A Critical Analysis Of Sonny S Blues

Essay, Research Paper

A Critical Analysis of Sonny s Bluess

Communication is the key to a individual s success or failure throughout life. It is the procedure of informing another individual of his or her ideas and feelings. Communication can be represented through assorted signifiers, such as, address, organic structure linguistic communication, one s actions, and music. In James Baldwin s, Sonny s Blues, the usage of communicating is illustrated between the characters through their interaction and actions.

. Often people do non pass on efficaciously to others, which can make confusion and choler between the people involved. A premier illustration of failed communicating presented in Sonny s Blues was the storyteller s deficiency to hear Sonny s request to be a musician, and Sonny s inability to understand his brother s concerns. After the funeral of their female parent, the two brothers are in the kitchen discoursing the hereafter of Sonny, the younger of the two. The storyteller wants Sonny s to populate with Isabel s parents and finish high school. Sonny is non amused by this thought because he has other programs of his ain. Communication between the brothers is highly confusing, which causes them to go angry with one another. The storyteller provinces, . . . Sonny please be sensible. I know the apparatus is far from perfect.

But we got to the best we can ( 60 ) . The storyteller is confused because he is seeking to assist Sonny. He does non understand Sonny and his petition. Sonny answers to his brother angrily, I ain t larning nil in school, he said. Even when I go. . . .At least, I ain t larning nil you d desire me to larn. . . ( 60 ) . Sonny is angry with his brother because he does non experience his brother is listening. Failure to communicating efficaciously with each other caused traumatic effects for both of the brothers.

Music used as a signifier of communicating in Sonny s Blues was a good signifier of communicating between the brothers. Baldwin illustrates this type of communicating at the terminal of Sonny s Blues. The storyteller is seated at a tabular array at a saloon, where Sonny is traveling to play with fellow friends. The storyteller is listening to the music and understands the hurting that Sonny has inside of him. The storyteller provinces, . . . I heard what he gone through, and would go on to travel through until he came to rest in the Earth ( 70 ) . Sonny had communicated his feelings of his life through music and helped his brother understand.

Baldwin, James. Sonny s Blues. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. New York: Norton & A ; Company, Inc. , 7th erectile dysfunction. 1998. 47-70.