The readings that this essay will go over are “Sonny’s Blues” & “How it feels to be Colored Me”; and more specifically, how music is used within the two. Music is something that transcends people’s preconceived notions, cultural differences and personal schemas; and for those reasons can be very beneficial to use as a literary device. While the two short stories have more similarities in how they use music, they are not without their differences. “Sonny’s Blues” and “How it feels to be Colored Me” both use music similarly in that they both use music to convey certain elements, albeit how the authors used music differed in the two works. Music is used similarly between the stories as something used to surpass words when it comes to expressing your inner feelings, as well as something the narrators use to show differences between two characters. In “Sonny’s Blues” music is a focal point of the story as it is exemplifying the difference between the narrator and his brother, as well as being the thing that ends up bringing the two together (Baldwin 148). “How it feels to be Colored Me” uses music in a similar way in that it makes Zora see the differences as well as the emotional distance between herself and her white friend (Hurston 3). While …show more content…
“Sonny’s Blues” whole plot is followed, aided and even finished by music. Music being so central to the plot is the main difference between “Sonny’s Blues” & “How it feels to be Colored Me”, because in the latter music is not central to the plot, but is still just as necessary. “How it feels to be Colored Me” has a plot that is not really affected by music, although music is helpful in understanding what is truly presented in the