"Sonny's Blues" - J.Baldwin

James Baldwin, what a cool cat.

   About half way through the story, I realized maybe I should have read up on the author a little before beginning. I was unfamiliar with James Baldwin, and what his story was. But I read on. And because I was such a clean slate of thoughts and feelings, while reading I became confused at times, possibly because of the type of beginning Baldwin had for his "Sonny's Blues." It started up right in the middle of everything, medias res. I like how that sounds, and plan to use it more often. (This also reminded me of Raymond Carver's "Cathedral", that story seemed to begin already in motion, like I had skipped ahead on accident) So looking back, maybe if I had known more about the author, this James Baldwin, I could have pictured in my head a better understanding of the beginning.
However, even though I was a bit lost on the when of the story, the writing itself blew my mind. There was beautiful imagery, and you could practically feel the words, and that was only in the first few paragraphs, so naturally, I was hooked. 

   As I read on, I learned about the relationship of these two brothers, where it had been, where it currently was and where it may be going. I felt that it was made obvious Sonny's struggles, but his brother, the narrator, what was he struggling with? It wasn't till later in the story that I thought it was finally coming to light what he was dealing with in himself. There were elements of guilt, skepticism and denial. He wasn't trying to judge his own brother, but he felt at times jealous and anxious about Sonny's choices.

   Near the end, when the brother finally goes down to the club, for the Sonny's gig, he is all of sudden in Sonny's world. This was something he never thought about except maybe in a logical way. Thinking how is he going to make a living, where is he sleeping, the basics. He never considered this world as a place of passion and talent, a place of raw energy. But once they are in that night club, once Baldwin sits us down at a table, at the bar, you can feel that energy.

   I felt, as the reader, that Sonny's entire story was revealed at the end.  With the description of their performance on stage, I would have been completely satisfied if that sequence was the entire story. Not to say that the first half wasn't written well or enjoyable to read, it was. But that is how strongly it grasped me. Everything Sonny wanted the world around him to know was on that stage. Maybe it was there every night they played. But for the narrator, Sonny's brother, he was finally, after all of this time, able to actually hear Sonny's story.

   I'd like to wrap up with the second to last paragraph in the story because I thought it was beautifully written and leaves a sense of hope, or optimism. You should read it again, it's pretty darn good.

 

"Then they all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played. Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen. Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others. And Sonny went all the way back, he really began with the spare, flat statement of the opening phrase of the song. Then he began to make it his. It was very beautiful because it wasn't hurried and it was no longer a lament. I seemed to hear with what burning he had made it his, and what burning we had yet to make it ours, how we could cease lamenting. Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did. Yet, there was no battle in his face now, I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth. He had made it his: that long line, of which we knew only Mama and Daddy. And he was giving it back, as everything must be given back, so that, passing through death, it can live forever. I saw my mother's face again, and felt, for the first time, how the stones of the road she had walked on must have bruised her feet. I saw the moonlit road where my father's brother died. And it brought something else back to me, and carried me past it, I saw my little girl again and felt Isabel's tears again, and I felt my own tears begin to rise. And I was yet aware that this was only a moment, that the world waited outside, as hungry as a tiger, and that trouble stretched above us, longer than the sky."

 

- "Sonny's Blues" James Baldwin (Booth, A. & Mays, K.J. (2011) The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York, NY, W.W. Nortan & Company Inc),