"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin

My favorite part of the story: "'Well, Sonny,' I said gently, 'you know people can't always do exactly what they want to do-' 'No, I don't know that,' said Sonny, surprising me. 'I think people ought to do what they want to do, what else are they alive for?'

Until this point in the story I kind of thought Sonny was just being a bit selfish and foolish, but this statement on his part really made me start respecting him. His surprise at the narrator's statement, one that most people would think wise, and his very down-to-earth reply, free of self-consciousness, is great to me. This is one of the philosophies of my life--my most important one in fact. And I think so often people tend to forget it and get caught up in other things for the wrong reasons, when the truth is that you only live ONCE, and Sonny has more knowledge in this respect than any other character in the story. I think this part is brilliant because it challenges a very basic and, upon first glance, simple human assumption in a very nonchalant and simple way--a way that I believe has the potential to convince the non-believers of this philosophy. This is a very very difficult thing to do because people who believe that money and a successful career are the most important things in life are hard to budge.

An example of what happens to the non-believers of this philosophy who go on in philosophical ignorance is later described in the story. "A man fumbled in his pockets for change and stood holding it in his hand impatiently, as though he had just remembered a pressing appointment further up the avenue. He looked furious" (17). Too often in daily life do I come across people like this--just angry and impatient for no reason whatsoever. How can one live ones life in such misery? My hypothesis is that they just neglect to spend enough time simply doing what they want and therefore live their lives in a mad, gray world.

"And something told me that I should curb my tongue, that Sonny was doing his best to talk, that I should listen" (19).

"I realized, with this mocking look, that there stood between us, forever, beyond the power of time or forgiveness,  the fact that I had held silence-so long! -when he had needed human speech to help him" (19).

Sonny is like music--"not many people ever really hear it" (22). Sonny's problem is that no one will really listen to him, that is why he relates so well to music. Sonny uses music to communicate (23).

These three excerpts from different parts of the story remind me of just how difficult it is to really listen and to find good listeners. I know sometimes I need to stop myself and remind myself that I should really think about what that other person is saying to me and give them some useful input, but sometimes we just get so caught up in our own problems and situations that we don't do as good a job listening as we should. This preoccupation and failure to truly listen, when taken too far, can put a large strain on relationships. It is interesting that Sonny uses jazz music as communication. It is a genre of music that is typically thought of as being expressed in the nighttime or in dark or obscure places (such as smoky barrooms), so this could suggest that Sonny can express himself the best at night. This brings me to my album project on Regina Spektor and how most of her songs were about how nighttime opens the door for expression and desire to surge forth. Music has a knack for doing this apparently.

Other perplexing moments in the text:

• Heroin is Sonny's version of control (18).


• "'Tell me,' I said at last, 'why does he want to die? He must want to die, he's killing himself, why does he want to die?' (4)
• When the waitress smiles and when Sonny smiles the narrator can tell so much from them. "... when he smiled, when we shook hands, the baby brother I'd never known looked out from the depths of his private life..." (5). Reminds me of the mask idea.
• Hard life of children in the projects. "But houses exactly like the houses of our 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" (6). "They don't bother with the windows, they watch the TV screen instead. The playground is most popular with the children who don't play at jacks, or skip rope, or roller skate, or swing, and they can be found in it after dark" (7). Reminds me of the Hughes poem about "chillen" these days and also the poem about the boys that are forced to grow up too fast. "...you be getting the checks" reminds me of the Hughes poems as well (9).