Sonny's Blues

First of all, i need to admit that this post is late, because i was sick last night and today. Unfortunately i was not able to complete this on time. When i read this story, i decided to read it backwards, by reading the story first, then the bio about the author, James Baldwin. Surprisingly, they were not much different. Maybe i should have read the bio first, because it would have provided better insight into the story as i was reading it. But either way, they were shockingly similar. Baldwin's story 'Sonny's Blues' was a very good image of how life can be. Just like the bio says, Baldwin paints a very vivid and intricate picture of how the pain of life can give us the blues. This story ties into everything that we have read so far into this course because it was real. This happens in real life. One of the most amazing things for me was the part that the bio states that James used to read to escape or to get away from the pain of life. In the story, sonny played the piano in a jazz band to get away from the pain of life. It seems also that one part of the story, when sonny was supposed to be going to school, but instead was playing music with his buddies at a white girls apartment, was an escape from life, or avoiding the drugs and pain of life. This story was very intricate and it can be very confusing as it takes you for a ride of sharp turns and hidden turns, but it was very cool to read. One thing that also came out in the story was the part about racism. The bio states that James dealt with this and his story deals with it as well. For example, sonny's dad's brother was killed by drunk white men in a car. This part of the story was very disturbing. One thing that i want to give credit to the author for, was his descriptions of the characters. In this story, you find out a little bit about each character as you are reading. The plot, problems, and the character, event the settings progress as you read the story. The more you read, the more you begin to understand what is going on and what is happening. The more you read, the more you get to know the characters and the plot. I found, like the book 'A Grief Observed', that there is a lot that can be taken away from this story. For example, the scene when sonny is playing piano at the club. The music that is being played is not just notes, but a life story that is floating through the air. There is pain and passion behind that music that is coming from that piano in this story. It was his way of expressing himself in life. I loved that theme in this book, as we all have different ways of expressing or venting our pain and problems in life.