Introduction
James Baldwin in this classic story writes about 2 brothers growing up in a black ghetto called Harlem in New York. These two brothers are from the African-American race and the story was written during the 1950s, a time when the black people were actually enforced to live in a world of discrimination, prejudice, suppression, and poverty. This means that the living standards of black people were very difficult. The idea of individual suffering actually hovers inescapably over this story. Every character suffers in a particular way that is, from poverty, grief, addiction, and limited opportunities in life. For that reason, this essay evaluates individual suffering theme through analyzing narrator’s journey to comprehend his brother.
As mentioned above, black people faced difficult living conditions in Harlem since they were discriminated and prejudiced by the whites. The narrator together with his brother grew up in Harlem under harsh living conditions. He states 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 5). The narrator and his brother know that their futures are not bright shinny and full of opportunities like those of the white men. Boys in Harlem recognize that their chance of ever “making something” in their lives is little. Therefore, the narrator together with his brother and other boys face individual suffering when growing from limits which their circumstances have essentially constrained them. This quote demonstrates that individual sufferings in Harlem come in various ways. Moreover, the narrator is concerned with the life of his brother. He wonders what his brother has really done to himself, “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?’ (Baldwin 38). At this juncture, the narrator is making desperate plea with this question that is unanswerable. By asking this question, he fails to imagine that anybody doing what his brother has actually done to himself lest he no longer has will to live. This quote shows that his suffering at this point in the story is in fact as great as that of Sonny.
The theme of individual suffering in the story is expressed through drug use. We understand that Sonny and some of his friends are addicts through the following description by the narrator, “All at once something inside gave and threatened to come pouring out at me. I didn’t hate him anymore. I felt that in another moment I’d start crying like a child” (Baldwin 42). Here, the narrator is actually referring to an addict friend of Sonny. The quote describes that the narrator no longer hate this Sonny’s friend since he reminds him about his brother, Sonny who we understand is also a drug addict. Instead, the narrator can barely contain grief that he feels for Sonny and himself. Thus, this demonstrates the suffering he is going through as he so badly wants to let it out, but he will not. Furthermore, by this narration, we understand the suffering that Sonny and his addict friend goes through (Standley 53). The other quote by the narrator that demonstrates how the author brings out the theme of individual suffering through drug use is as follows, “You don’t know how much I needed to hear from you. I wanted to write you many a time but I dug how much I must have hurt you and so I didn’t write. But now I feel like a man who’s been trying to climb out of some deep and funky hole and just saw the sun up there, outside. I got to get outside” (Baldwin 49). Through this quote we understand that Sonny really suffers on several levels. Sonny suffers from his drug addiction as well as from being stuck in the jail. Moreover, he suffers from knowing that his actions have hurt his family. Therefore, this quote shows that Sonny did not dare to reach his family members even when he in fact needed them so much because he suffered by knowing that he had hurt them.
Baldwin also demonstrates individual suffering theme through the ways characters interact with one another. For instance, the narrator says, “When she smiled one saw the little girl, one sensed the doomed, still-struggling women beneath the battered face of the semi-whore” (26). The narrator underneath this lady’s beaten face can still see glimmer of an innocent child she was at one time. We understand from this quote that even her suffering has not finally covered that up. Thus, this also demonstrates that the narrator’s suffers through interacting with this woman just like how his interaction with his brother makes him suffer (O'Daniel 56). In addition, the narrator through trying to understand his brother accepts that suffering is part of human condition, something that cannot be avoided. For example, by interacting with his brother he asks him, “But there’s no way not to suffer-is there, Sonny?” (Baldwin 206), this quote informs us that the narrator is truly resigned to suffering. As a result, the quote portrays that by the narrator seeing Sonny’s individual suffering and his, he has just accepted it is part of the human condition.
What is interesting in the story about the theme of individual suffering is the fact that Sonny in some ways may agree with his brother who is the narrator that there’s no way about suffering as demonstrated by the following quote “I believe not,” he said and smiled, “but that’s never stopped anyone from trying” He looked at me. “Has sit?” (Baldwin 207). This shows that Sonny does not passively accept this since he will keep doing anything he can to stave it off, though he knows that this may be futile. The other thing that clearly demonstrates the theme of individual suffering in “Sonny’s blues” is the fact that the narrator understands how things were difficult to Sonny, living in negative environment and at the same time trying to make his life better and doing what he liked as verified by the following quote, "I seemed to hear with what burning he had made it his, and what burning we had yet to make it ours, how we could cease lamenting" (Baldwin 43). From this quote what comes across is that the narrator understands that living through suffering without it striking fear and sorrow is what one needs to survive in Harlem hence this proves the theme of individual suffering in the story.
The other thing that demonstrates individual suffering theme in the story is the truth that individuals do not always express their suffering outwardly. The narrator’s suffering that is mostly contributed by actions of his brother is immense according to the following quote, “A great block of ice got settled in my belly and kept melting there slowly all day long, while I taught algebra. It was a special kind of ice.Sometimes it hardened and seemed to expand until I felt my guts were going to come out or that I was going to choke or scream” (Baldwin 12). Maybe his anguish is made greater as this huge ice block just stays at the same position. From this quote, we understand that the narrator does not outwardly express his anguish after getting the news of arrest of his brother after being found with drugs (Madden 27). For that reason, this verifies the theme of individual suffering in the story. The other statement by the narrator that demonstrates that Baldwin’s Sonny’s blues is really a story of individual suffering is, “For while the tale of how we suffer, and show we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness” (Wilson 45). The narrator essentially makes this claim about the function of the music near the middle of song performance by Sonny at the end of this epic story. This quote thus serves the purpose of portraying individual suffering in the story.
Works cited
Baldwin, James. Sonny's Blues. Mankato, Minn: Creative Education, 1993.
Baldwin, James. "Sonny's Blues." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. 7th Ed. Richard Bausch. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. 21-43
Standley, Fred L, and Nancy V. Burt. Critical Essays on James Baldwin. Boston, Mass: G.K. Hall, 1988.
O'Daniel, Therman B. James Baldwin, a Critical Evaluation. Washington: Howard University Press, 1977
Gates, Henry L, and Nellie Y. McKay. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1996.
"Boston." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, n.d. Web. 12 July 2013.
Madden, Frank. Exploring Literature: Writing and Arguing About Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009.
Oates, Joyce C. The Oxford Book of American Short Stories. Oxford [England: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Kinnamon, Keneth. James Baldwin: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1974.
Wilson, Kathleen. Short Stories for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Short Stories. Detroit: Gale, 1997
