Sonny s Blues By James Baldwin - 1028 Words

In every individual, a host of socio-historical forces converge and influence the subject’s ideas. Consciously and unconsciously, the individual reflects the confluence of his or her history and culture. In â€Å"Sonny’s Blues†, a short story by James Baldwin, the dominant culture constricts the black individual. Subject to the explicit and latent biases of a racist society, the black population of â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† attempt to endure oppression and suffering and survive in an unforgiving land. However, they can thrive here with the hope and salvation provided by the communal center of African American culture: religion. Written after the abolition of slavery, but before the Civil Rights Movement, â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† transpires in an uncertain era,†¦show more content†¦Aware of the societal policies and practices discriminating against them, the African Americans in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† perceive this societal oppression as a â€Å"darkness† surrounding them. The darkness in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† is the metaphorical embodiment of their suffering and the eventual culmination of that suffering: death. The narrator remembers the darkness in his youth, when he saw â€Å"the darkness coming, and the darkness in the faces† (11), which frightened him. The narrator was afraid of his destiny, afraid of the brutal reality awaiting him, afraid of the finality of death. He hoped that â€Å"the hand which stroke[d] his forehead [would] never stop — [would] never die†¦ that there [would] never come a time when the old folks [wouldn’t] be around†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (11). This darkness, the darkness of racism and the darkness of death, affects all the black populace of â€Å"Sonny’s Blues.† In response to this darkness, each black character copes in his or her unique way. The narrator leaves the crime-ridden projects of his youth to a better home, wh ere he attempts, under societal oppression, a stable life. Sonny attempts to escape the darkness by playing music and eventually, doing heroin. The narrator, in enduring his pains, finds relative stability in family and work; believing