Literary Analytic Response

"Sonny's Blues," was a short story written by James Baldwin. It tells a story of two brothers who lived in Harlem. While the older of the two was a teacher, the younger aspired to be a jazz pianist. The story is told from the perspective of the older brother. The younger brother's name is Sonny, and his older brother doesn't think that playing jazz is a good idea. This is representative of how music affected American History, as Sonny strived for some form of success in life, and couldnt obtain it the way that the already wealthy white people could. Music was his only option if he wanted to get out of Harlem. Eventually, the narrator decides to give Sonny a chance, and lets him live with his wife, because she has a piano. Sonny practices the piano nonstop when he lives there, from the time when he gets home from school, which he actually never went to very often because he was playing jazz and doing drugs with his "jazz friends" in Greenwich Village. The way that he played, without stopping at all for whenever he was home until everyone went to sleep, was representative of his attempt to escape from Harlem. He eventually is arrested in a heroin bust, after being kicked out of his school for not attending class. After getting out of rehab, Sonny meets his brother, who recently lost his two year old daughter, giving him some insight to Sonny's problem. Sonny goes back to Greenwich Village to play with his old jazz friends in concert. The narrator goes to see Sonny play for the first time. He sees that Sonny is highly revered for his musical talent.