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Bianca Grino

Engl.123

Professor James Wilson

February 22, 2018

Suffering Can Lead to a Sense of Understanding

In the short story, “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, the narrator of this story goes

through serious personal problems with his family, and the result of it all would end with the

narrator losing family members very precious to him. Along with the precious people

disappearing in front of him, new problems would continue to arise with the narrator’s brother,

Sonny, as well. In the story Sonny and the narrator have an unstable relationship and it led them

to follow separate paths and lead different lives. During their separation the narrator would lose

his family members, while Sonny, on the other hand, would fall into his drug addiction.

Although they are brothers, both of them didn’t feel the need to reconnect with each other even

though of their problems consumed their lives. The narrator actually had to suffer to an extent

where he would start to think about rebuilding the relationship he had with his brother. The

rebuilding of their relationship, and the way the narrator went about the situation made me think

to ask, why did the narrator have to go through his own suffering to finally reconnect with his

brother? There are different possible reasons as to why the narrator had to suffer first to finally

establish a connection with Sonny . In a way it was for them to gain a level of certain

understanding for each other to bond through since they have such different personalities and

ambitions. It was also a way for them to be more sincere towards each other, and appreciate the

family that they have, which can lead them to love each other like real brothers.
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In the narrator’s attempts to rekindle his relationship with Sonny there would be

moments where he would focus on the troubles he went through which helped him see the

troubles Sonny went through. While reminiscing the narrator thought, “I was sitting in the living

room in the dark, by myself, and I suddenly thought of Sonny. My troubles made his real” (84).

This just shows that whenever the narrator would think about his suffering he would start to

think about what Sonny was going through while he went through his own troubles. While

thinking about the incident he had with his daughter, Grace, he would jump back to the thoughts

of how Sonny suffered with his drug addiction. When you think about it, while going through the

troubles the narrator was going through he had support from his own family. While on the other

hand, once Sonny was suffering through his major drug addiction he was completely alone, and

had no family support whatsoever. Since their unstable relationship started off with their

different opinions on Sonny’s ambition, they would always have complications with agreeing to

similar things, but while the narrator opened his mind to the situation his brother went through,

he felt like he landed on some middle ground where he finally understood his brother and saw

the similarities that they both shared instead of focusing on the differences in their situations.

The way the narrator opened his eyes to Sonny’s suffering gave the support they needed to

rebuild their relationship as real siblings who care and love for each other because they finally

found a common ground to understand each other and they can continue to form a bond from

that as well.

The way that they both suffered also gave the narrator the feeling of appreciating what

you have before you lose it. Most of the time the narrator would suffer because his family

members would start to disappear from him and nothing could stop that from happening. The
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way that the narrator suffered by losing his family members made him open his eyes to the fact

that his brother, Sonny, might be the only family member that he has left. While the narrator was

thinking back on those times he’s lost a member of his family the thoughts of his brother would

always come back to his mind, “I think I may have written Sonny the very day little Grace was

buried” (84). This shows that the narrator would think about his brother once he lost his daughter

because he didn’t have the urge to contact Sonny until his daughter died. All of his thoughts

would shift back to his brother once something tragic happens. Even the promise he made to his

mother would come back to mind even though he forgot about it after he got married, “And I had

a lot of things on my mind and I pretty well forgot my promise to Mama until I got shipped home

on special furlough for her funeral” (78). In this part of the story the narrator even explained it

himself that he completely forgot the promise he made to his mother to be there for Sonny until

his mother died. Once he started to lose the people he cared most about he finally sees that he

should’ve appreciated the things that he already had before it was gone. The more that his family

disappeared, the more he continues to miss and think about his brother, and how much he really

needs to try to bring back that relationship he promised his mother he would have with his

brother.

Another possible answer to this question is that the narrator really wanted to achieve the

promise he kept for his mother. Once the narrator had the decision with his ambitions, and the

thoughts of marriage, Sonny wasn’t even part of the life he wanted, so his mother wanted to

make sure that the narrator would always be there for his brother no matter what happens. His

mother requests that, “You may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let

him know you’s there” (78). Remembering that promise after all he went through let the allowed
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the narrator to have that motivation to pay a visit to Sonny and wanted to see and try to support

the person that he has become even though he didn’t agree to Sonny’s decisions. While the

narrator went to one of Sonny’s performances he actually heard a woman singing, and in a way I

felt like he was comparing her to his brother because he was realizing “all of a sudden how much

suffering she must have to go through to sing like that” (87). These thoughts that he was thinking

he was comparing the way this woman suffered to how his brother suffered, and the way she

sang, he would feel the same way towards Sonny after hearing him play. The way Sonny

suffered actually helped the narrator open his eyes to the things he went through. When Donald

C. Murray points out in the article “James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’: Complicated and Simple,”

“The narrator’s apprehension is justified in that he is about to witness Sonny’s torturous rebirth

as a creative artist” (3 Murray). Overall the narrator starts to realize that the torture Sonny would

go through would be worth it all in the end because through Sonny’s suffering he accomplishes

his dream. The suffering they both went through gave them a sense of understanding for one

another. In the end the narrator actually kept the promise he made to his mother.

Overall I think a little piece of every answer I explained had its own right to the question

I addressed. I feel like the suffering the narrator and Sonny went through gave both of them a

sense of understanding to each other which helped their broken bond mend closer and closer

together. The way that the narrator suffer made him open his eyes to the fact that his brother

might be suffering the same way as him. The thoughts that he would get every time he suffered

would always come back to his brother. The promise that the narrator said he would keep for his

mother would also come back to him every time he suffered. All these thought and feelings the

narrator would feel and think about would stress the importance of a close knit family.
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Work Cited

Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” 12th ed., ​Norton Introduction to Literature​, edited by Kelly J.

Mays, W.W. Norton, 2017, pp. 66-93.

Murray, Donald C. "James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': Complicated and Simple." ​Studies in Short

Fiction​, vol. 14, no. 4, Fall 77, pp. 353-57. EBSCOhost,

0-search.ebscohost.com.library.4cd.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=7151144&

site=eds-live.