Sonny’s Blues

Free Write

There are several reasons as to why I like James Baldwin’s short story, Sonny’s Blues. The story is
narrated from the standpoint of the nameless older brother. Sonny, the younger brother is a heroin
addict, an alcoholic, and an aspiring Jazz musician. The boys are seven years apart in age and as people
they are polar opposites. The nameless older brother has a wife, 3 children (2 living, 1 deceased), and is
an algebra teacher. This nameless older brother has been in and out of the military. Sonny the younger
of the two brothers has been in and out of jail, a heroin addiction, a drinking problem, and a fiery
passion to play jazz music. So this makes both of them diverse and unique in their very own ways. Right
before their mom died she made the older brother promise her to look out for Sonny, I have a feeling
she knew he was headed straight for trouble. I like this story because I can almost relate to it myself
being a younger brother.

Working Thesis

In Sonny’s Blues we can find several symbols embedded into the sentences of the story analyzing them
is key to understanding the story completely.

Five Direct Quotes

“A great block of ice got settled in my belly and kept melting there slowly all day long,” (37)

Then I got mad. It was because I was so scared. “You must be crazy. You goddamn fool, what the hell
do you want to go and join the army for?” “I just told you. To get out of Harlem.” (49)

“I told him that he might just as well be dead as live the way he was living. Then he stood up and he told
me not to worry about him any more in life, that he was dead as far as I am concerned.” (51)

“I read about Sonny’s trouble in the spring. Little Grace died in the fall.” (51)

“her voice reminded me for a minute of what heroin feels like sometimes-when it’s in your veins. It
makes you feel sort of warm and cool at the same time. And distant.” (54)

Essay

In Sonny’s Blues we can find several symbols embedded into the sentences of the story.
Analyzing these symbols is key to understanding the story completely. There were three themes
that kept reoccurring throughout the story; fear, death, and addiction.

The first of these reoccurring themes is fear. We can see symbols of fear being repeated
throughout the story mostly coming from the nameless older brother. As soon as the story begins we
see the first of the symbols embedded in the sentences. “A great block of ice got settled in my belly and
kept melting there slowly all day long” (37) that was the way the nameless older brother described the
feeling of dread inside after reading about Sonny in the paper. Ice symbolizes the following: cold,
inevitable, chilling, and an imminent sense of doom. Melting ice could mean several different things:
the shiver that cold water sends up ones spine, the effect of a source of heat on a frozen mass, and a
slow and steady flow. Then I got mad. It was because I was so scared. “You must be crazy. You
goddamn fool, what the hell do you want to go and join the army for?” “I just told you. To get out of
Harlem.” (49) This agreement between the nameless older brother and Sonny represents the measures
Sonny is willing to take just to leave the projects of Harlem. This makes the nameless older brother
angry and afraid for his younger brother and in this anger and confusion he overreacts and yells at
Sonny.

The second of the reoccurring themes was death. “I told him that he might just as well be dead
as live the way he was living. Then he stood up and he told me not to worry about him any more in life,
that he was dead as far as I am concerned.” This was another symbolic argument between the
nameless older brother and Sonny. The older brother has watched what the drugs and the drinking has
done to Sonny and tries to confront him about it with no success. Sonny in a moment of weakness
retaliates and snaps at his older brother telling him that he is already dead to him. This is a sad moment
in the brother’s relationship as we can see the strain the drug addiction has had on Sonny. “I read about
Sonny’s trouble in the spring. Little Grace died in the fall.” (51) The nameless older brother’s daughter
grace had died. This is very symbolic in the sense that grace itself has died with the coming of Sonny’s
trouble.

The third and final theme was addiction. “her voice reminded me for a minute of what heroin
feels like sometimes-when it’s in your veins. It makes you feel sort of warm and cool at the same time.
And distant.” (54) Sonny relays this to his brother, making him uneasy. The reason heroin is so
dangerous is how easy it is to become addicted to heroin. The warmth running through Sonny’s veins
followed by a numbing cooling sensation is the high felt while injecting heroin. The following feeling of
spacing in and out of reality is what many users find attractive about the drug heroin. For Sonny it gives
his a sense of control over his life at the expense of his mental, emotional, and social integrity.

In conclusion we can see the three reoccurring themes in the symbols in Sonny’s Blues: fear,
death, and addiction. We can find several symbols embedded into the sentences of the story. Analyzing
these symbols is key to having a complete understanding of the story.