Description
The assignment is a research paper on a short story we've read in our class.
I also need an outline before the essay if that is possible.
We need to have an open question (something that is debatable) and a thesis that is the answer to the question in the first paragraph. The next paragraphs should be to support the thesis, using and analyzing the text to provide details as well as citing sources. every paragraph must have a topic sentence relating to the thesis. MLA format is required and up to 5 citations works cited included. 8 to 10 pages max
Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin
Two open questions I came up with to choose from
What is the connection between art and suffering in “Sonny’s Blues?"
Does the narrator finally understand Sonny at the end of the story?
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
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Sonny’s Blues Analysis
In the Sonny’s Blues story, the narrator who is Sonny’s elder brother struggles to
understand Sonny’s characters. As the elder brother, the narrator has a responsibility to ensure
that Sonny emerges a responsible person despite his unwarranted ways. From the narrator,
Sonny is a heroin addict and a lover of jazz music. According to the narrator, Sonny listens to
no one particularly in any discussion concerning his passion for jazz music. It is observed that
the narrator has been assimilated to the culture of the current place they are living and Sonny
believes that they are not at liberty and there is need to have freedom. Notably, the story is set
up from a post world war encounters and the conditions that the blacks underwent through
beyond the world war to the time. This paper examines whether the narrator finally
understands his brother Sonny at the end of the story.
The cause of the difference between the two brothers
Since the onset of slavery through to Jim Crow era in the United States and the world
war period to the time of the events, black Americans underwent sufferings from different
perspectives form racism, discrimination at work and other social-economic differences.
According to James Baldwin, the narrator comes from a black American’s family that has
suffered throughout their live. Firstly, the narrator in a flashback recalls his discussion with
their mother after his trip from the army. Narrator’s mother tells of a story relating to the
death of the narrator's uncle. Narrator's mother claims that Sonny's father witnessed the
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uncle's abduction by a group of white men and later the death of Sony's Uncle. From this
date, Sonny's mother claim that the incidence haunted sonny's father throughout his live.
Before resuming to the army, the narrator's mother assigns the responsibility of
nurturing sonny to the narrator. While the narrator understands his role in nurturing Sonny, he
dislikes the character of his brother. Firstly, he understands that Sonny is a heroin addict and
that his love for the jazz is a character that the narrator dislikes (Baldwin 28). In his mind, the
narrator understands that nearly every jazz musician is a drug abuser. In light of this, the
narrator would wish his younger brother to continue with education and become a responsible
person. In contrary, Sonny believes that himself, the narrator, the entire family, and the whole
community is living under a form of slavery under to liberate the society an individual must
first liberate himself. For this reason, while Sonny’s addiction does not make him hard or
arrogant, he believes that only music can liberate allow him to freely communicate his
feelings about his sufferings and the sufferings of the community.
The narrator’s believe on the Sonny’s character
As the elder brother, the narrator knows that his younger brother is losing the track in
life and that his company and the passion for music jazz is a complete disaster to his life and
a shame to him and his family. The narrator is a mathematics teacher who understands that
live requires an individual to be responsible or oth...