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The paper discusses the historical influence of Sonny's Blues written by James Baldwin. Sonny's Blues is the story about race and racial issues. The story had a significant influence on African-American Human Rights movement. Outline Introduction Baldwins biography Discussion About the story African-Americans in Sonny's Blues Human Rights movement Historical significance Conclusion The Real History in Sonny's Blues James Arthur Baldwin was born Aug. 2, 1924 in Harlem, New York City, and died in France on Nov. 30, 1987. His mother, married a certain David Baldwin in 1927, so James Baldwin spent the first three years of his life without paternal protection. James's tep father was a sick man on one hand and fearful of the white world on the other.
At home, he was a tyrant. Disappointed by the harshness of life, Baldwin dedicated himself for some time to a religious and pious life -- after which the future writer abandoned all hope of finding consolation and courage in a faith which did not respond at all to his aspirations. It was his stepfathers death that forced him to face the harsh reality of life despite his nineteen years of age. His first education was that of a preacher, but then he decided to devote his life to literature. Critics, however, note the impassioned cadences of Black churches are still evident in his writing. From 1948, Baldwin moved to the south of France, but he often returned to the USA to teach of give lectures.
In 1957, he began spending half of each year in New York City. Since Baldwin was an experimental writer who resisted labels, the struggle to understand his work and to assess his literary reputation will probably continue indefinitely. As a fiction writer Baldwin is well-known his short story Sonny's Blues (1957). Sonny's Blues is a story that is close to Baldwins life. Many characters and situations are similar to those Baldwin has experienced. Baldwin gave an important literary voice during the era of civil rights movement in the 1950 s and 1960 s.
On April 4, 1963, Baldwin received a scholarship from the George Polk Trust for his excellent articles which had appeared in the American press. Having become a well-known and well-listened-to literary personality, Baldwin was invited on Thursday, May 13, 1963, to have breakfast with Robert F. Kennedy, then U. S. Attorney General. That first encounter in the state of Virginia was only the prelude to another, more important meeting held in the afternoon of the next day in New York, in Robert F.
Kennedy's apartment. Organized by Baldwin to help the U. S. Attorney General better understand the black problem in America, that meeting brought together about ten black personalities, among whom were Harry Belafonte, Lorraine Hansberry, and the psychologist Kenneth B. Clark.
Nothing unfortunately came of it by virtue of the misunderstanding between Robert F. Kennedy and Baldwin's guests. On May 17, Time published a long article on the black author with his photo on the first page. Thus, at the age of thirty-eight, James Baldwin was the best-known American citizen in America.
However, his private life and his numerous activities began to be an object of close surveillance. The F. B. I. , for example, tried one day to enter his New York apartment during his absence. His telephone was also bugged. Seeking rest and tranquillity, Baldwin went to spend three months in May and June in Puerto Rico, where, with his childhood friend Richard Avedon. 13 In the summer of the same year, Baldwin was in Paris, where on Sunday, August 18, 1963, he delivered a sermon in the American church.
The main subject of this sermon was the great civil rights movement which then united thousands of Americans. A few days later, on Wednesday, August 21, the black writer led five hundred or so Americans to the United States Embassy to show their keen interest in the various civil rights movements. A week later, on August 28, Baldwin was in person by the side of Martin Luther King for the huge march on Washington. These numerous activities, of course, did not permit him to dedicate himself entirely to his literary work. In Sonny's Blues James Baldwin says that the sufferings, the hate, and the poverty of the ghetto black are often at the root of his most beautiful inspirations. In that short story, we have the example of a young black from Harlem who, after having grown up in the ghetto and after having been arrested for drug traffic, finally finds his expression and his vocation in jazz.
James Baldwin 1957 short story Sonny's Blues is, perhaps, jazz literatures most widely read piece. At least part of the reason for its popularity is its eloquent, evocative depiction of a specific dual energy in African American music: the expression of both individual and collective experience. (Pavlic) Sonny's Blues contains Baldwins first portrait of a modernist artist and his family. In the beginning of the story, Baldwin presents the reality of dissociation, a rift between subjective and objective perspectives, in familial terms. One brother, Baldwins black modern man and unnamed narrator, holds the world outside. With his sure feel for the complexity, hypocrisy, irony and other conflicting conditions in American life, James Baldwin was well-suited to offer a representation of jazz that did not succumb to any of the simplifications that nag most attempts to render it in literature. (Pavlic) African-Americans, although declared as equal in the American Constitution, experienced various forms of discrimination. The Black population was segregated, which is perfectly showed in Sonny's Blues.
They cannot attend the same schools that white population attends, and many public places were segregated as well (Bader). Opportunities for employment and education standards are clearly to the disadvantaged of the black population. In the story Baldwin shows peoples inability to translate their own interior / exterior flux of experience across racial lines. Consistently, Baldwins white characters are unaware of the necessity for such translations. They simply believe that the world they see is actually there. Blacks were unable to vote because of various tests and exams that they have to go through in order to be registered.
With lack of opportunity for education, it was impossible for them to gain rights to vote. Hate crimes against African-Americans happened everyday and many of these cases were dismissed because the victim was an African-American (Cornell and Hartmann 42). This led to the eventual mobilization of African-American populations in order to end the discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement sprang from the need of African-Americans to be liberated from the bondage of discrimination, which prevented them from advancing in many aspects of American life. The history of the long years in striving for opportunities and access to social services are seen to have played significant role in Sonny's self-determination.
This was similar to the other blacks experience then. They came to the country initially as slaves and with onset of the Civil War, their cause of emancipation had been evident as statesmen began lobbying for their cause, foremost to which is the freedom from servitude. In Sonny's Blues James Baldwins description of artists -- in this case, jazz musicians role in such a constantly improvised language of perception reiterates the most famous modernist tune: make it new. Baldwin writes: He and his boys up there were keeping it new, at the risk of ruin, destruction, madness, and death, in order to find new ways to make us listen. For while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard (Baldwin). Because music is a primary vehicle of modernist processes in black literature, Baldwins characters who are jazz musicians are particularly instructive.
The experiences of Sonny in Sonny's Blues show the possibilities and dangers of searching out, playing, and hearing the story. Sonny shows the potentials of the search. He begins his life as an artist in a self-consumed state of Afro-modernist detachment and finds his way back into a diaspora modernist exchange with his creative community and his audience. As Sonny and his brother live with the challenge of equality, it is important to note that their roles in American society undergo dramatic changes. In meeting these challenges they would have to be equipped with education and with it they can effectively articulate their concerns. Equality in the full extent would be difficult to achieve especially considering the highly diverse cultural groups that comprise American society, as conflicts would inevitably arise.
Towards this end, there should be viable and sustainable channels in which the interests of each group are upheld based on what is good for society in general. With this in place compromises are made leading to a more harmonious society. But Sonny and his brother cannot have the luxury of education. Thus, Sonny's brother is realistic and when told that Sonny wants to become a musician, his brothers reply tells it all, Well, Sonny, you know people cant always do exactly what they want to do this perfectly reflects the situation in which African-Americans were back those day. Sonny's brother is not all encouraging here, and bases his comment on the reality they are faced at that time. Sonny's determination is immediately seen here as one of the components that spell success as long as it is a laser-focused attention.
Sonny responds to his brothers disparagement with No, I dont know that. I think people ought to do what they want to do, what else are they alive for? (Baldwin). This shows Sonny as different and exactly the opposite of his cautious brother. Sonny, despite indulging in drugs and alcohol, remain hopeful of the future, He says with conviction, I believe not, but thats never stopped anyone from trying, has it? (Philogene) In the article Marginalization of African Americans Allen Lutins states that the misery and so-called ghettoization of African Americans would be eliminated through a clear understanding of their historical conditions.
Moreover, when myths dealing on welfare and the supposed antiquity of black rights in this country and the state are shattered, and when social programs and public education are funded amply and given sufficient time to achieve their goals. The author notes, that those who claim that all Americans have equal opportunities fail to recognize the importance of history. By claiming that the playing field is now level for all is the equivalent of allowing someone to belatedly join a game of Monopoly after most of the properties have already been purchased; without an intentional redistribution of resources, fairness cannot be expected to advance of its own accord, and this is what Affirmative Action and welfare are all about (Leeming). Sonny continues to find expression in his music and finds satisfaction despite the struggle as contrasted with his brothers point of view that just accepts his lot and position in society. Sonny never lets external factors to spell his future.
He knows that he alone holds the key to his personal advancement but there were not may ways for African-Americans to succeed. As the United States started to consolidate itself into a nation, it had to accommodate the interests of minority groups, which included African Americans and incorporate them as stakeholders in its political and social process. As the years progressed African Americans began to enjoy significant roles and contributions in shaping American society in general. Their participation in the dynamics of American society is largely based on the liberal and democratic settings operating in the country. Bibliography: Leeming, David. James Baldwin.
New York: Knopf, 1994. Lutins, Allen. Marginalization of African Americans. 2002. Accessed November 28, 2006 at: web Nagle, George.
F. Fugitive Slave Incidents in Central Pennsylvania. Accessed November 28, 2006 at: web Pavlic, Edward M. Crossroads Modernism: Descent and Emergence in African-American Literary Culture.
University of Minnesota Press, 2002. Philogene, Gina. From Black to African American: A New Social Representation. Westport CT: Praeger Publishers, 1999. Wikipedia. Alternative term for African American.
Accessed November 28, 2006 at: web
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