Stafford 1
Josephine Stafford
Professor Gary Howell
Freshman Composition II
February 8
Review of Sonny’s Blues
Baldwin, James. Sonny’s Blues. Harlem: Partisan Review 1957. Print
The story of Sonny’s Blues was one of intense struggle. The struggle of racial inequality
and the dangers of heavy narcotics. The ideas presented in this story are profound and timeless.
The narrator begins the story from his job as an algebra teacher, enriching the minds that could
easily fall into the same destructive behaviors as his brother Sonny. Sonny was young and witty
just like they were, except Sonny succumbed to the influence of heroin. The narrator begins to
reminisce about his family. His mother explained to the narrator that his dad had a traumatic
experience where his brother got ran over by a group of drunk men just because they could. His
father and Sonny had slight animosity for one another, they were too similar even in their
differences. The narrator hadn’t spoken to his brother for many years because he was traveling in
the military. until the death of his mother brought them together again, the narrator was only
focused on his family. Sonny began to live with his brother, but they got into an argument and
sonny left. The narrator’s daughter died from an illness, and he wrote Sonny after many years
without communication. The narrator comes back to the present where Sonny is living with him.
This is when Sonny invited the narrator to listen to him play. It was until then that the narrator
