Rhonda Massengill "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin

James Baldwin he was considered one of the most important American black writers of the twentieth century. He was born in Harlem and was the oldest of the nine children. His dad was a minster and a strict man. Baldwin himself became a minister before he started his career as a writer.

“Sonny’s Blues”
In the beginning of the story you think that life couldn’t get any worse for the narrator. The narrator has a brother that is being put in jail for drug abuse. Around the same time his daughter dies (Grace). Earlier in his life he had lost both of his parents.
In the beginning his brother is charged with possession of heroin. The reason that his brother turns to drugs is based on the influence of the environment. It had been several years since he had seen his brother because they had a huge falling out. The only way that he knew that his brother was in jail was because he had seen his name in the newspaper. This is when he decided that he would write to his brother to let him know that he is there for him. They are able to rekindle their relationship.
Then you have the problems that he went through with the lost of his daughter. His daughter was two years old and she had polo. They didn’t know she had polo and thought she had a terrible cold. She ran a fever for a few days and seemed to be fine. His wife all of a sudden heard what she thought was a child had fallen. She went to check on the child and found her child grasping for air. She was not able to breath and shortly died after words.
Lastly we have how he’s parents died. His dad had died of alcohol poisoning and his mother had died but it doesn’t state how she had died. Before she had died she asked the narrator to take care of her little boy. That he was the strong one of the family. That is why the narrator felt obligated to take care of his brother.
One of the greatest passage that I liked in this story was ”Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did”. I loved this passage because the narrator finally realized why music was so important to his brother and to even us today. I love music and I know through music we are able to free ourselves from all our burdens.