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Navneet Kaur

Professor Wilson

ENGL-123-2985

21 February 2018

“Sonny’s Blues in the Narrator’s Point-of-view”

“Names have power” (Rick Riordan). Names have the power to connect us to someone or

distance us from someone. In a short story by James Baldwin called “Sonny’s Blues,” the

narrator never reveals his name. “Sonny’s Blues” is based on the relationship between two

brothers at various points in their life. Sonny’s life experiences are expressed through the eyes of

the narrator, his brother. It seems like the narrator remains unnamed thus the audience can relate

to him as an older brother, and not take attention away from Sonny, but also incorporate the

theme of discovering identity.

In Sonny’s Blues, the narrator does not reveal his name because the narrator wants to

indicate that he is not the main character, thus he wants the attention to remain on Sonny, his

brother who is the main character. The narrator states at the club, “yet, it was clear that, for them,

I was only Sonny’s brother. Here, I was in Sonny’s world. Or, rather: his kingdom” (112). This

indicates that the narrator is talking about Sonny and the story is Sonny’s life story from the

narrator’s perspective. When the narrator says he is in Sonny’s kingdom, this implies that Sonny

is the main character since the kingdom belongs to him. The narrator indicates that the story will

be about Sonny, by naming the story “Sonny’s Blues”. Moreover, the narrator states, “now these

are Sonny’s Blues” (114). Although by Sonny’s blues the narrator means a kind of jazz music

that evolved from the music of African-American, the narrator is also trying to mention that

these are Sonny’s struggles and the suffering he went through which is the other meaning of
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blues. Sonny allows his blues to dominate his life. While having a conversation with his brother,

Sonny states, “no, there’s no way not to suffer. But you try all kinds of ways to keep from

drowning in it, to keep on top of it, and to make it seem-well, like you. Like you did something,

all right, and now you’re suffering for it… maybe it’s better to do something to give it a reason,

any reason” (110). This quote indicates that Sonny has been suffering in his life. This may

present Sonny as ignorant and irresponsible, however, it also illustrates that Sonny is trying to

control his suffering by making up a reason for it. He mentions that the reason behind his

suffering is his use of heroin and engagement in criminal activities. Sonny elucidates that all

humans, including the narrator, suffers, and that we all have our own way of coping with the

suffering. This detailed conversation between the narrator and Sonny indicates that the narrator is

sharing Sonny’s opinions and stories, which leads the audience to relate to Sonny and not the

narrator. Therefore, the narrator remains unnamed in the story so that the reader's focus is on

Sonny.

Furthermore, the narrator does the reveal his name in the story because he wants his

audience to relate to him by placing themselves in his shoes. The narrator and Sonny loose

contact when Sonny gets arrested. But when the narrator’s daughter dies from polio, Sonny

writes a letter to the narrator to explain his suffering and to empathize for Grace’s death. After

this letter, the two brothers stay in constant touch. When Sonny is released from prison for using

drugs, the narrator meets him and writes, “yet, when he smiled, when we shook hands, the baby

brother I’d never known looked out from the depths of his private life, like an animal waiting to

be coaxed into the light” (97). This quote includes phrases like “baby brother” which appeals to

the reader's pathos. If the reader is an older brother or sibling, he/she will automatically relate to

the narrator. This quote shows that the narrator is realizing that although Sonny has altered, he
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still has the same heart and is still his baby brother. While in prison, Sonny is like a caged animal

trying to come back in the right direction, the path of freedom. The audience gets a better

understanding of how the narrator feels because the narrator is unnamed and the reader imagines

himself/herself as the narrator. This lack of a name for the narrator makes the narrator seem

unknowable; however, it also makes the narrator more accessible to the audience.

Another reason the narrator is unnamed in the story is to express the relationship of

brotherhood. In the article “James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’: Complicated And Simple”, the

author Donald C. Murray states, “the final point of the story is that the narrator, through his own

suffering and the example of Sonny, is at last able to find himself in the brotherhood of man.”

This suggests that the narrator in “Sonny’s Blues” wants the audience to perceive the importance

and presence of brotherhood in the story. The narrator does this successfully by having the

audience put themselves in his shoes. By having the audience place themselves in the narrator’s

shoes, the audience gets a better understanding of by the narrator reacted the way he did when

Sonny went in the wrong direction. Due to the reason the reader connects to the narrator, the

reader also understands that a brother cannot be a parent and probably that is the reason why the

narrator could not fulfill his responsibility towards Sonny because it was never his, it was their

parents. Moreover, the reader understands why the narrator does not get Sonny’s passion for

music. While having a conversation with Sonny, the narrator finds out that Sonny wants to be a

musician. This surprises the narrator and he states, “well, you may think it’s funny now, baby,

but it’s not going to be so funny when you have to make your living at it, let me tell you that”

(103). The reader can relate to the narrator because this is a competitive society and it is difficult

to make a living out of music. Thus, the reader understands the narrator’s concern for Sonny’s

future when the narrator advice Sonny, “it’s time you started thinking about your future” (104).
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The narrator worries that Sonny will not be able to make a living as a musician. This upsets

Sonny because he thinks his brother does not understand his passion for music. However, as the

narrator senses Sonny’s anger, he tries to relate to his younger brother. He goes on to ask him

what kind of musician Sonny wants to be. Later in the story, the narrator realizes how Sonny has

used music to keep him keep him from drowning in his suffering. He goes to a jazz club with

Sonny to understand his brother’s world. At the jazz nightclub, the narrator realizes how

important music is to Sonny and how he has used it to cope with his struggles. Through this, the

audience realizes how difficult it can be for two brothers to understand each other.

More, the narrator in “Sonny’s Blues” remains unnamed to reinforce a theme of lost

identity. The narrator is not the only character in the story who is unnamed. The characters that

are named in the story are the ones that do not fit to the norms of the society; unlike the narrator

and his parents who are unnamed in the story. The characters who are not named in the story

have undefined identity thus they seem to stand as a representative of the African American

communities. For example, the narrator identifies himself as an algebra teacher in high school,

which indicates his effort to educate other students like Sonny. He is represented as a responsible

married man in the story. On the contrary, Sonny struggles to discover his identity. At the

nightclub, the narrator acknowledges the effect of music on Sonny. He states, “I had never before

thought of how awful the relationship must be between the musician and his instrument” (113).

By the term “awful” the narrator does not mean that musician and instrument relationship is

horrible or that they do not get along. In the content, this term is used as “intriguing”. The

narrator finds the relationship between the musician and the instrument intriguing due to how the

instrument is full of life and can clearly convey the musician's story. Since the narrator just

discovers this relationship, he feels a sense of loss and Sonny’s relationship with his instrument
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compels that narrator to reflect on his own opinions and perspective. Through this the narrator

can better discover his own self with an open mind and understand the type of person Sonny is.

In conclusion, “Sonny’s Blues” is evidently about Sonny’s decisions and struggles

described through his brother’s perspective. But due to the reason the narrator is unnamed, the

attention of the reader remains on Sonny, the reader can put himself/herself in the narrator’s

position to get a simpler understanding of Sonny and his relationship with his brother, and sense

the theme of loss of identity.


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Work Cited

Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” Norton Introduction To Literature, 12th Ed. Ed. Kelly J.

Mays, W.W. Norton, 2016, pp. 93-115. Print.

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=7151144&si

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