In Paul’s Case by Willa Cather and Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin Paul and Sonny both have problems that are very similar. Paul’s family situation has no mother and a father who does no understand Paul and Paul is lacking parental guidance. Sonny’s parents are dead and he lost contact with his brother until he was released from prison, their home surrounding have major impacts on their lives, and they have similar hopes and dreams. Although they lived in different times and in different cities they share similar problems. Paul and Sonny share similar problems throughout their lives.
Paul and Sonny share similar family predicament and situations. In "Sonny's Blues" Sonny was the youngest child in his family and after his parents died when he was young his big brother made a promise that he would look after him. Unfortunately, Sonny chooses the wrong path at first and gets involved in drugs and has to go to a rehabilitation center to get better. After he gets out his brother asks him "What do you want to do?"(47), to which Sonny replies "I'm going to be a musician. (47)" Sonny's brother doubts his aspirations from the beginning and even tells himself that "(he) never played the role of the older brother quite so seriously before (47)." Sonny's brother is a teacher and you can tell by his instincts how much he want to teach Sonny things about life in general. By playing the "roles" of parent, big brother, and teacher, Sonny's brother constantly stresses how he wants his brother to turn out. In the end Sonny's brother should have listened to himself when he told his mother that "(Sonny is) a good boy and he's got good sense (45)" so that he would of trusted Sonny more to make his own decisions. In "Paul's Case" Paul was the only child in his family and because his mother died he has only his father's influence on his life. We join Paul in the story while he is getting in trouble, much like how Sonny was in trouble at first. Much like "Sonny's Blues" Paul sees himself facing his teachers and they are questioning him as to why he was misbehaving. At one point a teacher inquires about a remark that Paul had made, Paul replied, "I didn't mean to be polite or impolite either. I guess it's a sort of way I have about saying things regardless. (401)" The teacher influences in the stories feel dissatisfied with their influences on the boys, but they are not taking into account that they cannot force these boys to grow up faster than they want to grow up themselves. They can only hope to point them in the right direction. So therefore in both Paul’s Case and Sonny’s Blues they both are lacking people to help to lead them in the right direction. Although in Sonny’s Blues Sonny’s brother eventually reaches out to him to keep up with the promise that he made with his mother before she died. But by that point Sonny had already been in jail once for drugs and had gotten into trouble. But with Paul he did not have anyone to show him the right path and keep him out of trouble he was on his own to make his own decisions so he eventually ran to New York where he spent money that he stole and took his own life. . Ultimately, both boys made the right choice in deciding what kind of life they wanted for themselves and limited the influence from other places. Although some might say that Paul did not make the “right” choice he make the choices that made him happy and did everything that he wanted to do, and he did not let other people influence what he wanted to do or what he was going to do.
Once he had a piano to practice on he did everything possible to reach his goal of performing in a jazz band. Due to Sonny living in Harlem where jazz music is very popular he wanted to become a jazz pianist. Then he bought a record player and started playing records. He'd play one record over and over again, all day long sometimes, and he'd improvise along with it on the piano. Or he'd play one section of the record, one chord, on change, on progression, and then he'd do it on the piano. Then back to the record. Then back to the piano. (50-51)

Sonny tried so hard to be a musician and at the end of the story he was living the kind of life he wanted to live and more importantly made his brother realize that Sonny did learn what his brother had taught him about life and how to succeed. Paul was a bit younger and had different circumstances that stopped him from completely reaching his goals. With the money he went to New York and stayed in a hotel and dined extravagantly and basically lived like he had always seen how the soprano's that came to Carnegie Hall lived. Paul had went to school and told his classmates of how well he knew these members of the stock company and when his classmates were obviously bored with the stories, he would tell his wild dreams of how he was "going to travel for a while; going to Naples, to Venice, to Egypt (408)." had experienced his fantasy of living the life that he wanted. Overall, both stories reflect how people have their lives influenced from different sources. In "Sonny's Blues" Sonny was influenced by his brother, Harlem, and his love for music. In "Paul's Case" his father, his teachers, Cordelia Street, and his love for the good life influenced Paul. Ultimately, both boys made the right choice in deciding what kind of life they wanted for themselves and limited the influence from other places. At the end of the story with Paul's quest to "find himself" coming to an end with himself sleeping on railroad tracks, he is awakened by an approaching train. Right when the train was about to hit him he jumps and flashing "through his brain, clearer than ever before, the blue Adriatic water, the yellow of Algerian sands (414-415)". Sonny and Paul both want to do things. While Paul wants to move from where he lives and become rich and live a lavish life style Sonny wants to become a famous jazz pianist. Both of their dreams are a result of where they live and what they do.
Paul and Sonny act and the decisions that they make. "Sonny's Blues" sets the story in Harlem, New York. The city of Harlem does a lot to develop how the theme of the story influences Sonny. Sonny grew up around drug dealers in what would be thought of as the typical low-income slum of the city. Sonny does experience the life of his peers, getting involved in drugs and going to the rehab center. Sonny did not let this affect the outcome of the rest of his life, he learned from his mistakes, thought about what he did while he was in rehabilitation and decided on a better path for his life. Paul attended Pittsburgh High School and where he lived had made him already decide on a better life for himself. He was very conscious of his surroundings and didn't like the life on "Cordelia Street." Every time he came home "he experienced the physical depression, the loathing of respectable beds, of common food, of a house penetrated by kitchen odors," he hated Cordelia Street. Paul seems to think about his life more than Sonny, this is evident whenever he steps foot onto Cordelia street. "The nearer he approached the house, the more absolutely unequal Paul felt to the sight of it all; his ugly sleeping chamber; the cold bathroom with the grimy zinc tub, the cracked mirror...(405)." He wanted a different life, and had always planned escape his life and achieves the life he wanted. Sonny decided that he wanted to be a musician, and the distraction of his brother was not going to stop him in his quest to be one. So therefore their home surrounding have major impacts on what Sonny and Paul do in the sense that Paul is poor and wants to be rich so he steals money and runs to New York and Sonny is depressed and turns to drugs in the troubles neighborhood in which he lives in.
Paul and Sonny both face similar problems in their lives. All of these problems are a result of their family situations, home surrounding, and their dreams. The problems that they face are similar in they both do not like where they live, they both do not like their home surroundings, and they both have dreams that are very hard to make come true. But while Sonny works toward things to help himself out Paul wants things to happen instantly and eventually he kills himself because he knows that what he wants to happen never will happen.