**Chose one of the following questions to comment on for your homework assignment. Remember it should be at least 1 page typed, following MLA format** Be prepared to talk about your answers on Wednesday as Dr. Pruss will be visiting our class!
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Consider all the images of darkness in this story; if you list all of them, you will discover Baldwin's development (not a repetition) of a concept here. Which characters are associated with darkness? What does it mean for each character? Do the characters know others' darkness or only their own? Why or why not? Are they isolated? Can you mark a particular moment or certain moments of community in the story? What allows these moments to happen? Contrast the darkness in the story with the image of the "glowing" "cup of trembling." Can you discuss that "glowing" "cup of trembling"?
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Two brothers from one household, one follows a straight and narrow path teaching algebra, and one becomes a heroin addict. One closes himself off from parts of life, and one is totally exposed and vulnerable to the storms and balmy weather the world has to offer. One thinks, "My trouble made his real" -- an important line in the story. Can you speak about this line and the brothers' relationship?
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Aaron Mathieu
ReplyDeleteIn the story “Sonny’s Blues” the two brothers seemed to have gone entirely different routes. Sonny got addicted to heroin and had a love for his musician skills that could not be taken away from him. On the other hand his brother went the typical route of getting married and having kids with a job as a school teacher. There is nothing wrong with either of their life styles because they each chose their own even though some people would look at Sonny as a failure because he got wrapped up in the wrong things. A young boy suggests to the brother about Sonny “I see you got the papers. So you already know about it.” When people are in the newspaper it is usually not for a good reason and when the young boy approaches the brother about Sonny people would hop to the conclusion that Sonny isn’t all that good of a man, but sometimes in life you make mistakes and learn and become better from the mistakes that you end up making in life.
The brothers seem to tend apart from when they were younger and went on to do their own things until Sonny appears in the newspaper. That still doesn’t connect the brothers it is when Gracie the daughter of Sonny’s brother dies. Sonny’s brother decides to write to him and try to express his feelings for him. When Sonny responds the brother is happy to hear back and in the letter Sonny tries to express his feelings for his brother and how he feels about the lost time and the loss of Gracie. “You don’t know how much I needed to hear from you. I wanted to write you many a time but I dug how much I must have hurt you and so I didn’t write.” That quote alone shows you that even though Sonny may have chosen the wrong path in life with drugs he still didn’t forget the people who help make Sonny, Sonny.
For the quote “My trouble made his real.” What this quote is saying I think is that Sonny’s brother was finally realizing some of the trouble and pain that his brother was going through and he could finally connect to it. Sonny’s brother suggests “I may have written to Sonny the say little Gracie was buried. I was sitting in the living room in the dark, by myself, and I suddenly thought of Sonny.” What his brother is saying is that with the loss of his daughter he can actually get a small insight to what Sonny had been feeling all of these years he has been gone on, doing drugs, by himself, he can get a better understanding of what it’s like to actually experience that kind of lifestyle with the passing of a child and how much heartache that causes many people.
Heather Feenan
ReplyDeleteBefore Sonny and his brother’s mother die, she tells brother to look out for Sonny. She makes him promise if anything happens to her that he would look after him and brother promises that he will. As a mother I think she could see where both the boys where heading and knew that she need to make sure some one was going to be there for Sonny. My mom is always asking me to watch out for my sister. My sister, like Sonny, is also six years younger than me. I can relate to this story easily. I feel like these brothers had some kind of sibling rivalry, but not kind where they fight all the time. The type where they don’t see eye-to-eye on everything or just don’t understand the other one. They grew up and went there separate. Sonny stuck to what he wanted to do. He became a musician. What he didn’t wanted to do, and sometimes addiction to drugs comes with becoming a musician. In Sonny’s case it was heroin. His brother was more traditional. He went to school, joined the army, got married, had kids and became a teacher. I believe they both struggled with there life choices, maybe Sonny more than his brother, but I also believe they are both happy with there choices too. Sonny struggled with his addiction to heroin and I believe his brother struggled with the fact that he couldn’t control his little brother. Sonny’s brother just wanted what was best for Sonny and him self. Brother worked on his self first. The line “My trouble made his real”(62) is referring to how the brother didn’t realize his brother pain until his daughter died. Its like the saying “you never know what you got until its gone”. He realized that he could also lose Sonny.
What bothers me about this story is that brother doesn’t have a name. I felt like the story was about brother’s journey through life. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe James Baldwin didn’t give him a name because the story is about Sonny through his brothers eyes.
Anna DeFusco
ReplyDeleteIn James Baldwin’s, Sonny’s Blues, Baldwin uses darkness as a symbol to represent the harsh realities that humanity encounters. The narrator explains his estranged brother, Sonny, and how their chosen paths cross when Sonny is busted for using and selling Heroin. Throughout the story Baldwin gives us insight into their lives; who they are, and how they came to be. Darkness is used to symbolize the loss of innocence in this passage. The narrator’s parents and their church friends ritually get together in their living room. The story says, “And when light fills the room, the child is filled with darkness. He knows that every time this happens he’s moved just a little closer to that darkness outside. The darkness outside is what the old folks have been talking about. It’s what they’ve come from. It’s what they endure. The child knows that they won’t talk anymore because if he knows too much about what’s happened to them, he’ll know too much too soon, about what’s going to happen to him”(Baldwin, 54). The darkness described appears to be negative. Instead of looking forward to growing up, the narrator feels as though getting older will bring about suffering and sadness. Also, Baldwin uses darkness to symbolize a very tragic event that happened to the narrator’s uncle. He was struck and killed by a car full of white, drunk men. The narrator’s mother describes, “Your Daddy was like a crazy man that night and for many a night thereafter. He says he never in his life seen anything as dark as that road after the lights of that car had gone away” (Baldwin, 56).
Sonny is definitely isolated because of his addiction. Many times in the story the narrator talked about how Sonny was physically there; however, he was inaccessible in a sense. Baldwin writes, “They began, in a way, to be afflicted by this presence that was living in their home. It was as though Sonny were some sort of god, or monster. He moved in an atmosphere which wasn’t like theirs at all. They fed him and he ate, he washed himself, he walked in and out of their door; he certainly wasn’t nasty or unpleasant or rude, Sonny isn’t any of those things; but it was as though he were all wrapped up in some cloud, some fire, some vision all his own; and there wasn’t any way to reach him” (Baldwin, 60).
Anna DeFusco (con.t)
ReplyDeleteThe narrator describes a family he watches from his window singing church prayers. “As the singing filled the air the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing on something within; the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them; and time seemed, nearly to fall away from the sullen, belligerent, battered faces, as though they were fleeing back to their first condition, while dreaming of their last”(Baldwin, 63). The battered people must have endured suffering; however, music became their escape from isolation; a catharsis. It is because of music that these people could escape their detachment to the community. Although music was a release and a source of escape from his isolation, there still was a chance that Sonny would start using again. For example, “The sun had vanished, soon darkness would fall. I watched his face. ‘It can come again,’ he said, almost as though speaking to himself. Then he turned to me. ‘It can come again,’ he repeated. ‘I just want you to know that’” (Baldwin, 66). Although he is aware that he may use Heroin again, music continues to be a source of redemption.
The symbolism changes from darkness to the biblical “cup of trembling.” He writes, “…I saw the girl put a Scotch and milk on top of the piano for Sonny. He didn’t seem to notice it, but just before they started playing again, he sipped from it and looked toward me, and nodded. Then he put it back on top of the piano. For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother’s head like the very cup of trembling” (Baldwin, 69). The drink in the story symbolizes Sonny’s redemption and freedom. In the book of Isaiah, God pledges to aid the people of Jerusalem even though they’ve sinned. Having sinned, they had “drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury,” even “the dregs of the cup trembling.” The people of Jerusalem, despite their past sins are under God’s special care, and the cup of trembling has become a symbol of God’s special protection. Sonny’s older brother could possibly represent the Lord. Sonny taking a sip represents his triumph of overcoming his Heroin addiction.
Anna DeFusco (con.t)
ReplyDeleteThe narrator describes a family he watches from his window singing church prayers. “As the singing filled the air the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing on something within; the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them; and time seemed, nearly to fall away from the sullen, belligerent, battered faces, as though they were fleeing back to their first condition, while dreaming of their last”(Baldwin, 63). The battered people must have endured suffering; however, music became their escape from isolation; a catharsis. It is because of music that these people could escape their detachment to the community. Although music was a release and a source of escape from his isolation, there still was a chance that Sonny would start using again. For example, “The sun had vanished, soon darkness would fall. I watched his face. ‘It can come again,’ he said, almost as though speaking to himself. Then he turned to me. ‘It can come again,’ he repeated. ‘I just want you to know that’” (Baldwin, 66). Although he is aware that he may use Heroin again, music continues to be a source of redemption.
Anna DeFusco (con.t)
ReplyDeleteThe symbolism changes from darkness to the biblical “cup of trembling.” He writes, “…I saw the girl put a Scotch and milk on top of the piano for Sonny. He didn’t seem to notice it, but just before they started playing again, he sipped from it and looked toward me, and nodded. Then he put it back on top of the piano. For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother’s head like the very cup of trembling” (Baldwin, 69). The drink in the story symbolizes Sonny’s redemption and freedom. In the book of Isaiah, God pledges to aid the people of Jerusalem even though they’ve sinned. Having sinned, they had “drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury,” even “the dregs of the cup trembling.” The people of Jerusalem, despite their past sins are under God’s special care, and the cup of trembling has become a symbol of God’s special protection. Sonny’s older brother could possibly represent the Lord. Sonny taking a sip represents his triumph of overcoming his Heroin addiction.
Linda Palushaj
ReplyDeleteIn "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin there are two brothers who are not close at all. They go completely different ways in their life and don't know what each other is doing. Sonny, one of the brothers has gone through many tough times because of being a heroin addict. Sonny's brother lives a traditional life with a wife and kids while being a teacher. Sonny's brother sees Sonny is in trouble by looking in the newspaper but does nothing to contact him. They never really talk until Sonny's brother runs into a terrible part of his life. His two year old daughter dies. Sonny's brother says "I think I may have written Sonny the very day that little grace was buried. I was sitting in the living room in the dark by myself and I suddenly thought of Sonny. My trouble made his real" (Baldwin 62). In other words, Sonny's brother didn't try to stay in touch but in a day with some many emotions and sadness he realizes that maybe he should get in touch with his brother. Sonny's brother feels depressed and feels like he needs someone close in his life. This is when he starts thinking about memories from the past. His mother and father died and are not there to give him the love he needs. He remember things his mother told him. His mother told him to take care of Sonny. He needs Sonny back in his life he wants to be close to him and understands that Sonny may need a brother to. In a letter Sonny wrote back to his brother he says, "You don't know how much I needed to hear from you. I wanted to write you many a time ago but I dug how much I must have hurt you and so I didn't write" (Baldwin 51). In this we see that Sonny to needed someone in his life and never forgot about his brother. Sonny wanted someone to talk to when he realized he hit trouble in his life and now his brother can understand this. Sonny's brother is able to see that his brother and himself need each other in their life especially now because they are both at hard times in their lives.
The line in the story that says "his trouble made mine real" was such a strong line in the story (Baldwin 62). Many can relate to this line in real life. Today in life people are mostly only enslaved by their own personal life and can't feel what another is going through unless they have been through it in their life. When they do go through a bad event i their life then feel connected to another person who has gone through something similar. Many people can understand and love the others more when something terrible happens to them that makes them realize what someone else might be going through in their life. The powerful line from the story is a strong line that is true for many who have had life changing experiences in their lives.
Michele Nemec
ReplyDeleteIn the story sonny blues there were two brothers. One live the life of getting married and having kids, he became a school algebra teacher. The other went the completely opposite direction. He became a heroine addict and was sent away to try and help his problem, his name was sonny. The two brothers never really talked. Sonny's never really thought of contacting him until his daughter died. His brother said "I think I may have written Sonny the very day that little grace was buried. I was sitting in the living room in the dark by myself and I suddenly thought of Sonny. My trouble made his real" (Baldwin 62) Meaning that he didnt even think to write to sonny until he was said and needed to feel close to someone and all that he had left was his brother sonny. When sonny finally got to go home his brother picked him up and the began to talk. Sonny admitted it was his dream to become a musician. But not just an ordinary musician, a jazz musician. At this point the started to grow closer and closer.
The line "his trouble made mine real"(Baldwin 62) was probably one of the strongest lines in the story. You can compare this to today. Especially my life i had gone through a rougher part of my life and i was connected to people who suffered from the same thing or knew what i was going through and i became close to them, because they could help me get through it.You feel enslaved in with the bad things going on in your life you do not realize the good that is going on all around you. Until you connect with that person.
Marisa Simpson
ReplyDeleteIn “Sonny’s Blues,” the brothers relationship is strained and distant at first. The older brother had become a teacher and had not kept in touch with his brother Sonny for a while. Sonny becomes a heroin addict and get sent to jail. Then the older brothers daughter dies and that’s when he starts to communicate with Sonny. When Sonny writes him back he says “…he wrote me back a letter which made me feel like a bastard”(50 Baldwin). I think it made the brother realize how bad a brother he had been. He never tried keeping in contact with Sonny. He had to heard about his brother being in jail from a newspaper and then by a local drug dealer. He hurt Sonny a lot because he thought negative about Sonny wanting to a musician. He did not support his brother or encourage him to pursue becoming a musician. The brother had asked him, “[Sonny] Can you make a living at it?”(58 Baldwin) Sonny looked up to his big brother and not having him support his dreams hurt him.
In the story the brother says “My trouble made his real”(62 Baldwin). I think he means that everything that he’s gone through with his daughter dying suddenly made Sonny’s troubles real to him. He realizes that he really does not know his brother. Sonny is practically a stranger to him. He broke his promise to their mom. He was never there to catch Sonny every time he fell. He was never really a big brother to him. Now that he realizes all that, he’s going to try to be that big brother.
Marisa Simpson
ReplyDeleteIn “Sonny’s Blues,” the brothers relationship is strained and distant at first. The older brother had become a teacher and had not kept in touch with his brother Sonny for a while. Sonny becomes a heroin addict and get sent to jail. Then the older brothers daughter dies and that’s when he starts to communicate with Sonny. When Sonny writes him back he says “…he wrote me back a letter which made me feel like a bastard”(50 Baldwin). I think it made the brother realize how bad a brother he had been. He never tried keeping in contact with Sonny. He had to heard about his brother being in jail from a newspaper and then by a local drug dealer. He hurt Sonny a lot because he thought negative about Sonny wanting to a musician. He did not support his brother or encourage him to pursue becoming a musician. The brother had asked him, “[Sonny] Can you make a living at it?”(58 Baldwin) Sonny looked up to his big brother and not having him support his dreams hurt him.
In the story the brother says “My trouble made his real”(62 Baldwin). I think he means that everything that he’s gone through with his daughter dying suddenly made Sonny’s troubles real to him. He realizes that he really does not know his brother. Sonny is practically a stranger to him. He broke his promise to their mom. He was never there to catch Sonny every time he fell. He was never really a big brother to him. When they are talking at the house, the brother figures out that he should have said something to help Sonny. In Baldwin’s story he states “I realized, with this mocking look, that there stood between us…the fact that I had held silence-so long- when he needed human speech to help him.”(64-65). Now that he realizes all that, he’s going to try to be that big brother.
In the story “Sonny’s Blue’s” by James Baldwin, the story is told by the narrator, who we later find out to be Sonny’s brother. Throughout the story we witness ongoing conflict between the narrator and Sonny. The narrator following the right path, a good man, who teaches algebra and Sonny who was a heroin addict; the narrator not exposing himself to the many bad influences one may experience in life, while Sonny allows himself to be open and become affected by the outside world whether it be in a positive or negative way. Basically it was fuel for an internal conflict that would last throughout their lifetime.
ReplyDeleteThe brother’s themselves shared an interesting bond. Not coming from what you would call a normal family, problems occurred early. Throughout the course of their lives the brothers seemed to have a deep down true love for one another, and really did care for the other’s well being. However, due to the differences in their lives, and Sonny’s addiction to heroin, this love and care was often shrouded by the fact they were two different people with two different lifestyles, and the way their lives had affected them were expressed in the conflict that occurred between them. They both went through tough stages in their lives and dealt with them differently; the narrator is the one who took the path of the straightened arrow, while Sonny didn’t.
When the narrator says the quote, “My trouble made his real”, this shows the narrator understands the pain and suffering that Sonny has gone through in his life, and for the first time can actually relate to it.