“Sonny’s Blues” took place in Manhattan, mostly in the Harlem area and a bit of the West Village. The setting is significant because it portrays the struggles and overall mood of living in the area at that time. The quote, “We hit 110th Street and started rolling up Lenox Avenue. And I’d known this avenue all my life, but it seemed to me again, as it had seemed on the day I’d first heard about Sonny’s trouble, filled with a hidden menace which was its very breath of life.” is the first time the narrator depicts the area as negative, recalling Sonny’s drug use and what got them to that moment of him coming home from jail. It acknowledges that the environment exposed young people to drugs and other dangerous situations. The following paragraph includes, “The playground is most popular with the children who don’t play at jacks, or skip rope, or roller skate, or swing, and they can be found in it after dark.” to describe the amenities of the housing project they reside in- this hints that it isn’t innocent children who are found in the playground, but younger people who are up to no good, potentially involving drugs.
The narrator and his brother have a volatile relationship; the two care about each other but never seem to understand one another due to an age gap and differing interests. As the story goes on and they mature, they make greater attempts to accept and understand each other through conversation and Sonny exposing the narrator to his hidden life of music. The dialogue between the brothers in the passage below stands out as a moment where they form a bond of understanding. Sonny opens up about how he could potentially relapse, and rather than the narrator having a negative reaction, he is patient and understanding.
“It can come again,” he said, almost as though speaking to himself. Then he turned to me. “It can come again,” he repeated. “I just want you to know that.”
“All right,” I said, at last. “So it can come again. All right.”
He smiled, but the smile was sorrowful. “I had to try to tell you,” he said.
“Yes,” I said. “I understand that.”
“You’re my brother,” he said, looking straight at me, and not smiling at all.
“Yes,” I repeated, “yes. I understand that.”
Having read the story, what is one question you have about it that you feel you’d like to explore in more depth? Explain why this question is important to you.
After reading “Sonny’s Blues,” one question that I’d like to explore more in-depth is the very ending of the story- what does the narrator’s realization of music “saving” Sonny look like? The last paragraph is a profound moment where the narrator is watching Sonny play piano on stage and comes to terms with the fact that his playing is a way of releasing pain and suffering. Is that enough for him to stay clean? Music is an escape for many, but Sonny also mentioned that most musicians are users, and drugs are also an “escape” from reality. While it is a heartfelt moment when the narrator witnesses Sonny’s love for jazz, hopefully it is sustainable and being back in that environment does not end in relapse.
