Directions: 1) Read "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin.
2) Next, compose a thoughtful blog post using evidence from the text and anything from the documentary I am Not Your Negro (2017) in an attempt to explore one of the complex issues Baldwin examined in his discussion of race in America. Be okay with feeling uncomfortable. Ask questions. Look for feedback. Also, practice kindness. We can discuss these matters with passion AND civility.
3) Also, peruse the additional materials, including the musicians referenced in the short story: Charlie Parker and Louis Armstrong, along with a list of influential artists I love from the past and present. Comment on one that resonated with you in your blog post.
I Am Not Your Negro (2017)
The first-person narrator of "Sonny's Blues" tells the story of his relationship with his younger brother, Sonny. The story begins with narrator, saddened by his brother's choices, reflecting back on their childhood, wondering what caused his brother to become an addict. How does Baldwin use jazz as a means of discussing the complex emotions of his characters? This is the most anthologized of Baldwin's stories. However, how would this story end up perpetuating "the danger of the single story?"
Article: “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin —“The most famous jazz short story ever written”
December 6th, 2013, from Jerry Jazz Musician
In the introduction to The Jazz Fiction Anthology, editors Sascha Feinstein and David Rife cite James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues” as “the most famous jazz short story ever written,” and is pointed to by Baldwin biographer David Leeming as “the prologue to a dominant fictional motif in the overall Baldwin story, the relationship between two brothers that takes much of its energy from the close relationship between James and [brother] David Baldwin.” The story, originally published in Partisan Review in 1957, centers on the narrator’s need to, in Leeming’s words, “save his brother [Sonny] from the precariousness of his life as an artist.” Sonny, in turn, finds his voice by playing bebop in the Village, which results, according to Leeming, in the narrator seeing “that the artist, especially the black artist, is a prophet of freedom, not only of freedom for his own race but of freedom for all those suffocating under the repressive blanket of emotional safety and innocence.”
Harlem, for many decades of American history, took on a personna of black-culture and became known for producing and releasing works of art in relation with its identity. Here sprung many famous jazz musicians, including Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Harlem proved itself to be unique in its cultivation of black culture and art, it nonetheless fulfilled the typical image of a black neighborhood that prevails well into today. An image of poverty, drugs, and predominantly black citizens wandering the polluted streets, eyes always alert for threats of danger. Here we find ourselves placed in James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues, following Sonny and his journey through life from the point of view of his brother.
Sonny, a passionate musician caught by the lure of drugs plaguing Harlem at the time, finds himself at a cross as he is caught and arrested for his use of heroin. The story begins with Sonny’s brother learning of such and the ways in which he navigates around the news. Although at first he tries to avoid contacting his brother, the death of his daughter due to polio (another point of controversy as the story was released in 1958 and the vaccination had been found in 1955, showing people of colours inability to receive medical treatments) provokes him to write and establish the first letter in a long line of correspondence that lasts the length of his brothers stay. The rest of the story follows the relationship the brothers work at re-establishing around the knowledge of Sonny’s drug habit and the connection he has with music.
The tension between the subject of drugs and Sonny’s victimization to them plays a central role in the development and plot of the story. And besides helping to create a wonderful story, the issue of drugs addresses a prevalent issue in the 1950’s that was running rampant throughout the black community. It sourced from the anger and frustration many black people felt in being kept in “the darkness of their lives.” It sourced from “boys [finding] themselves smother[ed] in these houses, [coming] down into the streets for light and air and [finding] themselves encircled by disaster” and with such despair and hopelessness crushing in on them, turned to what seemed could ever be the only relief in their lives. Because life in the 50’s was full of police violence, white supremacy, Jim Crow laws, and so many other discriminatory factors that made black people feel less than human, if only because they were seen as less than human by some half of the country. It was a reality that drove them to expression through art forms as Sonny was driven to jazz, a reality that got thousands killed, a reality that inspired a revolution within the next decades of unproportional size and unity.
Side Note: I had heard Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit before in Mrs. Reusch US History class last year and I found it a really striking song for the message behind it and the use of metaphor.
“Sonny’s Blues” shares the story of a young man who discusses his family - more specifically his brother - and the life they live in Harlem. He talks about his mother before she died, his father before he died, but mostly talks about his brother, Sonny, who plays a very big part in this story. It expands on not only their family in Harlem, but the culture and environment in which they lived in. Harlem is known for being the center of jazz and the blues as well as a place where African American culture grew from. Music, but also the behind the scenes life of drugs, alcohol, and threats among this society spread through Harlem, was shown even more throughout this story of Sonny.
ReplyDeleteAfter his mother and father died, the narrator and Sonny were left to live with Sonny’s brothers’ wife and family. It was then where Sonny truly learned his passion for music and the piano - inspired by musicians like Charlie Parker, who Sonny calls ‘Bird’, and Louis Armstrong. He had problems with drugs and heroin, yet learned his love for the piano as he played with his friends in different nightclubs. He was the very real representation of an average American’s idea of “Harlem” and the people who live there and this story brings out the other issue which is discussed, drugs. In this story, Isabel’s family hosts Sonny and his brother, while Sonny goes to school, the rest of them work and complete their daily routine. But, they didn’t realize that Sonny wasn’t going to school, but rather going to a white girl’s apartment to play music, while he was supposed to be learning. This continued the idea of drugs because he was putting aside his education to pursue music and show the life of an African American living in Harlem. The drugs, not only in the actual story but in real life, demonstrate a dark feeling as well as uncomfortable. When the family across the street was having a barbecue, it wasn’t describing the food they were having but rather the drugs and music at it. “...a cigarette between her heavy, chapped lips, her hair a cuckoo’s nest, her face scarred and swollen from many beatings,...” (38), described one person representing what the barbecue looked like as a whole. This was the “Harlem” image but it’s not what Harlem really is. It’s a place of culture and tradition, where music spread and grew from. Many Americans think Harlem is the center of drugs and unhappy families, when really it is the music and culture that come from it where people miss what is truly happening there.
I’ve heard Charlie Parker’s music many times before from my parents and other family around the house. I love his music because it gives me the feeling of this jazz and blues that come from Harlem. It shows what jazz is and how it has grown from Charlie’s day.
I felt that this story was one of personal connection and understanding. The people who grew up in Harlem are all connected because of their shared experiences. There is a whole culture and hidden moments of tradition that don’t reach the surface of our minds. I see this especially when he is describing how he remembers his mother. Her on a “Sunday afternoon, say, when the old folks were talking after the big Sunday dinner”. The following paragraph describes how the adults are sharing secret thoughts and the children are aware of a coming change, but in that moment, all is right because family and friends are gathered and safe after a meal together. Things like this offer us a different side of the story of Harlem. When most people think of Harlem, including me, you think of music and poverty. I know there is more to it than that, but we are never taught much more. There is no teaching about the everyday people. That is what we get with the story “Sonny’s Blues”. We see the tragedy in everyday lives - the drug addiction, death of children, murder of brothers, distance between families - and yet we see the things that weave everyone together. The poverty that was evident in Harlem and the music that was so important are present, but there is a depth to them. Poverty is relative and normalized. Music brings people together and allows everyone to share their stories, to emphasize how similar they all are. He sees three people in the street singing and testifying. “I had been seeing these street meetings all my life”, he thinks, “...So… had everybody else down there”. The songs the group sings are new to nobody, the tradition itself is repeated always. But people pay attention, give money, and applaud. Because so many have experienced this, and because this community understands each other deeper than most communities, there is real connection. The story itself isn’t about Sonny battling addiction or his success at the piano, instead, the main theme that I can see, is the people. What makes a community, what drives forgiveness and openness, what a simple thing like music can do, that is this story to me.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I’ve heard of most of the linked musicians before. The only musician who I can name a song by is John Coltrane. I listened to the song that is linked, it is pretty good. The song that I know by him, which was introduced to me by a friend who is, what one could call, a jazz enthusiast, is Giant Steps. It is more fast paced and full of saxophone than the one linked, but I can appreciate both, even though I’m not a huge jazz fan myself. I can see the appeal to the rhythm genre.
Anuraag nagaraja
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Sonnys my mind immediately went so many places. I feel as though the themes expressed in Sonny's Blue i've seen in so many tv shows and other books. The theme regarding how he was selling drugs I feel is not a fault of his but he had fallen victim to the society he was forced to live in. It is very clear even from the beginning that Sonny isn't built to be the average worker who goes to college then gets a job to work 9-5, this is because his true passion is music. His true passion for music is so evident when he's skipping school not do fool around or do drugs but to spend time with other musicians. However at that point in society to become a musician was not very “safe” meaning it wouldn't secure you bread at the table for dinner. Thus, to conform to society he went into the navy. When he returns he is holding a lot of pain with him and he's still being forced to fit a mold for someone who he isn't. He thus resorts to drugs to get by in life not only as a way to make money but also as a means for lessening the pain. In the documentary show When They See Us (which is so life changing and is a must watch) 5 boys were sentenced to prison sentences that they didn't deserve for crimes they didn't commit. Specifically, one of the boys comes out of prison after serving roughly 10 years and it's almost impossible for him to work anywhere because of his criminal record. With a family to feed, he had no other option but to sell drugs due to the societal factors which forced him to be something he's not. A Lot of times we see prisoners or convicts as people who bring disgrace upon society when in reality a lot of the times the mere presence of them in there is a disgrace to what one would call society. What I mean by this is that a lot of people who are locked up are there because they needed money to feed their family, had medical bills they simply couldn't afford and other basic necessities that they didn't have. It brings greater depth to the statement “we create our own demons”. More specifically to that time period, society had funneled black people to fit a very specific mold and if they didn't fit that mold then - oh well. But one way black people could express themselves and break said mold is through music. This theme of music is central to harlem and central to the story. The narrator states how he could feel the pain and the emotion when Sonny was playing. It brought upon raw untouched emotions that could only be brought about by the music Sonny was playing with the narrator starting “ For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.”.
I feel like louis armstrong has always had a special place in my heart. The message of Beautiful World is something that is so universal and wholesome it gives me goosebumps everytime I listen to it. What makes it especially close to my heart is that in fourth grade every friday my teacher MS. Woundy would play the song as we sat in a circle and would teach us the words to the song while teaching us how to use sign language to sing it too. Good times...
The theme of darkness is very prominent in James Baldwin’ short story, Sonny’s Blues. At first, I thought that darkness was meant to symbolize a threat to the African American community. This is mainly because a quote that was used when the narrator was describing his students, "All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness." For a lot of African American’s during this time period, opportunities were limited, so they were forced into other things to help them get by. The narrator makes another statement, saying that drugs will do “more than algebra could” for the students. The narrator’s brother, Sonny, who I believe is the main influence in the narrator's thinking, as arrested for selling and using heroin. Sonny is a musician, he and his brother made very different life choices which also help to reinforce the darkness theme. The narrator goes to a bar where Sonny is playing one night, and the bar is very dark. However, this is where I started to notice that maybe darkness isn’t a threat, because it seems like the darkness provides safety and comfort for Sonny. The narrator watches the musicians and notices how they are so careful not to step into the circle of light too quickly, as if something bad will happen to them if they were to suddenly come out of the darkness. Then when the start to play their music, the narrator notices a considerable change. It is as if music and darkness come hand in hand to bring these musicians into the light, to make them be seen. The narrator describes music as a conversation between the players which only they can speak and understand. Music is their escape, not drugs, not algebra, not darkness.
ReplyDeleteBillie Holliday is the musician that really resonated with me because of all the obstacles she had to face and overcome. Being an African American was hard enough to get people to take you seriously, but being a female African American made it so much harder. She used music to make statements. “Strange Fruit” was used to spread awareness and protest lynching in southern US states and is considered the first protest song of the civil right era. Billie Holiday’s music changed so many lives, impacted many people, and brought hope to the African American community.
What we must understand is that we all have our individual way of healing. Everyone is just as lost and confused, making stupid mistakes to eventually stumble down the right path. Each at our own pace, the thought of selflessness interacts with control when one tries to help another, instead of focusing on oneself. We all fear the loss of control, and in “Sonny's Blues” by James Baldwin comments of the dynamic of control between two siblings, highlighting race, stereotypes and, the definition of personal success. The two brothers have a strong outward dissimilarity that it is unsurprising they could not communicate very well. The narrator as the older brother is attempting to cope with guilt over his success by trying to optimize Sonny’s potential. With special focus on the fathers brothers death story, there is a definite enhancement of culture and the effects on the two brothers. The narrator himself becomes a teacher and floats in the comfortable success, feeling the safety net of stability. Sonny on the other hand feels less pressure of family and society and often guides himself with an attitude that he can make his own decisions. Calling attention to many stereotypes, Baldwin leads Sonny to choose the less desirable options of drugs, as an effort to find himself, without being told who he is. The constant battle between the two brothers is a response to each brothers own idea of personal success. The narrator can only view his brother in his worst state of being addicted and selling heroin, even after facing rehab and jail, the narrator can’t seem to shake this past version of his brother. On the other hand, Sonny has decided to make the most of his life and explore his passion to be a jazz pianist. Towards the end of the story, Sonny tries to open the Narrator's mind to music and officially connects when Sonny performs to him. The amount of emotion displayed in Sonny’s performance, unlocks a deeper connection with the brother, enabling a new perspective for the both of them.
ReplyDeleteA particular artist that resonated with me was Louis Armstrong, his unique vocal tone and singing cadence creates a feeling of hope and optimism through his songs. I feel that personally his emotion through his words evoke a humble feeling of life, accepting whatever comes our way.
James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” explores the influence that jazz music had on people growing up in Harlem. One of the themes of this story is the realization of prejudice and the coping with it that comes along with it. When Sonny’s brother, whom the story is told by, goes to visit with his mother, she tells him that “there’s a lot that you don’t know. But you are going to find out.” When I was listening to the songs by the various musicians, there was one particular line in a song that stuck with me and reminded me of “Sonny’s Blues”. In Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” Armstrong sings, “I hear babies crying, I watch them grow/ They'll learn much more than I'll never know”. This part of the song reminded me of when Sonny’s brother was recounting Sunday afternoons, sitting in a room with all the adults telling stories of “where they’ve come from, and what they’ve seen, and what’s happened to them and their kinfolk.” Once the adults finish talking, and they turn the lights back on, the children seem to know that these things will soon happen to them. The children listen to stories of their parents and relatives pasts, specifically of the racism they’ve faced. They know that they will soon have to face the world on their own and that they will not be exempt from those experience. These stories bring a loss of childlike innocence. The children growing up in Harlem had to learn at a very young age that the world can be a very cruel and unfair place for black people and that they will eventually experience this for themselves. The line in Armstrong’s song “What A Wonderful World” talks about children learning much more than he’ll even know. Louis Armstrong became a very popular musician all across America despite America being very racially divided at the time. As these tensions increased, there were more and more discussions and debates over prejudice in America, with the issue of segregation being a large one. Everyone, even children were affected by such issues. The children of Louis Armstrong’s time eventually grew up and became educated on these issues, learning more and more about racism in America. These issues of prejudice have remained until today and will continue to affect many, no matter if they are adults or children.
ReplyDeleteJames Baldwin speaks eloquently about racial issues in America, in a way I have never experienced before. He suggests how the racial divide was fabricated by white people. Stating “What white people have to do is try to find out, in their own heart, why it was necessary to have a n**** in the first place. Because I am not a n****, I am a man” the intellectual man urges the dominant demographic to look inwards, and figure out for themselves, why they felt the need to create that language in order to feel superior. His narrative is particularly significant today, where discussions of self segregation attempt to erase and dismiss the pain inflicted on the African American population by white citizens, brushing off redlining and claiming the phenomenon to be “reverse racism” as opposed to a form of self-preservation. The argument seeks to shift the blame from white americans to their black counterparts.
ReplyDeleteBaldwin goes further to emphasize these complex issues and denounces systematic racism and how it creates a cycle, where African Americans are born amid poverty and crime, and ultimately end up in the same place. In his short story entitled “Sonny’s Blues”, the narrator claims those who “found themselves encircled by disaster” (41) were often not able to overcome the oppression they were put under, and succumbed into their environment. In a world where a black student who has had a black teacher in kindergarten is 18% more likely to enroll in college, and be engaged in the classroom, the importance of representation cannot be brushed off. When all you see is people like you being miserable and unaccomplished, that becomes all you think you can be, and ultimately, what you are destined to become.
Sonny’s dream of being a musician were only possible because he had seen others pave the way before him, he had been inspired by other musicians and thus was capable of envisioning himself of the stage. Louis Armstrong, one of the most prominent musicians of all time, with his warm personality and powerful voice, served as an inspiration to many young black individuals during the Harlem renaissance, and to this day. He was a role model of black excellence, and the possibility of its achievement. Sonny’s brother, once he heard his younger sibling’s music, understood its power, and the racial and cultural weight it carried, he was overwhelmed by its capability to disseminate that feeling, that freedom, he so fervently longed for.
The truth and personal experiences you can feel through both “Sonny’s Blues” and “I Am Not Your Negro” is what makes all of this feel so real. Throughout James Baldwins’ s story “Sonny’s Blues”, he addresses lots of issues that are happening at that time, personal issues that he and his family are going through as well. There seems to be overlapping issues through both the story and the movie, such as descrimintion, in “I Am Not Your Negro” we are shown the intergration of schools, which as we all know was a difficult time for African Americans, but with the videos to show the things they were going trhough was just difficult to watch. If you look around our school, there is plenty of diversity, and sadly the first African Americans to integrate had to endure the most painful and difficult things in their lives, because of them we have schools like ours. As you read through Baldwin’s story you get to go through the lives of the young African Americn boys growing up in Harlem, and the things they endure through their lives. The story mostly focuses on Sonny and the narrator after their parents die, and they are living with Sonny’s brother's wife and her family. We get to know the issues Sonny goes through with drug addiction and hear other people’s point of view about how “I thought Sonny was a smart boy, I thought he was too smart to get hung”(20), people didn’t think Sonny would start using drugs. Although it was a common thing at the time to get these boys through their difficult times, “These boys now, were living as we’d been living then, they were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped up abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities”. The narrator has noticed that sadly nothing had improved since they were these boy’s ages, and for me I believe that that is the whole background and underlying connection between “Sonny’s Blues” and “ I Am Not Your Negro”, that as time goes on, we hope and we believe that things will get better for the African American community. But as more years pass it seems to be a never ending pattern that these people cannot break, that for some reason they must be below everyone else, and they must suffer, yet they hope like everyone else that their lives will improve as time goes on but it just does. That is what I truly believe these two pieces are showing us.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes down to it, jazz that originated in Harlem is in many ways no different from the rap that we would consider old today (90s and stuff). While the meaning comes through the lyrics in rap, both forms of music essentially capture the life and essence of black people during those decades. They express what made things difficult, unbearable even, as well as what light persisted through the pain and went toward creating a just America.
ReplyDeleteViolence and drugs are two of the most prominent reasons that progress is stopped all over the world. It is not to say that such things are universally common to black people in the US who live in ghettos and struggling neighborhoods, but that the exposure is so much more prominent, influencing the decisions of people in ways that they cannot control, just like Sonny and how moving back to Harlem didn’t show his growth but actually bring him back to a more painful life. He failed to be educated by the schools, and, at first, he failed to make peace with his brother in a way that ensured both of them the well being of the other. He was not failed by jazz. It was the piano that allowed for him to anticipate what was in the days to come. He found himself at the keys, or maybe let go. The blues allowed for him to finally look at his brother and without words, tell him that he finally understood what it was like to love. And in the end, there were no words, just the lines and the descending and the syncopation, all lined up to create something that many people hear as just a racket. But it is okay, because it leads to something greater, something that couldn’t be done with a lone wolf.
As a listener, player, and composer of music, I have come to realize the importance of music with meaning, even if it has no words. The exploration of how melodies, chords, and rhythms come together to create legitimate feelings for the listener is something that I have always been interested in. I think that any music, jazz included, has the potential to say something without words if it is created with purpose. I suppose it does even more so if it contains words because people who don’t understand the music can follow it with language, but either way, changes in our society come from music.
Something that really stuck with me in this reading was how Sonnys use of drugs defines who he is to his brother. He was so disappointed in him, didn't want to reach out and make sure he was okay. The way the narrator treated him was the way I would expect, talking down about him and what he could have been, not what he could be when he gets out of jail. The controversial thing i'm going to comment on is, just because you have a substance addiction, does not mean that you are less of a person. Sonny shows this because after he gets out of jail, he shows his brother that he has talent, he has a purpose. He is a beautiful musician and he has passion. For some people it takes a lot to bring that out, they have to go through a lot to get where they want to be, and that should never take away from the talent and ability that a person has. The narrator not only acted this way about Sonny's friend. He is fully aware of the way he treated this man, for when he was telling the man he doesn't want to hear his sad story, he never took it into consideration that the man actually has a story. Sadly, most people who do have an addiction problem are viewed this way, that they had nothing before the drugs. This story brings that to light and shows how someone can come from a family where one brother turns out to be a teacher and is successful from the start, and how the other brother can go through a rough patch with addiction, but have the strength to get out of that box and become successful.
ReplyDeleteA main theme throughout “Sonny’s Blues” is suffering and pain. The narrator describes himself and his brother, Sonny, and their life growing up in Harlem. There are many occurrences of suffering during the story. The narrator's daughter dies of polio, Sonny is arrested for drug usage and struggles throughout his whole life, fighting through his own issues, and the boys parents die. The story doesn't just show the horrors of life, it shows what grows from this pain. Through all of this suffering comes beauty. Sonny argues this point to his brother after hearing a woman singing on the street outside saying, “While I was downstairs before, on my way here, listening to that woman sing, it struck me all of a sudden how much suffering she must have had to go through-to sing like that.” Sonny explains that in order to be successful in art and music, you must have had bad experiences. I think this also shows that people go through horrible things but in the end you can still come out on the other side. For some people, like Sonny, that darkness and pain feeds into your work. People can feel Sonny’s pain through his music, this is how his brother comes to better understand him.
ReplyDeleteRacism is another piece of this story. The narrator is a teacher and fears for his young students because they are African American men in a place and time where discrimination is prominent. It is also apparent when the narrator's mother describes her brother in laws death. The death was caused by intoxicated white men and the narrator's mother airs her concerns for Sonny which portrays that racism is still eminent. The narrator also describes how even though time has passed since he and his brother were kids, things haven't changed, “These boys now, were living as we’d been living then, they were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped up abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities.” Even though time has passed, there haven't been many improvements. This is why Sonny’s mother feared for him.
I really enjoyed “Billie Holiday: Articles from Jerry Jazz Musician.” The song was very calming and peaceful. You don't even have to process the words or meaning of the song, you just get a very calm feeling.
The story of America has been one of struggle for many. Struggle for land, rights, a home, a culture, acceptance, and above all else, equality. Few groups, if any, have endured this struggle more than that of the black community. The fight for racial equality has been going on for centuries, and continues just as strongly today. James Baldwin is an extremely important writer, who fought to illuminate the problems with race in America, and to bring about understanding and acceptance. Through his short story, “Sonny’s Blues”, he shows the life of Sonny, and what it was like for him as a black man growing up in Harlem. During this early time period, black people were forging their place, and leaving their mark on culture. Jazz was a prime example of this, and Harlem was the center of this cultural movement. Sonny struggles to make his brother understand the life he chose, that he wants to “play jazz”, as he says, “it's the only thing I want to do”. Sonny’s brother cannot understand this sort of desire, he doesn't see the money or ability to support yourself and a family in jazz music. Sonny is a part of a larger cultural movement in the music, a fight for the identity of their race, and all his brother sees is Sonny turning to an unsavory living with unsavory people, and drugs. By the end of the story, he finally begins to open his eyes. While listening to Sonny play, he says that, “I seemed to hear with what burning he made it his, with what burning we had yet to make it ours”. The music is more than just music, it is a statement, a place to find and express oneself amongst a sea of injustice. This was part of how blacks at the time fought back against the oppressors, and Sonny’s brother understands that, despite the poverty and the drugs, Sonny, and the others, find their solace in this place. Similarly, when James Baldwin is speaking during an interview, he says that “he was not a “n*****,” but in fact, he was a man, and if you thought that he was indeed a “n*****,” that meant that you needed this hateful term and you needed to figure out why, as the future of the United States was depending on this very fact”. An important piece of the conversation is understanding. If the why is known, then something can be done to cause change.
ReplyDeleteWhile I have never been a particularly large fan of jazz, I am a fan of Louis Armstrong and more specifically “What a Wonderful World”. It is a beautiful song, and one I have even presented on in an english class previously, when talking about the jazz movement of the twenties and beyond.
James Baldwin makes a bold statement about race in America in his short story, “Sonny’s Blues.” Specifically, he talks about what is was like to be black in Harlem, the center for black culture at the time, and the birthplace of the Harlem Renaissance. As a teenager, Sonny tells the narrator that he wants to leave Harlem, and he does. Later on, he says, “the reason I wanted to leave Harlem so bad was to get away from drugs. And then, when I ran away, that’s what I was running from- really.” The irony here is that Sonny returns and he says this after recovering from a heroin addiction. It says a lot about how the black community viewed their own cultural center, in Baldwin’s eyes, if they were so eager to leave it, lest they stay and suffer. In a similar way, the murder of the narrator’s uncle says a lot about race tensions at the time. A young boy at the time, he was killed by drunk white men. The narrator’s mother tells him this, and that “Till the day [his father] died he weren’t sure but that every white man he saw was the man that killed his brother.” Relations between black and white people were quite strained at the time, but this is a type of hate and mistrust which can only exist due to a personal encounter. Baldwin shows how real and how painful these personal encounters can be through the narrator’s father. His mother goes on to say, “I ain’t telling you all this … to make you scared or bitter or to maker you hate nobody. I’m telling you this because you got a brother. And the world ain’t changed.” In a way, this is still true. The world has changed drastically, but some people are still racist, and some people are still filled with hate. We should not educate ourselves in this topic to spread hate or fear, but rather to spread awareness and solutions.
ReplyDeleteI’ve always been amazed by the improvisation involved in playing jazz- it overwhelms me and is a large part of why I’ve never joined the town’s high school jazz band. I like the faster moving pieces, particularly the horn solos, rather than the string solos, but perhaps I’m just biased as a band member. This year, in marching band, we are playing What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong, which I originally did not think would sound good, but has grown on me as a piece.
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ReplyDeleteJames Baldwin discusses the issue that there was and still is racism in the United States. In his story, “Sonny’s Blues,” the narrator is told to look out for his brother. His mother explained to him the entire gruesome story of how his uncle was killed as his father watched. He had been intoxicated, and a group of white men, whom were also intoxicated, sped up as they saw him crossing the road. In his state, he was unable to get out of the way of the truck, and was killed. She told him, “I’m telling you this because you got a brother. And the world ain’t changed.” There will still be racism in this country for a long time, due to our past. In his clip from “I am not your Negro,” Baldwin Says that, “What white people have to do, is try to find out in their own hearts, why it was necessary to have a n***** in the first place?” This directly relates to the story, and even modern day, as there is still racism all around us. In the story, the narrator is told to protect his brother, and is frequently stressed about how to do that in a healthy manner. Sonny wants to do his own thing and play jazz music, but the narrator had already had a plan for him. He slowly becomes more open minded though, as he sees the value of playing jazz music, for both his brother and society. In our society today, black people are still forced to take extra precaution, as there are still so many racists views. Just one example of this is how often they are pulled over my the police when they have done nothing wrong. They may even have guns pulled on them, whilst being unarmed and following orders. The question still remains, “Why was it necessary to have a n***** in the first place?”
ReplyDelete“Sonny’s Blues” diminishes the danger of a single story of Harlem, of poverty-stricken communities, of drug addicts, of musicians, of people of color. The story uncovers the truths and realities behind life in Harlem for the two brothers and what lead, or rather followed them to their adult lives. So often a single story of Harlem is told leaving those unfamiliar with the area to believe that it is a poverty-stricken place full of drug addicts and violence. Baldwin’s short story reveals the hopeless oppression that exists in 1950s Harlem and the rest of the country limiting the possibilities of life itself for people of color saying, “...they were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities.” Baldwin uses Sonny to illustrate the cycle of poverty and oppression that urged people of color to try to “escape” their homes that trapped them. Sonny uses jazz music as his metaphoric escape from Harlem. Baldwin explains, “Sonny was at that piano playing for his life.” Sonny represents a much larger movement of black people in Harlem using music to illustrate their lives, their struggles past and present as a tool for change or a simply tool for survival. In “I Am Not Your Negro,” I was especially struck by the image of 15 year old Dorothy Counts on her first day of school as the first black student at an all-white high school in North Carolina in 1957. Baldwin wrote “some of us should have been there with her.” This connects with the strength in community that jazz music brought to Harlem. Although Dorothy’s parents pulled her from the school after four days of harassment, she lives on today as a symbol of strength and reliance just as Harlem’s jazz does today.
ReplyDeleteLike many people, including Sunny, music is an escape for me. Louis Armstrong’s “Its a Wonderful World” is an extremely powerful song that takes me back to my childhood as my parents are big Louis Armstrong fans. The lyrics calm me and take me to a simpler time where there is no stress and worry.
In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, the main narrator misunderstood his brother’s drug issues and interest in jazz. It begins with the arrest of Sonny, the brother being arrested for his use of heroin. We learn that the narrator condemns his brother’s interest in jazz because he belives there is a connection between the drug use and jazz playing which he asks his brother in a “voice very ugly, full of contempt and anger”. However Sonny replies that he is just everybody tries not to suffer and he is just “hung up on the way some people try - its not [his] way!”. Despite their differences, the narrator comes to Sonny’s jazz club and listening to his playing makes him realize how he “heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth”. Seeing how much the music meant to his brother and to himself the two brothers reach a new understanding. Jazz became the means in which the two brothers communicated their feelings. Instead of listing how it made them feel, Baldwin brings up memories which the music brings up to show what is happening in the mind of the narrator. The narrator only could see the drug addicted side of his brother and it clouded him from seeing that jazz could be seperate from his addiction. From the single story of “drug addiction” the narrator assumed that was all his brother was. What Baldwin says at the beginning of his “I Am Not Your Negro (2017)” speech is that he cannot be a pessimest. Considering how honest his opinions were, it puts his ideas into perspective as he really was still looking on the positive side of how things could turn out. I think the ideas shared in that video are still controversial today and his ideas that the white population need to address the reason why they held slaves to and redefine how they view others would be shocking to most.
ReplyDeleteWe are still dealing with racism in this country. That should not come as a surprise to anyone and I don't think it does. If you argue the other way, you have a fear of the truth. And I don't blame you, the truth is not easy to grapple with. The truth is ugly and uncomfortable and deep-rooted. This is what I thought about as I listened to James Baldwin question the need for the creation of the n***** because, yes I think most people know that word’s hateful roots and would not use it, but few go far beyond that. Before listening to Baldwin question why white people created the n*****, I had never given much thought to that either. The fact that the n***** exists says much more about the state of white people than it does the state of black people. Baldwin utilizes the power of words on a page to slowly, almost secretly change minds, inching society closer to acceptance. He is not oblivious to the fact that this is a feat too heavy for any solitary person. Nonetheless, his story, “Sonny's Blues”, both examines the nuances of Black life in Harlem (and also just human life in general) and holds, hidden, a rallying cry. During the heart wrenching story of Sonny’s uncles death, his mother recalls, “Till the day he died he weren't sure but that every white man he saw was the man who killed his brother.” This examines the root of the “single story” narrative. Yes, single stories are limiting, but they do stem from somewhere. Backwards and uncultured is the image we get from the media about Africa, running over his brother was the image Sonny’s dad had about white people. Without saying it, Baldwin is warning against the danger of a single narrative. Baldwin makes a broad categorization about the human condition as Sonny and his brother argue. His brother insists “But there's no way not to suffer-is there Sunny?” Sonny responds, “I believe not… but that's never stopped anyone from trying… Has it?” Yes, in this context they are talking of Sonny's heroin use but there is really a deeper undertone here, speaking to the hope all humans hold, regardless of the despair and the knowledge of dire outlooks, hope is a constant. What I found to be the most profound line in the story was the narrator's description of Creole’s thoughts. He imagines that Creole was urging Sonny onwards with the knowledge that “Deep water and drowning were not the same thing.” What, then was the difference between deep water and drowning? The sole difference is attitude, is this the end or is this just another fight? As the unnamed narrator watches is brother in awe he thinks, “He and his boys up there were keeping it new, at the risk or ruin, destruction, madness, and death, in order to find new ways to make us listen. For the tale of how we suffer, how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it must always be heard.” The only way to induce empathy, create a common human experience, maybe someday to create change, is to tell stories. They may not always bring smiles, they may sometimes bring clenched fists and furrowed brows, but what else is there to do? Watching the debates last night was both invigoration and sobering. In the air hung a relieving sense of comfort in the fact that the systematic issues that worry me are finally getting time on national television. When Booker took on the biased incarceration system or called for reparations I was just glad that the narrative had shifted away the President's rhetoric. However, now that we can see the issues it means we are now responsible for righting our wrongs and that begs the question: where do we begin? Similarly, now that Baldwin has given us a glimpse into his world, he places the burden on us: what do we do to preserve the beautiful parts and change the ugly ones?
ReplyDeleteWhen reading Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, I was not sure what the message of the story was, but as I neared the end, it became clear that it had something to do with freedom. Given that Baldwin grew up in an era of racial inequality, this message of freedom in not surprising, but the way he refers to freedom is interesting. On page 16, Baldwin makes the comment that “[f]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.” I believe that this sentiment was in every African American who was fighting for equal rights. They wanted those in legislation to listen because they knew that once the lawmakers listened, they would understand the struggles of African Americans, and they would do something to fix it. But this listening phase took a long time, culminating in the civil rights movement. It was only through protests and boycotts that people in legislation started to listen.
ReplyDeleteI also thought the story “The “new, subdued Louis Armstrong”” connected with my analysis of Sonny’s Blues. This story talked about how Armstrong does not like to talk about the racial tensions in the South, but rather he likes to play music about it. I believe Armstrong does this, because he knows that people will have a more open ear to music and this will allow them to “listen better.”
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ReplyDeleteThroughout the story, darkness is used to symbolize the threats that dangers the African- American community. A common theme portrayed in “Sonny’s Blues” is the cycle of suffering. James Baldwin showed that suffering is a major component in the African American experience. The story is set in 1950’s Harlem, a New York neighborhood where high school students face life of drugs, violence and rage. Baldwin showed the “cycle of suffering” through the individual experiences that everyone went through, but none could really openly discuss. This only increased their suffering. The main character’s father’s brother was killed in a car crash, which he never discussed and subsequently was tortured by it. The cycle of suffering continues constantly as Sonny is arrested for drug possession and use. Baldwin had never been that close to Sonny, but had promised his mother, after she had told him of his father’s loss, that he has to keep his brother close. His mother had seen the suffering that her husband had gone through, she didn’t want her two sons to go astray and loose contact. She could see, while they were too young to, how they would need each other throughout their lives. Suffering, as Baldwin emphasizes, is inevitable for everyone. But, a community or family is necessary to share the burden. It is difficult to help someone who is suffering if you don’t understand their suffering, like Baldwin didn’t understand Sonny’s. However, in this Harlem community, there is a lot of shared negative experiences that they all face, so they can help each other more personally when faced with those things. Sonny’s story connects people who suffered in Harlem in the 1950s and illustrates this to us in a way that is not normally shown in any history class.
ReplyDeleteI actually really like Jazz music and enjoy listening to it. I feel like it relaxes you and calms you down. Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday is actually on my playlist. The first time I listened to it I just enjoyed it because of how it sounded but when I listened to it again and realized how powerful the meaning behind the song is. Billie Holiday's song protested American racism and symbolized the brutality and the lynching of African Americans.
As we read further into "Sonny's Blues", James Baldwin paints a picture of what it means to be black in America so many years ago. And not only black in America, but black in Harlem where such a musical movement had been taking place. Sonny and the other African Americans around him were stuck in a world of oppression and racism where there seemed to be no escape. For Sonny, and many others, this became drugs. Drugs provided him a place to hide from the world around him. However, when most people look at drug addiction, they don't see pain or sickness, they see a junkie who is at the bottom of society. And this is what Sonny's brother sees in him when he looks at Sonny and the person Sonny deals to. The drug problem in the African American community was only a symptom of a larger problem that Baldwin outlines. The problem of being black in America, and how the African American community has been pushed down into a position of failure during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. As a result, the community struggled to identify ways to deal with or express their problems, and two of the common methods were drug abuse and the Blues or Jazz. Jazz and the blues became an amazing musical art form that emerged from the Harlem Renaissance. Like most artists, Sonny when playing the blues poured all of his emotion into it. The sound of a trumpet is transformed into the despaired wails of a trumpet, and the music takes on a whole new meaning rather than just noise. Through this kind of music, the black community was brought closer together. Shared pain is one of the strongest binds in a community. This can be seen in "I Am Not Your Negro" when Baldwin talks about how he feels he should be there for the girl on her first day of school. He has that sense of responsibility for his community that he wants to help her and hold her hand through that rugged experience.
ReplyDeleteLouis Armstrong in my opinion is one of the greatest blues artists ever. His voice held so many emotions and he had beautiful range with what type of music he made. Most blues music is very sad and emotional, however one of his most famous songs has quite cheerful lyrics. The song "What a Wonderful World" holds lyrics of the beautiful world around him which is ironic because he was living in Harlem at a time where its difficult to be a black man in America. The song is ironic because despite being condemned to such a difficult situation, he was able to write music about the beauty of the world.
In Sonny’s Blues, the narrator falls back to his origins as James Baldwin does in I Am Not Your Negro. Baldwin talks of how incredible Paris is, and how he never missed America’s novelties. But he did miss family, and that was what drew him back to America. Sonny and the value of family also draw the narrator back to his estranged brother. When his daughter dies, “[he] kept in constant touch with him and [he] sent him whatever [he] could and [he] went to meet him when he came back to New York.” Both are drawn back to these lost things. Baldwin to Harlem after years in Paris, and the narrator back to Sonny. Baldwin is pushed after hearing of the actions against that girl (I can’t remember or find her name) for attending a white school. The narrator is pulled back to Sonny when his daughter dies of polio. Baldwin is almost like a hero in a hero’s journey in I Am Not Your Negro. He gets called to action and acts for civil rights on his journey.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy Louis Armstrong’s music. I have never been a jazz person, and I especially don’t prefer band instruments like trumpets or saxophones, but there is something vibing about Armstrong. His playing is invigorating in a sense, and I can tell why people both black and white liked his music. It’s a shame that he was portrayed as a “white-friendly” African American man, which made some black Americans very upset with his way of fame.
Sonny’s Blues is not an isolated story. Baldwin tells a very raw story about what it was like to be black in America and in Harlem during this time. I like how he is completely honest about his feelings at different points in time and connects it back to music. This is really cool because music was so important in Harlem, it only makes sense to incorporate it in the story. I see similar stories come up in movies and tv shows all the time. It is a little bit of a “single story” for Harlem but at the same time it also has so many different sides. It does play into the idea that people in poverty make bad choices but it also gives more context to that idea by giving a more full picture view. The fact that it traces back and wonders about why his brother became an addict is a new perspective that we don’t come across as often. I also think that Sonny’s brother had a single story of him. He didn’t really understand his drug addiction and interest in jazz because he had a single story about it. I remember learning about Harlem in history class and reading this deepens my perspective from the single story I had previously. In history class we learned textbook version of the story: facts, dates etc. Baldwin provided a more authentic version. But, it still is just a single story of a single person’s life, there are so many more stories that could teach us so much.
ReplyDeleteLouis Armstrong’s music is something that I grew up to. Listening to “What a Wonderful World” in the car coming home from family Christmas with my grandparents is a distant but very comforting memory. It is so powerful and I often find myself listening to it as a get older and getting drawn back to special times in my life. I like how it makes me slow down and appreciate what really matters to me.
Emily Swenson
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