ASSIGNMENT

“ANALYSIS ON
SONNY’S BLUES
BY : JAMES BALDWIN”
MATA KULIAH : KAJIAN SASTRA II
DOSEN : Dr. Martha Pardede, M.S

BY :
ERRITA
( 170705052 )

ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES
UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA
MEDAN
2019
Analysis on “Sonny’s Blues”
The story is written by James baldwin. James Baldwin is well-known as a
naturalistic writer. The naturalistic itself is tell us about a tragedy that caused by
technological development or we could say the tragedy which common happens
around us. And the story tells us about the problem that the two brothers have to
face mentally and physically such as, poverty, violence and danger that linger
around them all the time. The situation forced them to live like that. The worst
one is the racial discrimination that the black people have to face. They are trap
in the discrimination and the majority views, like, as a person that has different
skin colour with the majority.they are also human but the majority see them as
animal and they started to look at themselves as animal too. It’s cruel but we have
to admit that we live through majority views. Once we try to be different than the
majority, we are the one that will be dicriminated.
The speaker/narrator or “I” in the story is Sonny’s brother. The story is mostly tell
about Sonny but it’s being told through his brother. As the speaker, the brother is
stay nameless throughout the story. So, going through the brother eyes, this story
is not only telling about Sonny but also his brother himself and also the black
society living in the city called Harlem. So, Harlem is known as the symbol of
property of black people. It’s hard for black people to go out from the situation.
Because outside from that situation they have to face so many discrimination
going toward them. So in Harlem they make their own communities where they
can feel safer and welcomed.
With so many bad influences surround the brother’s life as they have no choice
because of the situation, he is living his life as a teacher. He is unable to leave the
situation and also not let himself drowning in the darkness of Harlem. But Sonny
is different he is able to leave Harlem but later he was found out to be imprisoned
because of heroine. We know that black people are familiar with drugs. They use
them as a way to escape from reality and also for earn living. They are selling it
and use it themselves. It has always been hard for black people to compete in
economy in America. because of the Jewish ,who held the economy, hate black
people so much. So left with no choice black people sell what they can to survive
and also going through the cultural poverty because the lack of economy chances
that given to them.
We have to know that black people use or sell drugs not because they want to die
but it’s because they really want to live and they think by rely it on drugs they can
live but we also have to remember that once we try it even at first we say we can
stop it but in reality is we can’t and we will find that we rely on it deeper. And in
no time we will find ourselves want more and more until we can’t think rationally.
We will get it in anyway even by hurting other people.
This Sonny’s problem with drug addiction also causes a thing with their
brotherhood relationship. Because it makes it looks like the brother unable to
protect Sonny’s from all the bad influences happen in that situation. And looks
like the brother only focuses on himself and have a more stable life but if we see
deeper actually he is trapped mentally. He has a hard time to express his emotions
and obviously it affect his relationship with Sonny. Unlike his brother, Sonny
might be imprisoned but he is not really trapped mentally because he has music
that allows him to escape from all the problems that happens in that area. Sonny
is not afraid to be different unlike his brother that let his insecurities filled in
himself.
The first contrast that we can find in this story is when they compare the darkness.
Darkness in their lives and darkness in the movies. Their lives is the reality and
movies as their dream. The movies make them dream again and brought them to
another darkness and without they knowing they will feel more lonely than they
already are. Because they’re actually trapped in between their reality and their
dreams. What makes people dream is because their reality is far from their
expectation. What they expect for their life is far from their reality that’s why they
keep compare their life and search for other things and make themselves look
more pathetic.
There’s a dialogue where the brother said, “Look. I haven’t seen Sonny for over
a year,...”. they are brothers but why they never communicate to each other for
over a year even they live in the same area. From my point of view to this is they
have their own problems to solve and Sonny’s doesn’t want to become a burden
to his brother and of course Sonny wants to break free from there and as I said
before the brother is mentally trapped and because of the situation too it’s hard
for him to dream bigger like what Sonny bravely do.
When Sonny is in the prison, the brother finally decided to write Sonny a letter
and Sonny write back to him too. And the letter make the brother feels like a
bastard. I think the brother feels very guilty towards Sonny because when brothers
are usually supposed to protect each other but they ignore each other and by this
letter we can see the brother that usually hard to express himself trying to reach
out or make up with Sonny. And also from the way Sonny write his letter we can
see a little bit of Sonny’s character. From his letter, he sound so kind and he
doesn’t blame his brother for what happened to him and this is also the reason
why after read Sonny’s letter the brother feels like a bastard.
Another Contrast we can see in the text is “Those who got out always left
something of themselves behind, as some animals amputate a leg and leave it in
the trap.” We know that the brother and Sonny managed to escape from their
reality in their own ways but they can’t forget the situation they’re once lived and
the horrible neighborhood. In order to get a better thing or left bad things there is
always something that we have to sacrifice. Both of them want a better life and
what they have to sacrifice is their brotherhood.
After out from the prison the brother take Sonny to his house and also know that
he is bringing Sonny to the danger Sonny almost died trying to escape from. I
think it must have relation to the conflict between Sonny and his brother’s family
and his brother really sure that Sonny will try to escape again. Because the brother
also know that his wife is cannot fully accept Sonny’s existence in their family
and from the text his brother wife is only trying to be kind to Sonny because he is
his husband brother.
And if we see the flashback about Sonny’s family. Sonny is the apple of his
father’s eye. It means that his father loves Sonny the most but because of the
“same privacy” they have, it’s hard for them to express themselves to other person
and it’s harder because it’s the people they love and from the text we can know
why their father act like that. It’s all because the tragedy experience of their father.
The tragedy that happens between their father and their father’s brother and
because of the tragedy, it effects the relationship between Sonny and his father.
Because of the horrible accident that cause their father’s brother looks like nothing
but blood and pulp, it also makes their father become so traumatic and until the
day he died though he cannot forget the white men that cause his brother accident.
We can see how the white men discrimination to black people in that area that
time brought pain to the black people like Sonny’s father and still unforgettable
even until now. we see that their parents actually love them so much and don’t
want them to be unseparable and protect each other but their mom can feels

something will happen to Sonny and it really did happen and his brother can’t
really can protect Sonny from that thing to happening.
Sonny and his jazz music is the expression on how Sonny escapes from reality.
But his brother doesn’t really can understand Sonny and his music because of the
difference of personality between Sonny and his brother and their diferrence in
seeing things. People ought to do what they want to do but as black people they
can’t do what they want to do. Everyone wants freedom including black people
but they can’t get it as easy as other people does. So that’s why when Sonny said
he wants to be a musician his brother can’t really relate to Sonny and if you see
the dialogue, Sonny is actually a really good boy that raised in wrong situation.
He wants to go to India to volunteer to help other people and his dream is really
pure, which is to be a jazz musician. If he’s not a good boy how can he cares about
his brotherhood with hiw own brother or care about his brother’s family.
We can see how Sonny feels so suffocated until he says he doesn’t want to stay
in Harlem no more and just want to join the navy or army. This sentence is show
how freedom means to Sonny. He needs freedom to do whatever he wants
including doing music. And to answer a quetion about black people’s music that
have so many repetition because it’s follow the culture of the african.And now his
brother was right that Sonny in the end will try to escape again because of their
difference.
About Sonny and his brother’s wife Isabel and Isabel’s family don’t seem really
smooth. Sonny fully understand what happen. Even he lives at Isabel’s it won’t
solve the problem. He knows that his existence itself will cause so many problem
to the family. Sonny interested in freedom but Isabel’s family is not really into
that kind of thing. they re the type that accept whatever the situation offers to them
but Sonny is very unlike them. So in conclusion, Isabel’s family and Sonny just
don’t understand each other. And Isabel’s family feel that Sonny is so ungrateful
to them for all the things they had sacrificed for Sonny. And make Sonny feels
that he is accepted by Isabel’s family because of his brother. And this thing
between Sonny and Isabel’s family is another conflict for Sonny because his
existence and his music that means everything to Sonny was actually a tortured
for everyone. How do you feel that something that means the world for you was
actually a burden for other people. For me, it will be so sad and painful for the
same time how people don’t support the thing you love the most and make you
give up on it when it is the source of happiness from all the horrible things that
happens in your life or your way to escape from this painful reality.

“My trouble made his real” this is what his brother said when he suddenly think
of Sonny. He is thinking of Sonny when he just lost his little daughter. So this
sentence means that only in his grieving time or in his hard time he remember of
Sonny. So tragedy makes people remember and understand humanity. I think this
kinds of things really happen a lot for example that some people will start doing
good things when they’re already ever experience the bad things.
So his brother’s family go to church and we will conclude that they are christian.
Why black people choose christian as their religion and also they are known that
they’re more religious that the whites. It’s because of what this religion offers to
them is what they really want in their life, which is freedom. They go to church
not because they want to believe it but they want to escape the horrible reality
they have to face and wish by involved in this religion it can give them the ability
to express freedom. And also there is a person called Jesus that love people very
much and they think they will be saved. And also it’s sort of their way to find their
identity.
Even there is so many conflict that happen between Sonny and his brother. His
brother still attempts to get along with Sonny even it sounds so empty and full of
lie but at least he tries to become a better brother for Sonny. And also Sonny got
the courage to tell all his darkness to his brother. “I can’t forget- where I’ve been.
I don’t mean just the physical place i’ve been, I mean where i’ve been and what
i’ve been” this sentence is not only for Sonny but also the black people. This is
such an important words for the black people and this also what the writer want
to say to the black people and also the reader. This is all about the things that the
black people have been went through all this time. They seem alright but they
can’t forget.
At the end, Sonny got the chance to prove something to his brother. About the
thing that means the world to him, which is music. And his brother finally see
what music means to Sonny and have to admits that it’s not easy and Sonny
belongs there. And know that this is Sonny’s world. And himself feels the freedom
that fills around the place when Sonny plays music. About the “blues” in this text,
blues means sad feeling and also blues is a melancholic music of black American
folk origin. So it can means two, Sonny’s blues is about Sonny’s sad feeling or
about the music genre that Sonny’s play as musician.
And to end the analysis, there is another quetion that have to be answered, “ Why
Sonny Involved in drugs?” it’s because of what the drugs did to him. it makes him
forget about the suffering and by forget about the suffering it also makes him
relieve and have more courage to live and survive. But it’s all happen if he has the
drugs. No one doesn’t suffer and no easy way out from it. and Sonny thinks drugs
is the best way to deal with his suffering. And he is only thinking drugs as his way
to survive not to die. He thought he has the control of the drugs but we all know
no one can control drugs, once we try it the drugs will control us. and in the text
he is also telling his brother the reason why he wanted to leave Harlem so bad was
to get away from drugs but even he tries to leave the place the drugs doesn’t leave
him so he said that nothing had changed, he’s just get older. How once drugs
affect our lives is really impactful.
The discrimination that black people have to face is still happens until now and
the pain people cause towards them is still there. And from this story, they escape
reality through many kinds of thing, the common things is, drugs, alcohol and
music. We can’t change people’s views and even harder to make them understand
when people already have such a negative thing towards something. But it’s not
a harm to try. because everyone deserves the same right to express freedom
regardless their skin colour, race or religion. No one born with the knowledge to
discriminate the minority or differentiate skin colours but the situation that already
happens from generation to generation teach us that and also history.