James Baldwin’s story is about two brothers who came to understand each other, the two sides of the African American experience, as well as their relationship at various points in their lives. Sonny’s Blues opens as the narrator learns from the local newspaper that his younger brother, Sonny, has been arrested for dealing drugs, heroin to be specific, which is a addictive drug that caused millions of deaths in America only. The narrator and his brother Sonny’s childhood were filled with rage and darkness.(Lovalerie,Scott,2000).
The narrator assimilated into the white society deeply but is still saddened by the racism and placed restrictions to be found upon his opportunity. Sonny, the main character channels his suffering into music, Jazz music that is, which was and still is very popular especially in the African American community. The story also has biblical implications, which relate to the Holy Bible, Baldwin’s style of writing is a poetic style, not meaning that the story rhymes, but poetic in a way that the writing is very lyrical and beautiful, such as this passage “As the singing filled the air the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing on within; the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them; and time seemed, nearly, to fall away from the sullen, belligerent, battered faces, as though they were fleeing back to their first condition, while dreaming of their last.” The paragraph seems to be very musical as the way he puts his sentences together, the way he describes his neighborhood is really lovely. The fact that his writing seems musical is very suitable for his story specifically because it features music, and its one of the central themes. His writing certainly has a musical beat to it and he shows how technique and plot can come together and create a narrative. To add, At one point Sonny speaks in a letter from his prison