The focus of this paper will be an examination of how the two brothers in the story respond to a racist environmentÆs efforts to force them to conform to white standards.
ôSonnyÆs Bluesö is rich with meaning on several levels, and a variety of themes can be identified in it. Although racism is one of the least-explored themes, a careful analysis of the story reveals that it is at its heart a story of the misunderstanding inherent in racism.
The news of SonnyÆs drug addiction and arrest is the pivotal point where it is first evident that he is a societal outcast, a miscreant, a rejected one. This identity stands in sharp contrast to that of his brother. Sonny and his brother the narrator are, of course, both black, but since the narrator has adopted lifestyle that is essentially typical for whites, he represents the white side of the race equation. He got married after high school, went into the Army, became a teacher, and settled down to start a family. This is the picture of a ôregular guy,ö a middle-class American. His pursuits and aspirations are also standard, reflecting the good sense and common values that predominated in his era. The narrator tries his best to become the type of solid citizen that everyone respects; the reader gets a hint that this could be his way of overcoming the stigma of his race and trying to fit in with whites by demonstrating his respectability.
The younger brother, Sonny, takes a completely different course in life. Taking a path that is more familiar in black culture(self-expression (in his case, through music), suffering due to racism, and struggling to find a way to deal with the pressures of life, he becomes involved with the heroin trade. In sharp contrast to his older brother, he turns his back on the pretense of respectability and the protection it would afford him from persecution and trouble. Instead, he seems to plunge himself into the very activities that precipit...