Sonny's Blues Analysis

Family Affair

Genetics is something very interesting. Sometimes when we look to two brothers we can say that they are from the same family because of their similar physical appearance and their resemblance in the way they act. But some other times we see two members of the same family and do not even notice it. This is the case of Sonny and the narrator in "Sonny's Blues" from James Baldwin. In this essay, I will discuss about how these two characters are different in the way they are grown up and the choices they made. I will also discuss their relationship.

Firstly, the two major characters of "Sonny's Blues" are different in the way they are grown up. As the narrator, who is also the brother of Sonny, became an algebra teacher (Baldwin 40), Sonny tried to become a musician. With the look of actual society, we must say that the narrator has evolve in a much better way then his younger brother.

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He now lives a normal life with a family and a good job in opposition to his brother who is a drug addict, a drug dealer and who was took to jail : " He had been picked up, the evening before, in a raid on an apartment downtown, for peddling and using heroin." (40). Thus, Sonny and his brother do not seem to be brothers because they became to be remarkably different throughout time.

Secondly, the two main characters of the short story "Sonny's Blues" are very different because of the choices they made. Sonny chose to make music, which was the most important thing in is life. The name of this character can help us to discover a part of his mind. In the word Sonny we hear...