ESSAY: Sonny’s Blues

In this assignment, you will refine that thesis and essay even further and develop your argument. You are required to incorporate your instructor’s feedback in your Final Paper and to take peer feedback into consideration.
In your paper,
•Create a detailed introduction that contains a thesis that offers a debatable claim based on one of the prompts on the list.
•Apply critical thought by analyzing the primary source you selected from the approved List of Literary Works. Avoid summary and personal reflection.
•Develop body paragraphs that contain clear topic sentences and examples that support the argument.
•Write a conclusion that reaffirms the thesis statement and includes a summary of the key ideas in essay.
•Apply your knowledge of literary elements and other concepts in your response to the prompt. Reference the list of literary techniques found in Week Two of the course and discussion forums.
•Incorporate research from the primary and secondary sources.

ANSWER

Sonny’s Blue has its setting in Harlem, New York City which is a historical town best known for large population of African American. Even as the neighbourhood enjoyed much acclaim from the Harlem Renaissance, it still remained one of the most impoverished neighbourhoods in New York. Most historians asserted that it was the hallmark of oppression in the early 50s when Sonny Blues took place (Francis, 2014). As the birthplace of James Baldwin, Harlem becomes an integral part of his upbringing and play critical role in the setting of the story. Imprisonment remains the main motif in the story, since Harlem is depicted as a trap where the narrator of the story and his brother undergo a lot of suffering to escape,   Not only is the narrator’s brother physically imprisoned in the course of the story but also repeatedly uses “trapped” as an emphasis of the neighbourhood where the brothers live. According to this short story, getting trapped in suffering in a not a permanent state of affairs as one must struggle to acquit themselves from such situations.

                Moreover, when suffering is channelled through art, it brings a redemptive potential. The narrator attaches emphasis on suffering as cage that trapped the two brothers. Their rough neighbourhood could explain their anger and devastation beyond words. Since the narrator recognizes the integral role of suffering to production of art, he becomes an advocate of music. For instance, Sonny recognizes the vital role of music when he gives a comment on how one of the revival singers may have underwent a lot of suffering in order to sing such a beautiful song. From that end, he opined that when one bears suffering creatively it becomes one powerful tool that connects people wonderfully (Gale, 2014). It is through Sonny’s music that the two brother find the essence of redemption and also find a means of ending their different misunderstandings which even led them to drug abuse. Therefore, the narrator’s redemption only becomes possible through music since the suffering his brother endured emboldened them to thrive amidst the suffering they faced.             If darkness represents suffering, then light represents redemption. In this account, the narrator emphasizes on the redemptive nature of blues as he describes them as the only light they have in the face of darkness (Tracy, 2015). Similarly, the author justifies this claim by depicting light through the bandstand which Sonny used while playing in their band. The bright spotlight is therefore a symbol of hope in the face of suffering…