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Sonny's Blues

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Arsalan Vohra Sonny's Blues Research Paper

The narrator in the story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin, has a very deep connection with his family. His brother Sonny isn't very good at making decisions and is on the path to destroy his life. Will Sonny ever learn from his mistakes and see the road to success? Sonny is a very stubborn kid who doesn't listen to anyone and does only what he wants. The narrator has to put him back on the right track and has to play a mature roll on him just like his father did with his own brother also. The narrator and his family aren't very happy with Sonny but they don't have any idea about Sonny's hidden talent. Sonny's proves them wrong and can now be called a responsible person. Judging people can be a person's biggest mistake. People need time to realize the reality of life and just need to be patient for their time to come. Even Sonny's family had given up on him but Sonny always knew their was light in his future somewhere and was eager to shine. He has done a lot of bad things and has made mistakes in the past but he doesn't let that affect his future. “Sonny Blue’s” takes place in Harlem around the early 1950’s. Sonny ends up having to turn towards drugs because he feels trapped in his surroundings. The story explains the theme of suffering experienced by african individuals. They are constantly getting discriminated against, becoming unemployment, and therefore turning into drug addicts . The narrator, who is unnamed reveals his discoveries through memories of their childhood, of their mother and father and of their Harlem community. In the beginning when the narrator first finds out of his brother’s imprisonment due to drugs abuse, a lot of his memories come rushing back in. He gets extremely scared thinking what his brother could have been doing. He asks, “…why does he want to die?”

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