James Baldwin’s “Sonny Blues” is yet another literary masterpiece encompassing the adversity and perseverance of African Americans throughout history. Entranced by the metaphorical weight of the blues, I heard its heaviness intertwined with the throe of the characters as the deafening melody of Harlem’s woe rang from the pages. Baldwin depicts his underlying theme of oppression in the experiences of his characters. Early in the story, the narrator reflects on the day of his father’s funeral when his mother tells him of his uncle’s unjust demise. “Your father says he heard his brother scream when the car rolled over him, and he heard…them white men shouting…And, time your father got down the hill, his brother weren’t nothing but blood and pulp.” (Baldwin 56). Even the narrator himself recalls the tragic death of his two-year-old daughter, Gracie, and the desperation that led to him contacting his brother. Moreover, Sonny was lost in a sea of torment and addiction. “I can’t get anything straight in my head down here and I try not to think about what’s going to happen to me when I get outside again. Sometime I think I’m going to flip and never get outside and sometime I think I’ll come straight back. I tell you one thing, though, I’d rather blow my brains out then go through this again.” (Baldwin 51). Baldwin also illustrates the theme of oppression in his portrayal of Harlem. But houses exactly like houses of out past yet dominated the landscape, boys exactly like the boys we once had been found themselves smothering in these houses, came down into the streets for light and air and found themselves encircled by disaster.” (Baldwin 53). Sonny is aching from the suffering of Harlem, and turns to the blues (and heroin) to make sense of fate’s cruel hand. The final song in the essay, an emotional set played by Sonny in a bar, is a reenactment of the grim experiences of his characters. The narrator finally realizes the liberation of Sonny’s blues, “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.” (Baldwin 69).

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” The Norton Introduction to Fiction. Ed. Jerome Beaty. New York, London; W.W. Norton & Company. Sixth Edition. Pg 47-71. Print.