Argumentative essay 3/1

In every short story or novel, the protagonists are accompanied by minor characters. It is true

that in some short stories or novels minor characters may not always be that influential or

essential for the development of the story. Sometimes, minor characters´ roles may not have a

critical impact in the story, because the actions they perform may have no real influence in the

main characters. Admittedly, on occasions, the protagonists can develop fully and achieve their

goals as the story unfolds without the help or the influence of minor characters, and in these

cases, minor characters may be considered irrelevant. However, in most short stories and

novels, minor characters complete and give meaning to the story. Minor characters support the

protagonists and help to build and develop the main characters. Minor characters help the

protagonist to carry out certain actions, to have a better understanding of difficult situations they

might be going through or even to restore broken relationships. The protagonists may benefit

from minor characters´ pieces of advice and conversations they share with them. Minor

characters can even be more influential and have a stronger impact in the main characters, if

they are closely related to the protagonists. For instance, a mother, father, sibling or wife of the

main character may be highly influential in the protagonists´ decisions and attitudes throughout

the story. This seems to be the case of Isabel, the narrator´s wife, and the brothers´ mother in the

short story “Sonny’s Blues”, by James Baldwin. The brothers had not seen each other for over a

year, and their relationship seemed to be fading away. Even if it is true that the brothers came

together because of their own efforts and actions, these two women’s attitudes and pieces of

advice critically helped Sonny and the narrator to restore their relationship. Isabel’s positive and

friendly attitude and the brothers´ mother’s advice on their relationship helped the brothers to

fix their relationship and to find in each other the support they needed.

It cannot be denied that Sonny and the narrator could get their relationship to work because of

their own effort. Since the narrator´s daughter died, both brothers tried hard in order to fix their

relationship. We see all along the story that the brothers made several attempts to come closer.

The narrator made considerable attempts to fix his relationship with Sonny by trying to
reestablish the communication with his brother, by trying hard to listen carefully to Sonny and

to understand his younger brother´s struggle with drugs, and by trying to learn about Sonny’s

world and to accept it; and Sonny made significant attempts to fix his relationship with the

narrator as well, by trying to open up to his brother and to be honest with him, and by trying to

introduce his brother to his world. No doubt all these attempts the brothers made show us that

they were trying really hard to come together and that they could restore their relationship and

find support in each other on their own.

Still, Isabel´s and their mother´s role are also important in the story as they helped the brothers

to make their relationship work and to find in each other the support they needed. Isabel´s

positive and friendly attitude was critically important in order to make the brothers´ relationship

work. To begin with, soon after Sonny was out of rehab, Isabel accepted Sonny at her and the

narrator´s house, and welcomed him warmly, making Sonny feel more comfortable. The

narrator says: “And Isabel, who is really much nicer than I am, more open and giving, had gone

to a lot of trouble about dinner and was genuinely glad to see him. And she’s always been able

to tease Sonny in a way that I haven’t. It was nice to see her face so vivid again and to hear her

laugh and watch her make Sonny laugh” We can see that Isabel seemed not to be uneasy at all,

and because of her positive and friendly attitude, she was able to make the brothers´ first dinner

after rehab a more pleasant moment. The narrator tells us that Isabel “got Sonny past his first,

faint stiffness”. It is true that it was the brothers´ decision to be in contact again and that that is

the reason why Sonny was at the narrator´s house in the first place; yet, if Isabel had not been so

kind and friendly and if she had not welcomed Sonny in such a warm way, the environment of

the dinner would have been much more uncomfortable and the brothers´ first encounter after

rehab would have been more unpleasant. Isabel´s positive and friendly attitude and her

welcoming Sonny so warmly, helped the brothers link more strongly, in a way that they would

have not been able to do on their own.

Moreover, Sonny and the narrator´s mother also played a critical role in helping the brothers get

their relationship to work again. Before his mother´s death, the narrator shared with her a very
meaningful conversation in which she tried her best to advise her son on his relationship with

Sonny. She firstly told the narrator the story of his uncle´s death, and how she had been the

emotional support for his father. Before starting the story, she told the narrator: “I want to talk

to you about your brother. If anything happens to me he ain´t going to have nobody to look out

for him.” And when the story ended, she told the narrator: “You got to hold on to your brother,

and don´t let him fall.” We can clearly see that, in a way, the narrator´s mother was anticipating

what could happen to her children´s future and she wanted the narrator to be close to Sonny at

any rate. The mother made the narrator promise to her that he would take care of Sonny. She

told him “You may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you

´s there.” In this piece of evidence we can see that the brothers´ mother was suspicious about

Sonny´s future, and that her intention was not to have the narrator preventing nothing from

happening, but instead his helping Sonny and his being the emotional support for Sonny. It is

because of this promise that the narrator came back home after his mother´s death, determined

to take up the role of the older brother and to take care of Sonny. Even if he seemed to fail at the

beginning, the narrator tried to come closer to Sonny because of the promise he had made to his

mother. Hence, we can see that the brothers´ mother´s role was critically important in helping

the brothers´ strengthening their bond. With her pieces of advice she helped the narrator become

aware of his brother´s future and also encouraged the narrator to take care of Sonny, and thus,

we can say that her role was relevant in helping the brothers bridge the gulf that had been

created between them.

All in all, we can say that even if the brothers were able to restore their relationship due to their

own effort, Isabel´s and the narrator and Sonny´s mother´s role were critically important in the

brothers´ making their relationship work and finding in each other the support they needed as

well. Isabel helped the brothers link stronger thanks to her positive and friendly attitude during

their first dinner after Sonny was out of rehab, making the environment more comfortable, and

Sonny´s and the narrator´s mother helped them by trying to make the narrator become aware of

Sonny´s future and by making the narrator promise that he would take care of Sonny. It is true
that some minor characters have no impact in their story, and that their presence can sometimes

be irrelevant for the development of the protagonists. But we could see that this is clearly not

the case of Isabel and the brothers´mother.