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Example research essay topic: Sonny Blues Short Story - 956 words

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William s Growth as an Understanding and Loving Brother In James Baldwin s short story Sonny s Blues, the protagonist is an African-American high school algebra teacher who lives in the projects in New York City. (This character will be referred to as William, which means determined guardian, for writing purposes. ) After the death of his mother, William is left with the difficult task of keeping his younger brother, Sonny, out of trouble and on the right track. This is not an easy task for William, as Sonny becomes addicted to heroin while trying to live out his dream of becoming a professional musician. After living with Sonny for some time, William learns that there is more pain and despair in his little brother than he ever could have imagined. William learns that Sonny has been arrested for peddling and using heroin in the beginning of the story. At first, he can not believe it.

Then he realizes that he can believe it, he just can not find the room for Sonny s situation anywhere inside of him. William had always had his suspicions about Sonny being addicted to drugs, he just could not, or would not, accept it. After talking to one of Sonny s friends, William learns that Sonny will be sent to treatment, and will then be let loose (275). Because William is in denial about the whole situation, he does not contact his brother for some time, even though it would have done Sonny a great deal of good to hear from his brother. It takes the death of William s daughter to make Sonny s problems real in William s mind. They begin to write to each other.

When Sonny is released, the two brothers meet. William is very nervous, as is Sonny. William is not sure who his brother is any more, he only knows who he used to be. Although William is not thrilled about the idea, he allows Sonny to move in with him since he had promised his mother he would watch after him. However, William still does not know what to think of his brother. He does not know if Sonny can be trusted.

After about two weeks of living together, William is trying to work up the courage to search Sonny s room. He will not admit to himself what he would be searching for, but he knows what it is heroin. While arguing with himself about whether or not to search the room, William sees something which may have begun to change his attitude about his brother. He sees Sonny at an old-fashioned street revival across the road. The people are singing hymns and Sonny is watching on with a smile. After a few songs, Sonny gives the revivalists some money and walks away.

William has not seen this side of Sonny before, at least not since Sonny s addiction. He begins to wonder if there is more to his brother than meets the eye. He begins to think that maybe Sonny has changed. Shortly after the revival scene, it quickly becomes obvious to William that there is much more depth to his brother than he thought. Sonny begins telling William how he feels about life. Sonny gives his views on suffering and then goes on to talk about himself and the way that he feels about his actions in the past.

Sonny discusses how he felt about himself by saying that I ve been something I didn t recognize, didn t know I could be. Didn t know anybody could be (291). These are very powerful words because they show that Sonny realizes how destructive he had been to himself and those who cared about him. Sonny then continues to describe his internal struggle and his situation during his whole ordeal with drugs. Sonny s words make William realize that there is more to his brother. William sees that Sonny does actually realize that he has done some terrible things in his life.

He sees that Sonny knows this fact more than anyone else ever could, and that he (Sonny) is not happy with who he was. As Sonny divulges his feelings, William begins to learn that Sonny has an enormous amount of pain and despair inside. He also sees that Sonny s music is his only escape from this pain. It is what has kept him alive. It allows him to express the pain that he feels inside. At the end of the story, Sonny invites William to watch him perform at a night club.

William goes, and he sees that his brother truly is gifted. William appreciates how much his brother needs his music to release his pain when Sonny moved, deep within, exactly like someone in torment. And the face I saw on Sonny I d never seen before. Everything had been burned out of it (294). The beauty and sorrow of Sonny s music cause William to view his brother in a completely different light.

He can now understand what his brother has gone through, how he felt. In this short story, William (as well as Sonny) does a great deal of maturing both as a human being, susceptible to pain and misery, and as a brother. He learns to be forgiving and understanding of his brother. He knows now that Sonny has a lot of things going on inside of him that are eating him up, and that all he (William) can do is to be there for his brother and to love him unconditionally.

Work Cited Baldwin, James. Sonny s Blues. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Eds. X. J.

Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7 th ed. New York: Longman, 1999. 272 - 295.


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