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“Sonny’s Blues”

“Sonny’s Blues”. By James Baldwin. Background Plot Socio-Historical Context Growing up in Harlem Military Service Jazz music, Class Divisions, Racial Politics Characters. Outline. James Baldwin. Born 1924 in Harlem Compared his stern stepfather to Ishmael in Genesis

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“Sonny’s Blues”

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  1. “Sonny’s Blues” By James Baldwin

  2. Background • Plot • Socio-Historical Context • Growing up in Harlem • Military Service • Jazz music, Class Divisions, Racial Politics • Characters Outline

  3. James Baldwin • Born 1924 in Harlem • Compared his stern stepfather to Ishmael in Genesis • First, albeit illegitimate son of Abraham • Forced to wander in the wilderness after legitimate Isaac was born • Ishmael theme apparent in literature • Fled the segregated north for France • Wrote much about black struggles in America

  4. First person, unnamed narrator • Stable family man • Algebra teacher, wife, two sons • Lost Grace at age two • Estranged from Sonny • Story switches from real time to flashbacks, including • Story about uncle getting killed • Sonny’s desire to drop out, lives with Isabel • Ends at the Jazz Club in Greenwich Village Plot Overview

  5. Socio-Historical Setting • Growing up in Harlem • Separate but equal • Predominantly black Harlem, father won’t move out. • Defacto segregation • Narrator’s students. • Narrator begins to understand how such a child can go wrong.

  6. Military Service plays important role in the story. • Blacks have long history of serving in American military • Many hope service to country would prove worthy and gain respect from whites. Socio-Historical Setting

  7. Two black communities • Sonny’s vs. The narrators • Narrator’s community • Middle class • Downplay barriers to their success • Believe they can improve their standard of living by hard work, determination. • Eventually assimilate into white America • Sonny’s community. • More radical, less accepting of status quo • Struggle against whites fierce • Feel they will always be shut out from privileges whites enjoy. Jazz music, Class Divisions and Racial Politics

  8. Jazz music’s relation • Narrator’s world: • Louis Armstrong • Sonny’s world • Charlie Parker

  9. Is “Sonny’s Blues” a story: • That moralizes against drug use? • That tries to explain why people become addicted to drugs? • About a man’s struggle to kick a drug habit? • About an artist’s struggle to kick a drug habit? • About the effects of drug use on a family? • About ways in which drug use and self-expression can sometimes serve the same purpose? The story

  10. What happens to the brothers at the jazz club? The final scene

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