T`Sonny`s Blues`(Baldwin)

T Sonny 's Blues by James Baldwin Questions

Pg .1

1 . What is the meaning of Sonny 's Blues

2 . Who is the narrator 3 . What do you think is the reason why the author placed the brother as the narrator

4 . Describe the brother 's relationship . Is it estranged ? Or loving ? Explain

5 . Explain his emotion when he reads about Sonny in the news 6 . What is Sonny 's downfall

7 . How does the narrator learn about Sonny 's downfall

8 . How does this affect the narrator p

What is the narrator 's responsibility to Sonny according to their mother

10 . What is the meaning of the scene with the street singers ?Why does Sonny leave Isabel 's family when the narrator is in the military

Why does the narrator buy Sonny a drink in the end

How does Sonny 's Blues ' end

Is the ending optimistic ? Pessimism ? Or something entirely different explain 15 . How does the narrator use images of darkness and light to tell his story The narrator uses the images of darkness and light to illustrate a symbolic

motif to tell his story . The darkness symbolizes the painful reality of the brothers as well

as the power that the brother 's gain . The darkness is the brother 's harsh reality living in

the streets of Harlem where they are always faced with drugs and crime The streets of

Harlem lures these young men to do drugs as a means to escape poverty Sonny , the main character , is a jazz musician struggling to get gigs . He

becomes addicted to heroin as a way to unleash his creativity . The light represents a life

T . Sonny 's Blues James Baldwin Question

outside of Harlem where there are no drugs , crime . Sonny and the narrator

struggle between getting out of the darkness and into the light throughout the story

-Works Cited-

Sonny 's Blues By James Baldwin Penguin Books (1995...