Sonny's Blues Analysis Essay

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Suffering is an impactful moment in everyone’s life. It can be incredibly life changing and will define what that person is and what they might become. It gives others a chance to observe, calculate and conclude what really is important to the individual. This is the narrator’s mindset in James Baldwin’s classic story “Sonny’s Blues”. He experiences the suffrage first hand as he, himself is a product of a community that is consumed by the harsh standards that is set for him, his brother, and others growing up in Harlem New, York during the early 1950s.
First and foremost, He informs the audience that he is objective and truthful to any and all situations that occur during the course of the story, even towards events that personally affect …show more content…
Just like Sonny, the narrator is suffering from the inability to connect with others. This is evident when he runs into a childhood acquaintance. He informs to the audience that his encounter with the man, led him to discover that he too was also suffering in similar fashion to that of Sonny. He expressed, “All at once something inside gave and threatened to come pouring out of me. I didn't hate him any more. I felt that in another moment I'd start crying like a child. (42)” He no longer carried any hatred towards the man, but is unable to grief and let himself be consumed by the unfortunate pathway the addict has lead his life. He refuses to freely allow himself to exhibit his emotions openly when interacting with other characters, and internally refuses to allow himself to feel any sympathy towards tragic situations. The lofty expectations that have been placed on the shoulders of the narrator was certainly torturous, and even though he keeps informing the audience that he has become immune and has accepted constant struggles as a normal way of life. The reader can depict that the narrator’s repetitive attitude about his immunity can possibly indicate he doesn’t truly believe this. The reader can assume he is trying to convince not only the reader, but, he is trying to convince himself that this is
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