Brian Benbekhaled Professor Jacobs ENC 1102 April 16, 2014

Annotated Bibliography to Sonnys Blues by James Baldwin:

Flibbert, Joseph. "Sonny's Blues: Overview." Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Joseph Flibbert shows in this source basically a summary of the short story called, Sonnys Blues, by James Baldwin. The source explains James Baldwins preoccupation with problems of identity particularly racial identity, of an African American in the mid-20th century. The blues was very big back then which was led by mostly African Americans. As he mentions, the blues is a deep, heavy, and emotional state arising from recognition of limitation imposed by racial barriers to opportunity. The main topic of this source is Joseph explaining what it was like back then as these African Americans had to fight for what they wanted. This source definitely compares to a lot of my other sources because the main point of them is the racial experience the people in the mid-20th century had to overcome in order to be free. Although this source is pretty objective from all the examples Joseph gives you to support his facts. For instance, he mentions that Baldwin reveals the intimate relationship between the blues as a state of mind and as a musical tradition in the African-American culture. This source will help me realize how Baldwin uses music to channel our frustrations into something better than what we do through impulse.

Brian Benbekhaled Professor Jacobs ENC 1102 April 16, 2014

"James (Arthur) Baldwin." Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

The main points of this source are to give you a detailed background of James Baldwin himself and explain why and how he writes his short stories. Some of the topics covered have to do with his major works, critical reception, and major themes . Also, His novels, essays, and other writings attest to his premise that the black American, as an object of suffering and abuse, represents a universal symbol of human conflict. In addition, commentators who have faulted Baldwin's attempt to transcend racial issues have frequently based their arguments on the author's later essays, which often describe the poverty of his early life in Harlem. This source will help with the research paper because it gives you a feel description on how he writes his stories by uses many different types of theme style writings. For instance, a minority of critics have commented negatively that the social and political messages in "Sonny's Blues" are presented in a heavy-handed manner. Therefore, "Sonny's Blues" addresses specific racial issues and themes regarding the human condition. This article is objective with all the facts that are proven and revised by other authors as well. The main goal is to let you see the way James Baldwin wanted his stories to be view, but not judged in any way.

Brian Benbekhaled Professor Jacobs ENC 1102 April 16, 2014

Komunyakaa, Yusef, Robert Kelly, and William Matthews. "Jazz and Poetry: A Conversation." Georgia Review 46.4 (Winter 1992): 645-661. In Poetry for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 20. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

The main points of this source would have to be how Baldwin uses jazz music to contribute both form and content to literature when he says that jazz helps us to tell "the tale of how we suffer and how we are delighted and how we may triumph." Music kept us closer to the essence of ourselves. In addition, music is serious business in the African-American community because it is so intricately interwoven with our identity. In the end, this source gives you full detail on how music can take over anything with just the right touch. This is a perfect source for a research paper about how music can be incorporated in biographical themes. This source gives plenty information on how the African-American would use jazz as a way of telling a story with mental picture. In the process they had to find an emotional home, they had to leave a geographical home. This is a very American theme. That's why so much of the blues and jazz--and of American poetry--is full of place names, geography, travel. This is an objective article because of the facts that Baldwin shows in his work with musical themes and so forth.

Brian Benbekhaled Professor Jacobs ENC 1102 April 16, 2014

Lee, Susanna. "The Jazz Harmonies of Connection and Disconnection in 'Sonny's Blues.'." Genre 37.2 (Summer 2004): 285-299. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 98. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

This article examines the links among musical form, narrative form, and social theory in James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues." This short story explores notions of human connection and social-psychic stability in terms of the technical forms of jazz music. In other words, the story hence embodies the symbiotic relationship between music and narrative, between musical form and social theory, between intramusical tensions read and social tensions felt. The main topic is jazz music is all about how the musician can express themselves with the help of audiences emotion. This source can a lot of potential for Sonnys Blues, but doesnt really give much information needed for the bibliographical themes. It does however, gives plenty of examples on how jazz music plays a big role in Sonnys struggles through life. In the story, it seems that Sonny needs to play the piano in order for him to escape into his own world. This source does not compare to any of the other ones because it mainly focuses on jazz music and how it is played. The goal of this source is to show you that jazz is very meaningful if it handled the right way. This article can be bias just because it is being examined by another author with valuable evidence to help guide the way to musical form.

Brian Benbekhaled Professor Jacobs ENC 1102 April 16, 2014

Tackach, James. "The biblical foundation of James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues'." Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 59.2 (2007): 109+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

James Tackach explains in this source that surprisingly, few critical discussions of Sonnys Blues have focused on the storys religious themes. This source doesnt necessarily connect with any of my other sources in particularly, but it gives you more of a background knowledge of James Baldwin when he was younger growing up in the projects. Baldwin grew up listening to sermons in the storefront of churches in Harlem, reading the Bible, and living fear of wrath of his father who was a minister. The main points of the source would have to be how the Bible and religion played a big part in his short stories. This source is actually useful in many ways, but the one that stuck out is that Baldwin created Christian texts throughout his literary career. By accomplishing this, he used the bible as a gateway to guide him through most of his work. However, perhaps most critics prefer to view him as a civil rights writer rather than as a Christian writer with his Bible close at hand. This source will definitely help me see the biblical work he uses in his short stories. The article is objective from the way it is divided in to a critical form of others giving their own opinions with supporting details.