and constructive, but on the other hand, it could be dangerous and destructive. In Tim O’Brien’s writing, we are going to discuss the paradox of necessity and look at the many ways he portrays it. Every individual has a necessity for satisfying our various needs such as materialistic, moral, spiritual and emotional. But to what degree we carry this necessity would reflect on how good or dangerous it may be. In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” depicts necessity as mostly a destructive feature. Man is faced with necessity in different situations all through life and how we react to this necessity depends on the situation we are facing. As we pass through life, these necessities may either intensify or may become distorted or lost. In “The Things They Carried”, he discusses about the soldiers and the necessary items they carry on their backs. These items are food, clothing, and weapons which seem to be vital to their survival. As O’Brien says, “The Things They carried, were largely determined by necessity.” (pg. 2) and discusses about important items such as water, rations, defensive clothing and sleeping gear. Ironically, in the same paragraph, he also discusses about other items carried by different people. For example, he refers to Rat Kiley’s “comic books”, Kiowa’s ‘Bible” and also Ted Lavender’s “six or seven ounces of premium dope.” What O’Brien is trying to tell us is that even though these items do not hold much significance to us, yet to these men, these items are extremely important. It is quite obvious that comics and drugs are not necessary at all for man’s survival, but he brings out the desperation of these men, by placing these items on the very same level as food. It could be the violence and horror they have to face in their daily lives that make them carry all these extra items, to fill the aching void of emptiness they feel, as they are helpless to express their emotions freely. O’Brien further gives us a detailed description of the military supplies the soldiers have to carry, such as grenades, brass knuckles, rifles and other war weapons, in addition to the defensive clothing like their helmet and flak jacket. Describing this he says, "They carried all that they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried." (9) He goes on to portray the burdensome weight that Ted Lavender carried when he was shot by telling us how he fell to the bullet – “a big sandbag or something – just boom, then down.” (7) O’Brien eloquently portrays how these brave men had to cover up their fear by looking at death right in the face with a grin. They killed and died bravely because “they were embarrassed not to.” He captures the essence of heavy burden by stating, "they carried the soldiers greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing.” In examining the element of necessity from different perspectives, O’Brien tells us that sometimes, this need is too hard to bear. He not only brings out the physical strain that the men undergo by carrying all that weight, but also enumerates on the emotional and mental drag that causes them so much strain. We can easily relate to O’Brien’s “The Things they carried”, because in our own lives, many of us give so much importance to the element of necessity, when in actual truth we would be missing out or forgetting the finer and more enjoyable part of life. References: “Sonny Blues” Lecture. http://cai.ucdavis.edu/uccp/sblecture.html Sonnys Blues Summary and Study Guide - James Baldwin http://www.enotes.com/sonnys-blues Sonnys Blues http://www.storybites.com/baldwinsonny2.htm The Paradox of Necessity/ Tim O’Brien’s “The Things they carried.” www.nd.edu/~frswrite/mcpartlin/1998/Posek.shtml Read More