The Cup of My Fury

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“Oh Honey,” She said, ‘there’s a lot of that you don’t know. But you are going to find it out,’…’You got to hold on to your brother,’ She said, ‘and don’t let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you get with him. You going to be evil with him many a time. But don’t you forget what I told you, you hear?’ ‘I won’t forget,’ I said. ‘Don’t you worry, I won’t forget. I won’t let nothing happen to Sonny.’ My mother smiled as though she were amused at something she saw in my face. Then, ‘You may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you’s there.” (40)

His complete lack of understanding of his mother’s words further proves how naive he is. He is so focused on keeping things “safe” he is unable to understand what his mother was trying to say. Author Charles Duncan wrote, “This exchange reveals more than a simple misinterpretation. The Narrator cannot distinguish here between what his mother actually tells him…and what he thinks she wants him to do.” Throughout Sonny’s Blues the narrator and Sonny fight an inner battle of confusion. Both brothers finally find peace with Sonny’s homecoming.

The Narrator believes that he escaped becoming another statistic. He has been able to obtain the “American Dream.” However when confronted with Sonny and his drug use he is forced to question this belief. After the Narrator and Sonny reconcile their relationship, the Narrator’s eyes are opened. He finally sees that he is still very much a part of the ghetto he grew up in but also that there is no shame in this. There is a moment when the Narrator struggles with accepting Sonny being recovered from his drug use. He, like so many others who have dealt with an addict, finds it difficult to believe Sonny is no longer using drugs. He is paralyzed with fear until Sonny comes home and decides to open a channel of communication. It is the first the brother’s are able to be honest. They have found away, even if it’s a bit sketchy, to listen to one another. To find common ground and truly heal the wounds they have inflicted on eachother. The Narrator decides to attend a performance of Sonny’s not knowing that it will be a life changing event. He sits in the audience listening and watching his brother became a part of the music. It is in that moment he finally understands. He understands that Sonny has found away to escape the hardships. That through all his trials and tribulation, redemption is finally his. “Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life” (52)…”Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that we would never be free until we did” (53). The narrator finally breaks free from the cage of entrapment. He internalize that being in Harlem can’t hold him back, that his brother’s drug use wasn’t something he could have stopped and that his memories won’t haunt him any longer. He may not fully understand Sonny’s Blues but at least now, he can hear them.

Kimberly Creech

Professor Leano

English 101

26 May 2015

Work Cited

James Baldwin “Sonny’s Blues” The Story and Its Writer An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed.Ann Charters. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s 2015. 725-29. Print.

Albert, Richard N. "The Jazz-Blues Motif in James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues." College Literature 11.2 (1984): 178-185. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Christopher Giroux. Vol. 90. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. Literature Resource Center. Web. 08 May 2015

Bieganowski, Ronald. "James Baldwin's Vision of Otherness in 'Sonny's Blues' and Giovanni's Room." CLA Journal 32.1 (Sept. 1988): 69-80. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Christopher Giroux. Vol. 90. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. Literature Resource Center. Web. 08 May 2015.

Hicks, Jennifer. "An overview of “Sonny's Blues”." Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 08 May 2015.

Norton, Sandy Morey. "'To Keep from Shaking to Pieces': Addiction and Bearing Reality in 'Sonny's Blues.'." The Languages of Addiction. Ed. Jane Lilienfeld and Jeffrey Oxford. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. 175-192. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 229. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 08 May 2015.

Reid, Robert. "The Powers of Darkness in 'Sonny's Blues.'." CLA Journal 43.4 (June 2000): 44453. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 98. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resource Center. Web. 08 May 2015.

Duncan, Charles. “Learning to listen to ‘Sonny’s Blues”. Obsidian II. 9.2 (Fall- Winter 1994): pl. From Literature Resource Center. 1994 Illinois State University, Department of English. Web. 08 May 2015.

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