James Baldwin: Sonny’s Blues. Summary and analysis
In James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues, a high school teacher in Harlem learns that his younger brother, Sonny, has been arrested for heroin use. The news leads him to recall their childhood and youth together, marked by poverty, violence, and emotional silence. After the death of his daughter, the narrator reconnects with Sonny, and the two attempt to rebuild their relationship. Through an intimate conversation, Sonny reveals his struggle with drugs, the suffering that has accompanied him since he was young, and how music—especially jazz—allows him to express what he cannot say with words. The story ends when the teacher accompanies Sonny to a nightclub, and seeing him play the piano with intensity and emotion, he finally understands his brother’s inner world. Music is revealed as a language of pain and redemption, and the professor hears Sonny’s truth for the first time through it.
