It is not always smooth all the way at the family level when it comes to making decisions. Every family member has their interests and perceptions of life, which help them, make personal choices and decisions. The same can be said about Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin. While reading the story, it is natural that the story can elicit feelings and thoughts in similar situations in real life cases just as events unfold in the story. The two brothers, Sonny and the narrator have different paths that they have chosen in life, just like it can happen to siblings in real life situations. The narrator, who is the older one of the two brothers, feels that Sonny is not making the right decision about his life. He has already chooses a vocation for him and wants Sonny to go back to school and finish his studies, but Sonny thinks otherwise. Such a crisis in the lives of two brothers can happen in any family in a real life situation, and the story succeeds in painting this grim picture of life crises in real life situations.
In the story, the narrator and Sonny, in as much as they are brothers, they have conflicting personalities. The narrator is a school math teacher, and Sonny is a drug user and peddler who anticipate becoming a jazz musician someday. The narrator is very judgmental and distances himself from Harlem, a neighborhood that is rife with crime (Francis 61). At first, Sonny is immersed in the life of Harlem but his attitude towards it change towards the end, when he says that he can even enroll in the army or navy in a bid to distance himself from Harlem. These two brothers have conflicting personalities that perhaps serves as a good example of how people born of the same mother and father can be different in character and personality.
It is in the same breath that the reader finds conflicting minds at play in To The Lighthouse by Virginia Wolf. In the beginning, Mrs. Ramsay agrees that the family will embark on a journey to the lighthouse, but Mr. Ramsay is not for the idea saying, “it won’t be fine.” For a moment James, their son felt like killing his father there and then. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay conflicted with this decision, and it seems like a crisis at the family level because both have their independent thoughts about the journey (Kelley 38). Such is a disaster that can happen at the family level in a real life situation. Naturally, family members can be put in conflicting positions because every one of them has their independent perceptions of everything, and would wish for things to go their way. But it is never the case because things have to work one way much to the disappointment of others.
It is never smooth in life especially when siblings do not seem to agree on anything, especially when the older sibling is domineering and wants things to go his way. Older siblings or older members of the family sometimes seem to dictate how younger ones operate or do their things. The narrator cannot even comprehend the fact that Sonny can become a musician and play at night clubs, let alone join the army or navy. These conflicting perspectives on the life Sonny wants to live show a domineering brother who cannot agree with his brother on the vocation he wants to take. The crisis is seen through the way both perceive life and, indeed Baldwin succeeds in bringing out possible conflicts that happen in everyday lives of people under ordinary circumstances.
In as much as these two works show instances of crises among members of the family, they bring out the crises in them differently. In as much as the conflicts and crises presented are at the family level, Baldwin put a lot of emphasis in the conflict between two brothers, especially as seen through their personalities. The narrator is the type that sees comfort and success through education, while Sonny does not buy the whole education idea because he can as well make a good and successful musician without education. Wolf, on the other hand, shows the conflict between father and son because Mr. Ramsey occupies a special place in his wife’s life that his son envies so much.
Family crises are quite common and are considered part and parcel of life. Perhaps this is the aspect that both authors wanted to reflect and communicate to their readers. As readers go through both stories, they cannot fail to recognize or identify with the crises in them because such crises exist in every household although they happen in different forms. It is, therefore, right to draw conclusions that novels are the mirror of society, and they succeed in acting as a rehearsal of possible life crises. The crises in these stories can be considered as natural happening in everyday lives of siblings as well as parents and their children.
Works Cited
Balwin, James. Sonny’s Blues. Web. Retrieved on 8th December 2014. http://swcta.net/moore/files/2012/02/sonnysblues.pdf
Francis, Conseula. The Critical Reception of James Baldwin, 1963-2010: An Honest Man and a Good Writer. New York: Boydell & Brewer, 2014. Print
Kelley, Alice van Buren. To The Lighthouse: The Marriage of Life and Art. Woodbridge: Twayne Publishers, 1987. Print
Woolf, Virginia. To The Lighthouse. Web. Retrieved on 8th December 2014. https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91t/part1.html
