James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues:” A Psychological Review

Todd Wyatt Bogan UMUC Spring 2015
English 303 – Analysis Paper One Professor Kamille Stone Stanton


James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues:" A Psychological Review

James Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues" is filled with the psychological juxtaposition of admiration and contempt but concludes by alluding that two decisively different brothers may yet reconcile their differences. The story of the brothers (who make very different choices in life) is a portrait of their struggle to deal with their own internal and external conflicts. The tale of a banal middle school math teacher minding his brother who is a heroin dealer/abuser/struggling musician is set in Harlem, New York - in the 1950's. Over many struggles, it's suggested at the end of the story that the two black brothers will ultimately reconcile their love and trust in one another - and in themselves. A bird's eye view of the story's psychological narrative leads me to believe (amongst other things) that "Sonny's Blues" is an mini-epic Harlem odyssey about two brother's finding their paths through the extremities of excess and deficiency in dealing with each other - and themselves.
The story is not just about the two brothers judging each other but it is also about them judging themselves and coming to a reckoning with who they are. Elaine Ognibene quotes Barbara Stanford in the English Journal from her article "Black Literature Revisted: Sonny's Blues;" Ms. Stanford wrote, "it is a relief to recognize our own struggle to find ourselves" Ognibene, page 36. Elaine goes on to write,
Returning to the house, he again senses the impending danger that self-knowledge brings, and Baldwin has him reiterate his avowed purpose: "I was trying to find something out about my brother." What the author leaves unsaid is that he is also searching for a lost part of himself. When Sonny's brother loses himself in reminiscence, Baldwin, in a classic dialogue of non-communication, reveals the true relationship that exists between the brothers. Page 37.

I speculate this story is something of a thematic adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. I believe the brothers' conflicts not only exist because of where they were born, and the family that they were brought into (and its past) but also from each other as they each choose starkly different paths in life. The elder brother narrates the story and is the most conservative of the two. While he chooses a safer and wiser path through life, I believe he subconsciously carries a grudge against his brother because he is jealous for not having "lived" or experienced life more on the edge like his younger brother did through his vicarious music career. The elder brother's insecurities center not just on taking care of his reckless little brother but he doubts his own conservative lifestyle which has led him to the nothingness that is his own mediocrity. The younger of the two brothers follows his heart with his career choice but also pays a greater price in life for not being able to think more with his head. The younger brother's insecurities largely stem from his choice to become a drug user - and at the end of the story, it's alluded that perhaps he realizes just how much damage this choice has negatively influenced his own life and may once and for all rise above his dependency on them.

A key part of the story exposes the brothers' differences in dealing with their internal and external conflicts when they are having a discussion about the nature of "suffering."

"Well you know," he said [Sonny], impatiently, "why do people suffer? Maybe it's better to do something to give it a reason, any reason."
"But we just agreed," I said, "that there's no way not to suffer. Isn't it better, then, just to – take it?"
"But nobody just takes it," Sonny cried, "that's what I'm telling you!" Everybody tries not to. You're just hung up on the way some people try – it's not your way!" Mays, Page 94.


This dialogue lays out their power struggle over how they each respectively maintain different worldviews over suffering (which I extend to mean "conflict") - as well as their attempt to rectify their opposing points of view. The dialogue reveals a fundamental agreement that they (like everyone else) suffer. It's left unsaid (but obvious) that their lives have seen a lot more of it since they are both poor black men from Harlem. Sonny also seems to be defending his drugs use as an acceptable form of "escapism" for his suffering. The end of passage is important because Sonny indirectly informs his elder brother that he needs try to find Sonny's worldview paradigm instead of visa versa. This is exactly what happens at the story's conclusion when the elder brother finally appears to come to terms with who his brother is.
After a dizzying array of flashbacks, the story's conclusion is made in the immediate present. It takes place in a bar where the elder son has gone to see Sonny perform - after Sonny has spent time in jail for a drug conviction. The long-lasting narrative of criticism that comes from his elder brother throughout the story finally transforms as he watches his brother play that evening. This part of the story which is written more like a poem, breaks away from the elder brother's reticent narrative and brings forth a generous new free-flowing thought process as the older brother "takes in" and finally understands and accepts his brother. The final line of the story offers a simile that hints at the epiphany the elder brother is experiencing – but its biblical context must also be understood.

"... it glowed and shook about my brother's head like the very cup of trembling." Mays, page 100.

Marlene Mosher wrote in her article "Baldwin's Sonny's Blues" for the Explicator a detailed explanation of what this means:

This allusion to the lords removal of "The cup of trembling,...the bowl of my wrath" from the people of Jerusalem, of His assuring them that, they "have drunk to the dregs the cup of trembling,...you shall drink no more" (Isaiah 51: 17-22) suggests, first, that Sonny has completely overcome his weakness for drugs and can now remain a successful musician. Second, it reinforces the idea that the elder brother will no longer attempt to "control" Sonny's behavior and will no longer show his disapproval when Sonny falls short of his older brother's expectations. Sonny has achieved his full "freedom." Mosher, page 59


"Sonny's Blue's" is a complex psychological journey for both the story's characters and its readers. For me (at the moment) it is largely a story about the philosophical lesson of finding "the middle path" – The Golden Mean. How Sonny and his brother attempt to balance their own lives (and their views of each other) between their collective excesses and deficiencies is somewhat obscure through all the details of the story - but it is there. So what is the metaphor of "the middle path" in this story? The path is the brothers' journey to not only discover their own identities but it shows how they mature in their abilities to have individual and mutual respect for each other. This new understanding between them will ultimately set them both "free" of the conflict derived by their emotional dissonance.


Works Cited

Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Portable 11th ed. New York: W W Norton &, 2014. Print.
Mosher, Marlene. "Baldwin's SONNY's BLUES." Explicator 40.4 (1982): 59. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.
Ognibene, Elaine R. "Black Literature Revisited: 'Sonny's Blues'." The English Journal 1971: 36. JSTOR Journals. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.


Annotated Bibliography

Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Portable 11th ed. New York: W W Norton &, 2014. Print. Pages 73-100
This is the main story of "Sonny's Blues." It is the primary source for my reading. It is a story about two black brothers who grow up in Harlem, New York.

Mosher, Marlene. "Baldwin's SONNY's BLUES." Explicator 40.4 (1982): 59. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Jan. 2015. Page 59
This short article explains the final three sentences of "Sonny's Blues." The Christian allusion to "the cup of trembling" from the biblical chapter of Isaiah explains how Sonny might have gotten past his drug use and how his elder brother might not attempt to control his life anymore.

Ognibene, Elaine R. "Black Literature Revisited: 'Sonny's Blues'." The English Journal 1971: 36. JSTOR Journals. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. Pages 36-37
This is another short article that skims over some relevant points for my essay. It mentions how "identity" is a key theme in the story. It also brings up how both Sonny and his brother are "searching" for something about each other and also themselves.