Brothers Relationship in Baldwins Sonnys Blues :: Sonnys Blues Essays

Brothers Relationship in Baldwins Sonnys Blues Sipiora states that, Characters often perceive (or hold up to perceive) the context and implications of the circumstances and relationships they are in. Some partings act in unspoiled faith, whereas others do not. As we examine literary personae, it is especially important to estimate them in terms of how they react to others (77) As Sonnys Blues opens, the narrator tells of his discovery that his younger brother has been arrested for selling and using heroin. Both brothers grew up in Harlem, a neighborhood rife with poverty and despair. Though the narrator teaches teach in Harlem, he distances himself emotionally from the people who live there and their struggles and is close to judgmental and superior. He loves his brother but is distanced from him as well and judgmental of his life and decisions. Though Sonny needs for his brother to understand what he is trying to communicate to him and why he makes the alternatives he makes, the narrator cannot or will not escort what Sonny is trying to convey. In distancing himself from the incommode of upbringing and his surroundings, he has insulated himself from the ability to develop an understanding of his brothers motivations and instead, his disapproval of Sonnys choice to perform a unisonian and his choices regarding the direction of his life in usual is apparent. Before her death, his mother spoke with him regarding his responsibilities to Sonny, telling him, You got to hold on to your brother...and dont allow him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how condemnable you get with him...you may not be able to stop postcode from happening. But you got to let him know youre there (87) His unwillingness to really hear and understand what his brother is trying to tell him is an example of a character failing to act in good faith. The narrators disapproval of Sonnys decision to become a musician stems in part from his view of m usicians in general. His experiences with musicians gravel led him to believe that they are unmotivated, drug users, seeking only die hard from life. He does not really understand what motivates Sonny to play music until the afternoon before he accompanies Sonny to his performance at a club in Harlem. That afternoon, Sonny explains to him that music is his voice, his way of expressing his suffering and purgative his pent-up feelings.