How the Use of Hymns and Music Shapes the Life of Sonny in "Sonny's Blues"

Analysis of Sonny’s Blues
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Analysis of Sonny’s Blues
The setting of Sonny’s Blues is in the Harlem, African American vicinity that is impoverished despite the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem plays a vital role in Sonny’s Blues, and it is depicted as the trap that Sonny and the narrator fight to escape. The motif in the story is imprisonment, and the narrator and his brother are trapped in the neighborhood. The primary issue in the story is salvation. The story depicts two brothers with different mindsets and worldviews, and they are on conflicting paths. The characters’ expedition to salvation is unique despite being from the same neighborhood. The narrator struggles with his daughter’s death, the relationship with the younger brother, Sonny, and the feeling of being trapped. On the other hand, Sonny struggles with the notion of suffering, drugs, and feelings of being trapped. Besides, the story is not just about music but the role of music in reconciliation between the estranged brothers. The narrator’s use of the story allows the main focus to develop a sense of bond and brotherly love. The use of hymns and music shapes the life of Sonny, heals the relationship between the narrator and story, and is integral to Sonny’s survival. 
Music plays an intricate and terrific role in the story, Sonny’s Blues. Conceivably, the most apparent is the insinuation and allusion that is in the story’s title. The title has an outwardly odd discrepancy with the story. Sonny plays jazz music but not the blues. However, James Baldwin’s understanding of the term blues is comprehensive. The story’s narrator refers to the blues, which are the sufferings that the individuals face and how they triumph and are delighted. Jazz represents the blues revision, and it is a novel approach to conveying the old blues (Baldwin, 2009). Therefore, Sonny still plays the blues in playing jazz. Besides, jazz and the blues are imperative in the musical forms of the African American culture and therefore are suitable for the story’s focus. Similarly, Sonny looks for salvation from different places. He found it both in music and doing heroin. Although Sonny left Harlem, it is still latched on him in the form of drug addiction. The narrator blamed Sonny’s career choice and the musical friends being the main reasons for his drug addiction. In truth, Sonny’s heroin addiction was a way for him to cope with the world’s suffering (Baldwin, 2009). The music was a way for Sonny to cope with the challenges, and he thought of it as a form of salvation. Although the narrator views heroin and music as the same, Sonny perceives them as different escapes. 
Music is Sonny’s way to express himself fully. He struggles with communication with the narrator, his brother, who refuses to list...