{"id":129,"date":"2022-10-24T21:02:48","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T21:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschum1023moderncivilizations\/chapter\/__unknown__-12\/"},"modified":"2024-05-08T15:56:49","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T15:56:49","slug":"__unknown__-12","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschum1023moderncivilizations\/chapter\/__unknown__-12\/","title":{"raw":"1.8 SONNY'S BLUES","rendered":"1.8 SONNY’S BLUES"},"content":{"raw":"
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James Baldwin (1924-1987) was born in Harlem to Birdis Jones, a domestic servant who fled the South during the Great Migration and arrived in Harlem when she was nineteen. Three years later married David Baldwin, a brutal, paranoid laborer and storefront preacher by whom she had eight children. David resented his son\u2019s illegitimacy and subjected him to constant ridicule and abuse. Baldwin withdrew into a close relationship with his mother and into reading and schoolwork. James became a successful child preacher in Harlem, drawing large crowds until he lost his faith at about age sixteen. He wrote seriously in high school, where he edited the school magazine and worked in a defense plant in New Jersey. He moved to Greenwich Village and lived for five years, writing at night and doing odd jobs during the day. He sold a few magazine articles during this time. In 1944 and 1945 he received two fellowships which allowed him to write while living in Paris, Switzerland, and Southern France. Upon his return to the United States he began his intense involvement with the civil rights movement. He became its major literary interpreter as he explored its meaning in a series of essays, novels, and short stories. He also spoke often and eloquently for civil rights in person and on television.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"382\"]\"James 1.57 James Baldwin with Marlon Brando and Charlton Heston, 1963, Civil Rights March on Washington D.C., U.S. Information Agency, Press and Publication Service, National Archives, College, Park, MD.1<\/sup><\/a>[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"484\"]\"Allan 1.58 Allan Warren, James Baldwin, 1969.2<\/sup><\/a>[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n

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Sonny\u2019s Blues was written in 1957 and published in 1965. Generally it is the exploration of black culture and black identity. It is the story of the narrator\u2019s rediscovery of his own family and his racial ties. The arrest of Sonny triggers a process of change for the narrator in which memories of the past become mingled with present encounters with Sonny and his world. There are four characters in the story. The narrator is Sonny\u2019s older brother. Sonny has just been arrested and put in jail for using heroin. Their mother died while the narrator was away in the military service, but not before she charged her son to look after his younger brother. Sonny also has a friend, a drug addict, street wise homeless man. There is also a Creole band leader who helps Sonny arrive at his final triumph.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Exercises<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

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To study and understand this short story, read it online using this link: Sonny\u2019s Blues, PDF<\/span><\/a>. Then go through the following questions. Some examples of answers are included below, but you can and should find your own answers too.<\/p>\r\n\r\n