Sunday, March 30, 2008

Sonny's Blues

There are many relationships to explore in this beautiful and tragic story. Obviously the relationship between the narrator and Sonny is a complex one that seems to change over time. How and why does this (and other relationships) change? There is also the relationship between the narrator and his mother who tells the chilling story about his uncle and also asks him to take care of Sonny. Is this fair of mom? Are there certain expectations aligned with certain family roles, like the eldest brother or the eldest sister? So what is the responsibility of older siblings towards their younger siblings? Is too much expected of Sonny?

Sonny tells his brother he wanted to escape Harlem when he was still young. What did he want to escape (aside from drugs)? How is escape from family and family circumstances a natural part of "individuation"?

What is the role of suffering in this family? How does suffering define a family and their legacy? How does Sonny cope with suffering? How does the narrator cope with suffering? Is one way more effective than the other?

This story offers one of the most effective descriptions of music that I've ever read. What does music provide Sonny with that his family did not? Was Sonny right to follow his dream? What about the narrator's dreams?

3 comments:

Alice said...

I think it is interesting that Sonny wanted to escape, but he didnt have the means to escape the right way so he chose drugs. I feel like that is why a lot of young people get into drugs, they dont understand healthy ways to deal with their problems. I am glad that at the end Sonny used music to help him escape...that is a positive way to relieve tension and difficult feelings. I think if people were more aware oftechniques or things that could help them relieve their problems the use of drugs would go down.

caleigh said...

I personally think it is not fair at all for the parents to ask the eldest siblings to look out for everyone, to make sure nothing happens to there brothers and sisters. We dont chose to be born first, we cant chose our families. THe oldest sibling will automatically fall into a role of protector, but for a parent to ask the oldest sibling to look out is not really fair. I might just be saying this because i am the oldset sibling and still myself a child. SO how do i look out for my brother and sisters when i dont even know how to look out for myself?

The reason the realtionships change throughtout time is becuase people change. It's simple. People change what they like to do, what interests them and what kind of people they want to suround themselves with. I feel that people change from year to year, if not month to month or even sometimes week to week. People change so much, and when they change, naturally there relationships with friends and family are going to change too.

mysbanks0303 said...

I think that it is not fair when the older sibling has to take care of the youger sibling because it doesn't give the younger sibling any room to grow and be an individual. It's interesting how many family go through the same problems. Sometimes I want to escape my own family.