It has been a documented phenomenon in the field of psychology that art can serve as an outlet for suffering. Olga Gonithellis, MA has written about the topic. It is not that all artists suffer, but many arts suffering can increase their “Artiness.” (Gonithellis, 1). This is a central theme of James Baldwin’s story “Sonny’s Blues.” Sonny, the protagonist in the story was from a poor black neighborhood and like many musicians in his time in place, used drugs. In the story Sonny is an ex heroin addict uses music to ease his suffering. The central question of the story is if he will go back to becoming a user again. But his music, which arguably was partly to blame for Sonny becoming an addict in the first place, is what Sonny uses to ease the suffering that he experiences.
“Sonny’s Blues” is related from a narrator who is the brother of the story. As a result, he is invested in the story himself as it unfolds. Baldwin, in “Sonny’s Blues” is dealing with much different issues of race and drugs. Both the narrator and Sonny were raised at a time in black in Harlem, NYC when a poor black kid had few getaways from the reality the difficult life they would face when they grew up. Patricia Hill Collins wrote the book “Black Sexual Politics” which discusses the many transformations in rights that occurred during the 20th century. Blacks, she concluded, had it tough. Women and white males marginalized them. Women, who were fighting their own battles, were able to take the battle to their homes, so to speak. (Collins, 10).
There are some though, who were able to escape their harsh reality with jazz music, a form that emerged from the culture of Harlem. Sonny’s brother escaped through getting to college and becoming a teacher. For Sonny, his escape is through music. This was the first time in his life when music would ease his suffering. Later, music would ease him through the suffering that the lifestyle of a musician had brought him.
Collins compares the suffering of blacks in this place and time with cancer. She wrote that, “Deeming race to be more important than gender or class as more valid than sexuality can compromise the social justice core of a progressive black sexual politics” (Collins, 10). The narrator emphasizes this point when looking out at his classroom of black students. Many had dreams, but every single one would have a tough go at achieving them. The narrator considers that, “These boys, now, were living as we’d been living then, they were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities” (Baldwin, 1). He remembers something that his father said to his mother about their neighborhood, “Safe, hell! Aint’ no place safe for kids, nor nobody.”
Sonny, when his is released from prison appears to be at peace with his comprehension that the world is tainted and filled with suffering. “No, there's no way not to suffer. But you try all kinds of ways to keep from drowning in it, to keep on top of it, and to make it seem-well, like you. Like you did something, all right, and now you're suffering for it. You know?” (Baldwin, 21).
Baldwin’s narrative starts with Sonny at a low point. He is clean from heroin, but like any addict runs a high risk of a relapse. He suffers from what the drug has taken from him, and what it still might do. He also suffers from now having to piece together a life for himself now that he is free from prison. “It can come again,” Sonny tells his brother.
Sonny inhabits the same space as his brother after his release from prison, navigates through a much different world. His brother wants to help him, but there seems to be a distance between them. He sees that his brother is suffering but cannot seem to find a way to ease his suffering. He worries to, that his brother is associating with poor influence that might lead him to using drugs again.
Sonny’s suffering will not be in vain though if he able to do something worthwhile with it. That something worthwhile is to make music out of his suffering, to explore through art the discord that he feels within. Only at the end of the story does his brother understand this relationship. Sonny relates this to his brother by telling him a story of a woman he heard singing in the street. He says, “While I was downstairs before, on my way here, listening to that woman sing, it struck me all of the sudden how much suffering she must have had to go through to sing like that.” (Baldwin). He follows that up musing, “It’s repulsive to think you have to suffer that much.”
Repulsive as it is, for Sonny, this is his reality. He has suffered since he can remember, but he is not without an exit. Through his music he eases his own suffering and is able to convey it to others.
Works Cited
"Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin." Scribd. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. <http://www.scribd.com/doc/7086554/Sonnys-Blues-by-James-Baldwin>.
Gonithellis, Olga. "Mental illness & creativity: Do all artists suffer? No. Does suffering increase artsiness? Maybe! - Therapy for Artists - New York." Therapy for Artists. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2014. <http://www.creativityandperformance.com/1/post/2013/03/do-all-artists-suffer- of-course-not-does-suffering-increase-artsiness-maybe.html>.
"The Jazz Blues Motif In James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" ." College Literature 3 (1984): 112. Print.
