"Sonny's Blues"

 

"Sonny's Blues"

Outside sources for Baldwin:

http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/big-picture-small-picture-context-for-james-baldwins-sonnys-blues/

http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap10/baldwin.html

 http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin.html?scp=3&sq=james%20baldwin&st=cse

http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/Baldwin.htm

https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1016&context=fgv

https://discover.hubpages.com/literature/Sonnys-Blues-by-James-Baldwin-A-Critical-Analysis

https://discover.hubpages.com/literature/Sonnys-Blues-by-James-Baldwin-A-Critical-Analysis

https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/david.brenner/engl2327/course-materials-read-and-re-read-religiously/copy_of_argument-research-termpaper-essay/sample-essays-ideological-critical-analysis/sample-essay-a-on-james-baldwin-story/at_download/file

https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/EIUC/article/download/EIUC9696110175A/8460

https://medium.com/world-literature/surviving-and-suffering-ed3c3a94bc94

Harlem Information:

https://guides.loc.gov/harlem-renaissance

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/08/magazine/harlem-in-the-jazz-age.html?src=pm

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/negro-artist-and-racial-mountain/

https://bahai-library.com/buck_america-mosaic_harlem_renaissance

http://www.history.com/topics/harlem-renaissance


Below is the Bible scripture that Baldwin refers to:
“The cup of trembling”
22
Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:
23
But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over

THESE QUESTIONS ARE JUST MEANT FOR ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ANSWER THESE OR HAND THEM IN!

1)    At one point the narrator says that Sonny was playing “playing for his life”; what does this quotation mean to you? Explain

2)   Can you find a place in the story where Baldwin makes use of the images of darkness and light? Explain the use of light and darkness

3)   Reread the exchange between the narrator and Sonny's friend. How would you characterize the narrator's behavior and feelings towards Sonny's friend? Is the narrator kind, cruel, compassionate, abrupt, empathic, angry? Explain your view and the evidence supporting it. Why does the narrator react the way he does?

4)   Critics have said that “Sonny’s Blues” is a story about hope but that hope is tempered by knowledge of terrible dangers.