Sonny's Blues
While the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it must always be heard," writes James Baldwin in his short story, Sonny's Blues. "There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light Continue Reading...
African-American Duality of Identity:
Literary Criticism of the short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin
James Baldwin's face, with its piercing eyes and craggy forehead, is a frequently depicted image upon anthologies and volumes of African-Am Continue Reading...
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 B Continue Reading...
Music becomes the symbol that changes the brothers. To emphasize the importance of the power of music, Baldwin's narrator cannot grasp what Sonny is speaking about until he sees him play. It is only when he experiences the sound does he finally "get Continue Reading...
Sonny's brother wakes up and states, "Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did" (47). Sonny was more free and living a life more true than his b Continue Reading...
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" to F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Winter Dreams" writing styles; James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" compare to my own life.
Modernism vs. postmodernism
Over the course of the late 19th and early 20th century, Continue Reading...
Langston Hughes and James Baldwin Compare/Contrast
Music plays a major role in much of the literature that came out of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was an American cultural movement that aimed to celebrate African-American culture Continue Reading...
Crime and Punishment
Ours is an extremely violent kind of world where even the most common type of folk can find themselves faced with types of unspeakable horrors and criminal activity through little or no intention of their own. In American litera Continue Reading...
Sonny's Blues," by James Baldwin, "The Sorrow Songs," by W.E.B. Du Bois, and "Am I Blue," by Alice Walker. Specifically, it will discuss the use of the blues in all three works, and how music influences each story. In this paper I will argue that mu Continue Reading...
This is all he cares to know about Sonny because knowing anymore might be painful for him. It is also worth noting that the protagonist in this tale has gone on to become successful and live a somewhat respectable life, unlike his brother. The prota Continue Reading...
Storytelling
Sometimes fiction can be a mirror image of real life, a reflection that the reader can immediately relate to; while sometimes it can be wildly fantastic and bizarre. But since the basis of fiction is something that is not anchored in re Continue Reading...
Thomas took the ashes and smiled, closed his eyes, and told this story: "I'm going to travel to Spokane Falls one last time and toss these ashes into the water. And your father will rise like a salmon, leap over the bridge, over me, and find his wa Continue Reading...
They were followed in 1936 by the Harlem River Houses, a more modest experiment in housing projects. And by 1964, nine giant public housing projects had been constructed in the neighborhood, housing over 41,000 people [see also Tritter; Pinckney and Continue Reading...
Updike's A&P
Sammy's Muses in Updike's "A&P"
John Updike's "A&P" tells the story of Sammy whose life is transformed after three girls visit the store where he is working and are humiliated by the store's manager. The A&P where Sammy Continue Reading...
Sexual freedom and adolescent rebellion in John Updike's "A&P"
The story of John Updike's "A&P" is a simple one: three girls in bathing suits walk into a supermarket in a 'shore town' that is largely populated by tourists in the summer. The Continue Reading...
Bartleby and Akaky: A Struggle against Social Tide
Herman Melville's Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street is a story reminiscent of the emergence of nineteenth century white-collar working class in most cities in the United States and spe Continue Reading...