“Assignment Description: In this essay, you will draw upon all of the skills you have developed as a writer in your previous assignments. At the same time, you will further deepen and demonstrate your understanding of the subject matter explored in the reading for the course. You have been studying how Freud views the relationship between individual desires and social influences, and you have read, discussed, and written about

different works of literature with Freud’s ideas in mind. You must include and cite Freud in your research and writing. The Freud you use should ONLY be the assigned Freudian texts. No outside Freudian texts or sources. Additionally, two scholarly articles are required as outside sources.”

The story I chose for my CRA Essay was James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues

Here are my notes on Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”:

First complete draft with Peer review:

Final Draft of the CRA Essay:

We’re Nothing Without It

Unpredictable, unfair, and survival are just the bare minimum of ways to describe life. James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” takes place when racial injustice was apparent and unfair limitations were placed on people of color. The short “Sonny’s Blues” focuses on the suppressed lifestyle Sonny experiences while living in Harlem through his brother’s perspective. The short story shows Sonny’s downfalls through his drug addiction and going to jail. However, the short story also shows his path to triumph through his passion for Jazz music, which mimics an individual’s path in life. In the short story “Sonny’s Blues,” Baldwin uses Sonny’s brother’s perspective and the setting of Harlem to illustrate Sonny’s redemption in life which through Freud’s concept of artistic expression represents Baldwin’s critique that society needs expression to prosper through life’s hardships. 

James Baldwin uses Harlem as the setting for his short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” because Harlem, during the 1940s, was stereotyped as an area of individuals of color with no future. Baldwin’s choice to have the short story in Harlem shows the reader the suppressed environment Sonny lives in and mimics the unfair racial hardships that individuals of color face. In the article “Marginalized Identities and Spaces: James Baldwin’s Harlem, New York,” written by Sirpa Salenius, researcher of the University of Tokoyo, states, “Harlem epitomizes Baldwin’s racially and sexually subordinate characters who struggle to accept their subjectivity and surroundings. In many of his novels, Baldwin’s black and white figures appear in intercommunal tension in specific spaces and environments” (Salenius 884). Likewise, Baldwin’s incorporation of Harlem in his short stories helps him amplify the stereotype of individuals of color which is that they have no hope for a prosperous future. This contributes to Baldwin’s critique of society because without support and artistic expression, human beings can not prosper through life’s hardships. For example, at the beginning of Baldwins’ short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” Sonny falls into heroin addiction, considered the “norm” in Harlem during that period, “He hadn’t ever turned hard or evil or disrespectful, the way kids can, so quick, so quick, especially in Harlem. I didn’t want to believe that I’d ever see my brother going down, coming to nothing, all that light in his face gone out, in the condition I’d already seen so many others. Yet it had happened” (Baldwin 1). However, In “Sonny’s Blues,” Sonny finds a new and acceptable purpose for his life, “I mean, I’ll have a lot of studying to do, and I’ll have to study everything, but, I mean, I want to play with – jazz musicians.” (Baldwin 10). It’s evident Sonny found a new purpose/passion for his life, playing piano with Jazz musicians, which shows Baldwin’s perspective on the ability artistic expression has on society’s ability to overcome life’s hardships. Furthermore, Sonny finds a form of artistic expression which, according to Freud in his “Five Lecture of Psycho-Analysis,” individuals with an artistic gift “Can transform his phantasies into artistic creations instead of into symptoms” (Freud 2235), this shows Sonny’s expression, through Jazz, helps him gain a new motive for a new life. Overall, Baldwin believes society needs a form of expression to triumph against life’s obstacles, which is seen through Sonny’s journey through unfair suppression in Harlem to finding his passion for Jazz music which through a Freudian lens is known as artistic expression. 

Society often witnesses one’s potential and contributes to one’s success but also their failure. In James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” Baldwin decides to tell the story through Sonny’s brother’s perspective to show the reader the contribution Sonny’s brother had towards Sonny’s redemption in life. Furthermore, according to CMHA British Columbia, a mental health association, “The best support often comes from the people you are closest to in your life. Receiving support from the people you are close to may be more beneficial to your physical and emotional health than support from people you don’t know well” (CMHA BC n.p.), which shows Baldwin’s choice to tell “Sonny’s Blues” through Sonny’s brother’s perspective to show the readers the significance that support has towards guiding someone back on the right path in life. In the short story “Sonny’s Blues,” the narrator, Sonny’s brother, states, “Sonny, please. Be reasonable. I know the setup is far from perfect. But we got to do the best we can” (Baldwin 11), and near the end of the story Sonny’s brother “He didn’t seem to notice it, but just before they started playing again, he sipped from it and looked toward me, and nodded. Then he put it back on top of the piano. For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother’s head like the very cup of trembling” (Baldwin 16). This shows Sonny’s appreciation and awareness towards his brother trying to always be there for him, which consumes the reader with a feeling of realization because they see Sonny grow into something better from an outsider’s perspective which represents society watching individuals grow into a greater version of themselves. This shows Baldwin’s critique on society, that society needs support to overcome life’s hardships, which according to Freud in his “Five Lecture of Psycho-Analysis,” “both sympathy and interest, even though, to begin with, he did not know how to help her” (Freud 8) show that individuals must have support, regardless of their current circumstance which is represented in “Sonny’s Blues” through the raw care and support Sonny’s brother shows when it’s most needed.

In essence, Balwin’s choice of having the narrator be Sonny’s brother in the short story “Sonny’s Blues” symbolizes society watching individuals grow from “nothing” to “something” just like Sonny’s brother saw Sonny change from an addict to a musician. Furthermore, Baldwin’s choice of choosing Harlem as the setting in his short story, “Sonny’s Blues” helps the audience see the emotional impact Sonny’s passion for Jazz and his brother’s support had on his redemption in life. Overall, Balwin’s choice to use Harlem and Sonny’s brother’s perspective shows Baldwin’s critique that society needs expression to prosper through life’s hardships which through Freud’s concept of artistic expression is seen true in “Sonny’s Blues.”

 Citations 

Freud, Sigmund. “Five Lectures On Psycho-Analysis.” FIVE LECTURES OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS, Clark University, Worcester Massachusetts, Sept. 1909, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b446/cfb00094a2e62f82e8c8e430581891ca4e47.pdf?_ga=2.153662776.1893964575.1597526595-1709737971.1597526595

Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” Published 1957. https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-59992955-dt-content-rid-462587838_1/xid-462587838_1 

Salenius, Sirpa. “Marginalized Identities and Spaces: James Baldwin’s Harlem, New York.” 

Journal of black studies, 2016-11-01, Vol.47 (8), p.883-902, Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, July. 2016, https://na07.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/action/uresolver.do?operation=resolveService&package_service_id=26272291380006121&institutionId=6121&customerId=6120 

Author: CMHA BC and Anxiety Canada. “Wellness Module 3: Social Support.” Wellness Module 3: Social Support | Here to Help, https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/wellness-module/wellness-module-3-social-support