Guest and Sonny's Blues Albert Term Paper

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Daru is still trying to cling to a sense of morality; yet, the Arab himself shows how this will not work in a world of uncertainty because after he is set free, he goes to the police station himself.

James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" Topic 6

James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" is an interesting tale of a lost soul, who finds his solace and ability to express himself through the art of music. Sonny lost both of his parents, and his brother was not there for him during the times he needed him the most. Sonny's brother did not understand his suffering, and as a result he turned his back on Sonny during his times of darkness. Sonny was left alone in a world of darkness and he was not strong enough to deal with it in a healthier manner, as his brother did. Therefore, Baldwin writes "this life, whatever it was, had made him older and thinner and it had deepened the distant stillness in which he had always moved" (Baldwin 100). He had turned to drug and crime to get by. Essentially, the hard-knock life of living in Harlem during the extreme racism and despair of that era had worn Sonny down. Sonny simply just didn't fit into the world that his brother had spent so long trying to. However, as his brother witnesses when he attends Sonny's concert, Sonny found a way to cope with the harsh realities of New York City. After hitting rock bottom, he found music.

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Through the Blues, Sonny could truly express himself without the fear of being rejected or demeaned. The very nature of Blues music drew him in; it helped express his sadness while giving him the freedom of improvisation to try to cope with his emotions on his own terms. Sonny is able to make the ugliness of his own life into beautiful art, "Yet there was no battle in his face now. I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth" (Baldwin 106). Sonny had found a way outside of the box to express himself and deal with his insecurities and grief. This is what he had been looking for all along and something his brother was also looking for. Through music, Sonny was able to find the freedom his brother had so longed for, "Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did," (Baldwin 106).

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