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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page paper which examines what James Baldwin's short story, "Sonny's Blues," represents, and how it serves as an inherent commentary on American society. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGsonblu.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
dedicated much of his life to making sure that the white majority establishment didnt forget either. When he penned the short story, "Sonnys Blues" in 1957, urban Harlem was
little different than it is today. It was, largely, an impoverished wasteland of African Americans who, for one reason or another, couldnt be assimilated into the American mainstream.
It was a landscape which was a study in contrasts, with progressive clubs featuring cutting-edge jazz and rhythm and blues on the inside, while on the outside, teenage boys were
on the prowl, in desperate need of a heroin fix. On such boy was a jazz enthusiast named Sonny, whose family blamed his fascination with such musical legends as
Charlie Parker (who was also a notorious junkie) for his apparent failure to make something of his life. For those whose skin is not white, there was no light
at the end of the proverbial tunnel, only darkness, "the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded
them to the other darkness" (Baldwin 1695). James Baldwin, Sonnys creator, believed the plight of Sonny and those like him were related to the continued exclusion of American society,
which seemed only willing to accept White Anglo-Saxon Protestants into its exclusive membership. The narrator of "Sonnys Blues" represented the views of the status quo, who also needed somebody
and something to blame for societys misfits. He became a teacher and left Harlem, married and started a family, and distanced himself from Sonny and those who were like
him. As he explained, "Some escaped the trap, most didnt. Those who got out always left something of themselves behind, as some animals amputate a leg and leave
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