An Unexpected Revelation of Sonny's Blues, By Sarah Hales

An Unsuspected Revelation of Sonny's Blues

    When a work is read, it can be difficult to first understand what it is the author is trying to speak about. It can take two, three, maybe even four full thorough readings of one single work to understand the plot alone. Even when the plot is understood, it takes a deep reading between the lines of the story, an intense study of the background of the work, and an understanding of the authors point of view to be able to come up with what we believe the author is trying to portray. Even when we believe we have found the true meaning of the work, the author can come out and reveal the true meaning, sometimes this is completely far off from what we (as the reader and the interpreter) were thinking.

    Reading “Sonny's Blues”, it might seem unchallenging, and maybe even obvious to us what the author is trying to portray. An older brother is successful, a younger brother is a drug addict, has problems, gets sent to jail, has a difficult life in the pits of Harlem. The story shows that the older brother, as well as others, have a difficult time trying to understand the younger brother. The younger brother, Sonny, continues to make mistakes as the older brother tries to relate to him. We can take this particularly blunt information and come up with so many different possibilities as to what we believe the author is trying to tell us. Some may say, “It is a story about the relationship of two brothers.” Or something close to, “It's a story of two brothers coming closer together.” These observations are true, however, they're way too transparent, they don't quite dig down into the deeper overriding and raw message that I believe James Baldwin (the author of “Sonny's Blues”) is trying to tell us. To be able to find the true meaning or message Baldwin is trying to illustrate, we need to go a bit further into the hidden works of the story. We need to put ourselves in the positions of the characters, really feel what they are feeling and try to understand their hidden emotions that aren't specifically shown throughout the dialogue inside the story.

    “Sonny's Blues” is a powerful story, with an even more powerful message. It illustrates a message not only for brothers, but for everyone in their relationships with, in fact, all of their truly beloved friends and family. The story confides to you the secrets about true brotherhood. It exemplifies the painful and everlasting hardships that two members of a true brotherhood had to experience, and will continue to experience. Although some say that the message of “Sonny's Blues” stops at brotherhood. It is so much more than just this. It is the daily challenges of trying to keep a relationship together. Trying and pushing to really understand why a person does what they do, putting in effort to communicate and try to at the same time express yourself and how you feel. It is years of pain, loneliness, misconception and suffering, even after these times, we might not even fully understand the person we are putting all of our effort into, but we don't stop. “Sonny's Blues” shows us that we don't stop, we try, we try and push through our own pride, we break down the wall of miscommunication, we are to never stop trying, because that person is worth it. That person is worth our suffering and ceaseless time and effort. “Sonny's Blues” shows to it's readers that “brotherhood” is not something that is achieved through a couple of misunderstandings. It is a life of never ending trials, pain, and agony, as we try to understand and figure out the best way to communicate to someone and how to show them what exactly we are feeling, whether it be about decisions they are making, Decisions we are making, or just simply how they are making us feel about something.

    The evidence of this true brotherhood is entangled and intertwined throughout the entire story. In an article by Donald C Murray titled, “James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': Complicated and Simple” Murray takes this section from the story, “One boy was whistling a tune, at once very complicated and simple, it seemed to be pouring out of him as though he were a bird, and it sounded very cool and moving through all that harsh, bright air, only just holding its own through all those other sounds.” This example from the text shows communication through music. Baldwin uses the phrase, “pouring out of him...” to show that the person whistling, was pouring out a message, a way of communication, to show how he was feeling. This way of communication is extremely important in the story, because it is what Sonny (the younger brother) uses to express his feelings throughout the text. Murray depicts the story to be about “A man's need to find his identity in a hostile society and, in a social situation which fatalistic compliance, his ability to understand himself through artistic creation which is both individual and communal. “Sonny's Blues is the story of a boy's growth to adulthood...” This statement is agreeable, however, this struggle of self identity is what makes it so difficult for Sonny to express himself correctly. I don't think he knows exactly what he wants or why, so during this confusing and warping time, he can't completely tell his brother why he does the things that he does. He doesn't even know why his actions are what they are, let alone try to explain to his brother why he does certain things. From this evidence of uncertainty, you can see why it might be easier for Sonny to try to express himself through music.

    Another example of this difficulty to express is found on where Sonny remarks to his brother, “But I can't forget-where I've been, I don't mean just the physical place I've been, I mean where I've been. And what I've been.”(p.353). Murray suggests, “Because of the enormous energy and dedication involved in his role as Blues musician, Sonny is virtually described as an initiate into the mysteries of creativity. He finds it hard to describe his own terrible anguish because he knows that it can come again and he almost wonders whether it's worth it.” Murray also goes on to say, “Yet his anguish is not only personal but representative, for as he looks down from the window of his brother's apartment he sees 'all that hatred and misery and love,'”(p.354). This is yet another example of this trial of communication between the brothers, it shows the strain of trying to express or bring to pass Sonny's true feelings and emotions.

    In “The Biblical Foundation of James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues'”, James Tackack relates the story to the parable of The Prodigal Son. Like in the story of The Prodigal Son, there is an older son (the narrator), who has done the right things and has grown to be a good man, while we have the younger son (Sonny), who has gone off the path of righteousness, but eventually comes back home, and is rejoiced and saved. This is like unto the story of the narrator and Sonny, wherein Sonny is brought back and taken care of by his older brother. An observation that Tackack gives that I find to be extremely insightful is found when he talks about why he remembered about Sonny in the first place.  “The reconciliation between the brothers is the death of the narrator's daughter, Grace. Sitting alone in his dark living room after Grace's funeral, the narrator 'Suddenly thought of Sonny... My trouble made his real...'(p.127). Though Sonny's brother's preoccupation with himself makes him intolerant of Sonny's troubles, the pain and mystery of his daughter's death waken him to his wife's wound and to Sonny's need. The narrator's daughter's name is, of course, highly symbolic. When the narrator loses his daughter Grace, he simultaneously identifies with the pain and darkness in Sonny's life and realizes his own loss of grace, resulting from the broken promise that he made to his mother the last time he saw her.” This insight wherein the daughters name is used to symbolize the “Grace” that the narrator is going to give to his brother, shows us again his commitment to his younger brother. He cares about him, he remembers him, and it is by grace that he will take him back into his arms and in his care. Though he had forgotten the promise he had made, to always watch over his younger brother, when is is reminded of it, he immediately seeks out to fulfill this promise. This shows the reader another illustration of true brotherhood, even over a period of abstraction, a person involved in a true brotherhood will always find themselves back in that everlasting relationship.

    In an article written by Keith A. Byerman titled, “Words and Music: Narrative ambiguity in Sonny's Blues”, Byerman takes this excerpt from the text. “I saw this boy standing in the shadow of a doorway, looking just like Sonny...But now, abruptly, I hated him. I couldn't stand the way he looked at me, partly like a dog, partly like a cunning child...(p.88).” Byerman then states, “Such language prepares us for, while guaranteeing, the failed communication of this episode. The narrator is offered knowledge, but he chooses to interpret the messenger rather than the message. He expresses a desire to know, and remorse when he does not listen, but he also repeats his unwillingness to understand.” Another example of the older brother's struggle of communication occurs when the narrator, in the middle of an encounter, turns his attention from the person he is talking with, to the music being played in the bar. “The Jukebox was blasting away with something black and bouncy and I half watched the barmaid as she danced her way from the Jukebox to her place behind the bar. And I watched her face as she laughingly responded to something someone said to her, still keeping time to the music. When she smiled one saw the little girl, one sensed the doomed, still-struggling woman beneath the face of the semi-whore...(p.90).”

    Byerman points out, “Rather than listen to the conversation he is directly involved in, the narrator observes the one he cannot possibly hear. In the process, he can distance himself by labeling the woman he sees.” This is vital in understanding the narrators point of view. From these two examples from the text, I can fully agree with Byerman that this shows the narrators inability to communicate, as well as his constant urge to judge, label, and suggest certain things he believes to be true of strangers. This constant “putting people in boxes” helps us understand his efforts with Sonny. I believe he can't help but label Sonny, however, he continues to try and communicate with him. With these strangers that he labels, he identifies what he believes to be true, and moves on. However with Sonny, he pushes on, and stays by Sonny's side even when he doesn't understand him. This determination is what separates these two brothers as a true brotherhood. If the narrator doesn't treat Sonny how he treats these other strangers, then it is revealed to the reader that Sonny means more to him than someone on the street. That is why he puts this everlasting effort in trying to communicate and not label his brother, even after all he has done.

    “James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': A Message in Music” Written by Suzy B. Goldman, she talks about what she believes “Sonny's Blues” to be about. Goldman states, “The story, written in 1957 but carrying a vital social message for us today, tells of two black brothers' struggle to under stand one another...In this story of a musician, four time sequences mark four movements while the leitmotifs of this symphonic lesson in communication are provided by the images of sound. Musical terms along with words like "hear" and "listen" give the title a double meaning. This story about communication between people then reaches its climax when the narrator finally hears his brother's sorrow in his music, hears, that is, Sonny's blues.” I absolutely love this remark from Goldman. She portrays that several times, music is used as communication throughout the story, this form of communication is what is easiest for Sonny to express through. I agree with her interpretation of “Sonny's Blues” and I really took into account when she stated that by the ending, or climax of the story, the narrator finally “hears” Sonny's music. Which is in comparison to the fact that he finally understands Sonny's emotions and feelings. He “hears” Sonny's sadness in his performance, which is, literally, Sonny's blues. This was astounding to me when I first read it. Here we see that after all of this effort, after all of this pain and suffering, after all of the trials, and misconceptions, and trying to communicate correctly, the narrator finally understands. Sonny's emotions are finally revealed to him, he can now understand and hear Sonny.

    This is what Sonny's Blues is all about. Through the narrator, through Sonny, and especially through the brothers relationship, we can see that this is what is found in a true brotherhood. Although he may now be able to understand his brother a bit more, this does not mean the trials will end. No, they will still come, but the barrier is weaker, the walls are thinner, the pain is less monumental. Through this new insight, the narrator has come another step closer to completely understand his brother. He is closer than he once was before, and every step counts, every step counts on the mission to achieve a relationship of this significance, every new revelation counts towards this endearing, complex and seemingly never ending quest to reach such a rich and fulfilling alliance, or, as “Sonny's Blues” conveys, a true brotherhood.

Works Cited

Murray, Donald C. “James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': Complicated and Simple,” Studies in Short Fiction: 1977. Vol. 14. Issue 4. WEB.

Tackack, James. “The Biblical Foundation of James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues'”, Renascence: 2007. Vol 59. Issue 2. WEB.

Byerman, Keith A. “Words and Music: Narrative Ambiguity in Sonny's Blues”: Studies in Short Fiction. 1982. Vol 19. Issue 4. WEB.

Goldman, Suzy B. “James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': A Message in Music”: Negro American Literature Forum: 1974. Vol 8. No 3. WEB.