Sonny's Blues

This is definately my favorite piece read in this class so far. There were so many parts that I loved in James Baldwin's work, that I can't share them all with you. So I will just share a couple.

I think what I admired so much about this story was the honesty from the narrator in his real life situation. It was said how it was, with no sugar coating. We often get so well acquainted with lying to other people that we don't even know who we truly are anymore. An example of the honesty Sonny has with himself is in the following line:
"I've been something I didn't recognize, didn't know I could be. Didn't know anybody could be."
Is this something we can relate to? I know it is in my life, but I'm not about to sit down with someone and talk about it. And Sonny didn't either. He went on to say that he couldn't talk about it, "not to [his brother], not to anybody."

I would have loved to read this story from Sonny's perspective as well. I liked reading it from his brother's point of view, but I feel like Sonny has so many mysterious sides to him that I wish I could understand. Sonny seemed to have this wisdom that only a few possess. He knew his potential and what he wanted to accomplish. He knew what would make him and others happy. Or at least thats what it seemed like. Even though he was the younger brother, he seemed to be the one who fit into the right niche. Then again, the narrator doesn't talk much about his own life. I know that he is a teacher, has a wife, and lost his daughter. Does he not talk about it because he isn't happy with it? Or is it simply because this story is about Sonny and not him?

I would have liked the story to end a different way. I didn't totally understand the ending, but I did like how Sonny got to show his brother that he was living out his dream. Sonny brought his brother into his world, which is all he wanted all along. He just wanted people to respect him for who he was and the dreams he had. He wanted people to listen ...

"All I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it."