James Baldwin Critcal Analysis

7 Pages 1632 Words

Breaking Through

In “Sonny’s Blues,” “Notes of a Native Son” and “Man Child,” James Baldwin makes a statement that, although they have much potential, Blacks are constantly pushed down by white society.
“Sonny’s Blues,” a story about two black brothers that are struggling with themselves and the limitations put upon them by society, is a great example of this common theme. The story begins with the narrator, Sonny’s brother, telling us of how he read about his brother being arrested for drug use. Right in first paragraph the narrator depicts reading the newspaper article under the lights in a subway and stared at the article, at other people “and in my own face, trapped in the darkness which roared outside” (pg. 103). This is the first clue to Baldwin’s theme of oppression; Sonny’s brother is letting us know that he has not escaped Harlem and lifestyle that goes along with it. This “Light vs. Dark” example is common throughout the three Baldwin pieces. The story “Man Child” does not have any black characters in it, but Baldwin still manages to put in the “Light vs. Dark” example, when at the end of the story, when Jamie kills Eric, Baldwin states that the “terror and agony and darkness overtook him” (pg. 80). Earlier on in “Man Child” there is a scene where Eric was laying in his mothers arms, in the bright sun, and did not want to get up and leave the light. Then as the situation with Jamie unfolds, Eric is dragged into the darkness which ultimately leads to his death. In “Man Child” Baldwin describes her eyes as lightless, and absence of light is dark, he saw hopelessness and sadness in her eyes, she was trapped in the darkness just like the rest of them.
Reading farther along into “Sonny’s Blues” you learn the Sonny’s brother is an algebra teacher, but in fact he found teaching in Harlem to be hopeless. He knows that he is teaching a bunch of kids who mi...