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Jasmin Malinis

Professor Wilson

English 123

26 February 2018

Sonny’s Blues on Finding Identity

Most of us today have a hard time finding ourselves, but as we get older, it is

most likely that we change who we are and learn from our mistakes. These mistakes, no

matter how big or how small, tend to be from the past and shape our actions or certain

aspects of life. It is no surprise that an important character, Sonny, goes through an

experience similar to the “rags to riches” story, because he was able to identify himself

through music. In the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, we see the

struggles of Sonny between himself, his interests, and his loved ones, through the life

of the narrator, Sonny’s brother. The narrator has been quite distant from his brother

due to Sonny’s association with drugs and him being in jail. Even after Sonny gets out

of jail, there is a point in time where the two brothers had gotten along, however

becomes distant once Sonny decides what he wants to do with his life. The turning

point in the story where they become closer is seen through the idea of finding

acceptance of themselves and their true identity. The identity of the narrator is

discovered when he changes his life after regaining a relationship with his brother
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closer than before, and learning mistakes from his past and becomes accepting of his

life and others. The narrator’s true acceptance of himself begins when he reminisces

memories from the past, copes with the death of his daughter, and finds himself

through his brother’s music.

In Donald C. Murray’s essay “James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’: Complicated and

Simple,” it is stated that the narrator’s identity has been found by the use of light and

darkness, the culture that he had grown up in, as well as the type of environment that

they had surrounded themselves with, and that music is a way where they are able to

release all of their emotions and express how they feel. The use of light is used to

express “the harsh glare of reality, the bitter conditions of ghetto existence which

harden and brutalize the young” (354). Murray uses examples from Baldwin’s short

story such as “a little boy looking like a both a dog and a cunning child”, as well as “a

bartender revealing a struggling little girl under that ‘semi-whore’ face” (354). These

two different personalities that are hidden in the world reveal the narrator’s struggle

between his inner and outer self, but the narrator hides himself in the darkness when

going down into the subway. Murray suggests that throughout the narrator’s life, he

has succumbed to the darkness, including many of his childhood struggles. Since the

narrator is a teacher, he observes the lives of children. He says 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 94). The
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narrator knows that these children have no expectations to be who they want to be, or

to succeed in life, because he tells to himself that he was once like those kids. This

shows the struggle of accepting who he really was, or even how he is now. But little

does he know that once Sonny is let back into his life and opens up his life because of

death and music, his identity is found.

The first step into finding the narrator’s identity is to realize that death is a way

to become closer with a loved one. The bond between the narrator and Sonny starts

when his daughter, Grace dies. At that point, he realizes that he has no one else in his

life and the only person he has left is his brother Sonny. Although it is not mentioned,

it is assumed that that is why he has decided to write out to him while Sonny was in jail

after all this time: “And I didn’t write Sonny or send him anything for a long time.

When I finally did, it was just after my little girl died” (Baldwin 97). Due to Grace’s

death, it allows him to create a bond and realize “what he has left behind in the past in

order to find out who he is now” (Murray 355). Finding his own identity is to identify

the sufferings that he has left behind as a child and as a part of living in the “ghetto”.

This allows the narrator to realize what he needs to change in order to make amends

with his brother. Due to death of everyone around him, and Grace most likely being the

most important person in his life, he realizes that the only person he has left is Sonny.

Although he may not want to admit it, he finally decides to accept Sonny back into his

life. His true identity can be found when he does not let the past keep him from holding
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any more grudges. Since he had let Sonny back into his life, they decide to catch up on

life and Sonny reassures his brother that his association with drugs will no longer be a

part of him in the future. The narrator can finally accept his younger brother’s life, with

no hesitation about thinking about their own past. By making amends with his brother,

the narrator can truly be himself and let everything that he was holding back from the

past, and learn from those mistakes. But as they start to get closer, one topic can soon

make them drift apart like the past, but once again, bring them closer to an even bigger

acceptance of both of their identities. This topic, being music, becomes a huge part of

both their lives. At first, the narrator was doubtful of his brother’s dreams of pursuing a

career as a musician. But once he realizes that Sonny is going to be happy with

becoming a musician, he finds true acceptance in his music.

Music is some type of way to help find, identify, and love yourself. The music

that Sonny plays has created an emotional bond between the narrator, and everyone

else that he loves. Not only does it allow Sonny to express himself, but allows the

person he is closest to be reminded of how much he loves his family. Murray says that

“as the narrator listens to his brother’s blues, he recalls [his loved ones].” The narrator

realizes from Sonny’s music that “love is what life should be about.” He continues to

find himself in the influence of music, with words sung by his brother Sonny. The

narrator did not know how powerful Sonny’s music would be. He was shocked by how

much he got affected by Sonny’s songs. The narrator states that “[Sonny] had made it
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his: that long line of which we knew only Mama and Daddy. . . . I saw my mother's face

again . . . I saw the moonlit road where my father's brother died. And it brought

something else back to me, and carried me past it, I saw my little girl again and felt

Isabel's tears again, and I felt my own tears begin to rise” (Baldwin 114). At this

moment forward, the narrator can accept how much of an impact Sonny’s music has on

Sonny and himself. The narrator begins to understand that these deaths are a way of

connecting their life to his, and these deaths will influence how he continues to live his

life from now on. Earlier, in the story, the narrator tells himself that he does not know

how to approach or even take care of his younger brother because he is scared to hurt

him, or afraid to do the wrong thing: “I'd never played the role of older brother quite so

seriously before, had scarcely ever, in fact, asked Sonny a damn thing. I sensed myself

in the presence of something I didn't really know how to handle, didn't understand”

(Baldwin 102). But now, the narrator does not need to act like the big brother he needed

to be. The narrator identifies himself to become more opening and lenient towards his

little brother, because after realizing that music is what his passion is, then the

narrator should not stop him from doing what he loves doing. Although Murray

suggests that music is not the main focus in the story, it is the way the story ends, and

adds a more sympathetic feel between the narrator and Sonny. This reconnects their

relationship due to “pain, separation, and death.” They both realize something that

helps identify themselves such as music, which helps Sonny express himself, and allows
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the narrator to identify that he needs love in his life from the influence of Sonny’s

music.

The story of “Sonny’s Blues” not only shows the struggling side of their past, but

through overcoming their fears and struggles. With the help of Sonny, it had allowed

his older brother, the unnamed narrator, to find himself throughout the most unusual

things, such as relating to his past, grieving over the death of a loved one, and the

passion of music. All of which, impacted the narrator’s life, to learn that the past is in

the past and that it should not stop you from finding who you are or what you are

hiding. The relationship between the narrator and his younger brother Sonny has

strongly impacted the future of his life, and they have both learned to accept

themselves as well as each other, starting as soon as Sonny had been let out of jail.
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Works Cited

Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” Norton Introduction to Literature, 12th Ed., edited by

Kelly J. Mays, W.W. Norton, 2016, pp. 93-115.

Murray, Donald C. "James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': Complicated and Simple." Studies

in Short Fiction, vol. 14, no. 4, Fall 77, pp. 353-57. EBSCOhost, 0-

search.ebscohost.com.library.4cd.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=715

1144&site=eds-live.