Essay about Suffering and Surviving in James Baldwins...

Suffering and Surviving in James Baldwins Sonnys Blues In Sonnys Blues James Baldwin presents an intergenerational portrait of suffering and survival within the sphere of black community and family. The family dynamic in this story strongly impacts how characters respond to their own pain and that of their family members. Examining the central characters, Mama, the older brother, and Sonny, reveals that each assumes or acknowledges anothers burden and pain in order to accept his or her own situation within an oppressive society. Through this sharing each character is able to achieve a more profound understanding of his own suffering and attain a sharper, if more precarious, notion of survival. Mama, as a†¦show more content†¦Mama asked that her strength remain to support the family when she told her older son to watch out for his little brother saying, Im telling you this because you got a brother. And the world aint changed (421). Her older son has difficulty with her legacy because he chooses not to see. Where his mother was vigilant and quick to identify the weak areas in her family, her son is blind to them. The beginning of Sonnys Blues marks an awakening for him. He is faced with a printed truth about Sonnys drug addiction, and suddenly his world is penetrated from all directions. His own grief for the loss of his daughter focuses this new perception. My trouble made his real (429); he needs to reach out to Sonny in order to begin to resolve his own pain. Yet as he narrates the story, it becomes apparent that he has perceived very little along the way. Thoughts like I had never really noticed it before, and strange, suddenly, to watch, though I had been seeing... all my life indicate the surprise that the narrator feels as he encounters his life on a new level (430-431). Eventually he comes to understand more clearly when Sonny says, Its to stand it, to be able to make it at all. On any level (432). However, he must first find a way to listen. Sonnys brother is mired in silence. He a ttempts to shield himself from the realities that make up his existence, but