1. James Baldwin
Sonny’s Blues

2. James Baldwin, 1924-1987 b. Harlem, NYC
mentored by novelist Richard Wright
lived in Paris
marched with Martin Luthor King for Civil Rights

3. prolific: 20+ novels, collections, and non- fiction texts
Go Tell It on the Mountain — autobiographical novel
taught at university in Mass.

4. "I grew up with music, you know, much more than with any other language," he said. "In a way, the music I grew up with saved my life." James Baldwin

5. Louis Armstrong; Charlie Parker (“Bird”)

6. “Sonny’s Blues”
1957; pub in Going to Meet the Man

7. Point of view First person
Tradition of African- American autobiography, narratives of slavery and freedom

8. two sides of African-American experience, assimilation and struggle for one’s own voice

9. art, creating art, being an artist, struggling with art
making something of suffering

10. Symbolism Ice: damming of emotions
Fire: working through the pain; redemption; freedom

11. Plot
Definition: the arrangement of the ACTION; a recounting of an event or series of events

12. Standard plot structure involves CONFLICT

13. Standard plot structure

14. Examples:

15. Plot structure connections between cause and effect
arrangement of moments in time (not all stories are chronological)

16. Eg. “The king died and then the queen died.”
“The queen died after the king died.”

17. Structure:
Beginnings and endings crucial

18. How does “Sonny’s Blues” begin?

19. How is it structured?

20. How does it fit with the standard plot structure?

21. What are the effects of the structure on the story?

22. Compare Baldwin’s narrative style in the nightclub scene to the rest of the story

23. “[T]hey all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played
“[T]hey all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played. Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen. Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others. And Sonny went all the way back [and] began to make it his. It was very beautiful because it wasn't hurried and it was no longer a lament. I seemed to hear with what burning he had made it his, with what burning we had yet to make it ours, how we could cease lamenting.”

24. Ray Charles, “Blues is My Middle Name”