The Differences Between Two Brothers in James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues"

In James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," the two brothers differ significantly. One brother is a schoolteacher who lives a very mundane life in an attempt to block himself from all the "excitement" of his brother Sonny's life. After he finds out that his brother has been arrested for possessing and selling heroin, he continues to teach all day. He has learned how to turn himself to ice in order to avoid any of his feelings. I think he represents the way many average people deal with stress or pain. They learn how to block those feelings. Sonny's brother represents the average, middle class person. The scotch and milk hover over him in the end the way many people are just one step away from giving into temptation in an attempt to deal with life.

Sonny, on the other hand, deals with his emotions head on, rather that be through drugs or music. He is actually the more courageous of the two brothers and represents people who choose to face life head on. Sonny plays his music as if he were "playing for his life." In Sonny's world, Sonny is a star, as the narrator experiences when he goes to see Sonny play. Rather than disliking his brother for the trouble he gets into, he comes to admire him somewhat for putting himself and his emotions out there. Sonny struggles to find the answers in his life and ends up finding them in drugs until he begins to confront his pains with music.

It seems that the two brothers and the way they deal with life encompass all of us at some point or another. Either we try to block our pain like the brother and turn to ice. Or we give in to the temptation of finding some substance or habit in order to help us deal with life in general. And one is always just a step away from doing something that could both help us and harm us. "Sonny's Blues" is an interesting story for that reason. Baldwin captures the struggles that we all must face.