—Brian Mangal
While reading throughout the course, James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” caught my attention the most. When first reading it, what I got from the story was a story between two brothers. With this came the failure of one brother to protect another, and as a result, Sonny ends up getting hooked on drugs. However, to me, this was much more of a surface-level explanation. When I looked deeper into “Sonny’s Blues” instead of a story about two brothers, it could also be a story about loss and rehabilitation. Throughout the story, it is clear to the reader that while Sonny’s brother clearly cares and loves Sonny, he does not approve of his actions—becoming a musician and joining the armed forces. When reading this, I felt quite sad for Sonny. To be unable to follow your passions due to what other people think is ridiculous in my opinion. It restricts that person from following their dreams and living the life that they want to live. Forcing someone to do something they do not want to do will just lead to sadness. This is the case of Sonny who, due to the lack of approval over years at a time, finds himself addicted to drugs. The story to me becomes even sadder with the dialogue between Sonny’s brother and his mother. The general purpose of this was that the mother wanted Sonny’s brother to protect Sonny. However, over such long periods of neglect towards Sonny’s true feelings, Sonny eventually took a downfall. I considered this to be Sonny’s brother failing to live up to the promise he made to his mother. Instead of protecting Sonny, he hurt him worse than anyone ever could. As a result, drugs quickly took over Sonny.
I suppose another reason why I enjoyed this story was because of how realistic it seemed. When I put myself in Sonny’s shoes, I imagine myself trapped, with nobody to help. After Sonny was released he had finally gotten to talk to his brother after years. It was here when Sonny’s brother had an epiphany due to seeing Sonny perform on the piano. I feel that in this scene the final message was sent to the reader. That is to keep the people you love close, but at the same time give them the freedom to follow their passion to have them live their lives. Everyone is different, people should not be like Sonny’s brother and disapprove of something just because they think it isn’t fitting. James Baldwin has created one of my favorite stories. Some other reasons why this reading in particular caught my eye was because of the perspective it was told in. That is, the perspective of Sonny’s brother because the reader can get a better feel of all the emotions that he is going through. I also liked Sonny staying true to his beliefs. For example, even though his brother disapproved years ago, as soon as Sonny was released, he immediately went to play his music. In other words, he went straight back to doing what he loves.
