Short Story Sonny Blues Essay Example for Free

Short Story Sonny Blues Essay It kept melting, sending trickles of ice water all up and down my veins, but it never got less. † (Baldwin 600) This is not the only time that the ice presents itself. It reappears when the narrator meets one of Sonny’s friends who is also a drug addict, and again later when Sonny is over for dinner with the narrator’s family. The ice that appears whenever the narrator feels an uncomfortable or painful situation represents how the narrator is incapable of dealing with his own emotions well. The ice also allows the reader to empathize with how the narrator feels about how his brother is leading his life. Another symbol Baldwin uses throughout Sonny’s Blues is light and darkness. Throughout the story there is a contrast of light and darkness. For example, in the first paragraph of the story, Sonny’s Blues Baldwin writes, â€Å"I stared at it in the swinging lights of the subway car, and in the faces and bodies of the people, and in my own face, trapped in the darkness which roared outside. † (Baldwin 599) This contrasts the lightness and the darkness. It demonstrates the contrast between his own suffering and the world around him and the suffering of the world. Another example of lightness and darkness Baldwin uses in the short story is when the narrator’s mother is recalling the story of the narrator’s father and his brother she says â€Å"there was a moon that night, it was bright like day. † (Baldwin 607) This is when the narrator’s father and his brother are having a good time and walking home. This brightness of the moon is used to represent the light, which represents all the hope and good things in life. The narrator’s mother later recalls, â€Å"he says he never in his life seen anything as dark as that road after the lights of that car had gone away. (Baldwin 608) Referring to after the narrator’s father’s brother had been hit and killed. The color of the men’s skin also represents the contrast between light and darkness. The men that killed the narrator’s father’s brother were all white and the other two men were dark skinned. This is also an example of the con trasting of light and dark. This shows how the difference of something in the same situation can both have two different results. Meaning that both the light men and the dark men were drunk. They were each also having fun. The situations were both similar, but the end results of each situation were very different. One of the dark men lost their life to the light men. The darkness is used to represent the tormenting and dark moments in the characters lives. The darkness however is always stabilized with lightness. Just like the dark road was stabilized with the lightness of the car lights. This light is used to signify safety and comfort, while the darkness represents the turmoil also looking to destroy that safety and comfort. Another way Baldwin symbolizes the overall theme of suffering is through the character’s facial expressions and interactions. Baldwin writes â€Å"And I watched her face as she laughingly responded to something someone said to her, still keeping time to the music. When she smiled one saw the little girl, one sensed the doomed, still struggling women beneath the battered face of the semi-whore. † (Baldwin 602) This shows that even under her â€Å"battered face† there was still a glimpse of when she was young. The narrator can see her as a young innocent little girl. This shows the reader that there is hope even in suffering. Baldwin is also trying to get his point across that even though one may suffer, the suffering will not change the past and whom you are or have become. Another example of how Baldwin incorporates the facial expressions of his characters to help promote the overall theme of suffering is when the narrator is on the subway in the first few sentences of the short story. He writes, â€Å"I stared at it in the swinging lights of the subway car, and in the faces of the bodies of the people, and in my own face, trapped in the darkness. † (Baldwin 600) This illustrates that not only does the narrator feel and see suffering inside himself and his own face, but he also sees it inside the faces of others and the surroundings around him. This also proves that the overall effect of suffering is visible to one who is suffering themselves, like that of the narrators. Baldwin also promotes the theme of Sonny’s Blues by using the presence of music. The entire short story is loaded with occasions of music. The overall title of the story even contains music. â€Å"Sonny’s Blues†, promotes the tone and theme of suffering throughout the entire story. It provides the reader with information that there will be suffering in the story. Giving them an idea of what is to come before even being read. Another example of music is Sonny’s growing love for playing the piano. The narrator states â€Å"†¦Sonny was so serious about his music and how, as soon as he came in from school, †¦he went straight to that piano and stayed there until suppertime. †, â€Å"He was at the piano all day Saturday and all day Sunday. † (Baldwin 612) This tells the reader of Sonny’s love for music. It illustrates how the music is Sonny’s safety and allows him to not suffer. When Baldwin makes it clear to the reader that Isabel and her mother grow tired of the music, â€Å"it wasn’t like living with a person at all, it was like living with sound. And the sound didn’t make any sense to her, didn’t make any sense to any of them – naturally. (Baldwin 612) This proves that music can both heal suffering but also create it. The music for Sonny was a safety. To Sonny the music made him feel at ease and helped to subside his suffering. It wasn’t until after Sonny stopped playing the piano and his records that he began to truly feel the power of his suffering. Although the music was a medicine to Sonny’s suffering, it was the cause of suffering for Isabel and her mother. This suffering caused Isabel’s mother to snap and yell at Sonny. This caused Sonny to stop playing the piano and thus the true suffering began. Another example of suffering and music is when the narrator witnesses the meeting on the corner. He watches the battered people play their music and notices their suffering. He says, â€Å"As the singing filled the air the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing on something within; the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them; and time seemed, nearly, to fall away from the sullen, belligerent, battered faces, as though they were fleeing back to their first condition, while dreaming of their last. † (Baldwin 615) Showing again how music can be a safety and a rescuer to not only Sonny but others as well. By the narrator stating this it shows that it is noticeable of the change in expression music brings as it lessens the sufferings of those who play. â€Å"Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life. † (Baldwin 620) Near the end of Baldwin’s story Sonny plays his music once again. To most, the music Sonny plays is merely for entertainment. But to some it is a story, Sonny’s story. As Sonny plays, the narrator notices the things his brother has been through and felt. While Sonny plays the narrator notices both his brother’s suffering as well as his own.

Brave new world and how it influenced my life Essay -- essays research

A Different World; A Different Person All forms of art have greatly influenced my life and have had an enormous effect on me as a person. Throughout high school, of all the great works of literature, poetry, and other types of art that have given me a feeling of joy, my senior year I discovered one piece of literature that stands out and opens my eyes to the world around me. Art, literature and music not only intrigue and inspire me, but also despite all of the thought provoking choices at hand, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, has had the greatest affect on my opinion of the world. I believe that this story is similar to what our society is becoming and has opened my outlook on the world. Aldous Huxley greatly described an innovated world in which all matters of truth and individuality are gone. The characters in this book are born into a caste system, in which they are conditioned to think and act according to which caste level they belong. Although, he did not predict that the human race would actually yield to this sad, loveless lifestyle, surprisingly they adapted rather quickly. After reading Brave New World, I was not only rudely awakened by the lifestyles of this race, but also shown what is truly important. With cloning being one of the new discoveries in today’s society, I can see how mankind could become a sea of walking machines, easily compared to those in Brave New World. From birth, the characters are told how to act, think and dress. To an extent, our soci...

Dynamic Character Essay

In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the main character, Guy Montag, qualifies as a dynamic character. A dynamic character is, by definition, a character that undergoes important changes throughout the course of the novel. Because he goes through a metamorphosis as he struggles through internal conflict during the novel, Guy Montag is a dynamic character. In the beginning, Montag is a very normal man relative to his society. He is a city fireman and burns books and houses without regret. Montag loves everything about his job; the power, the destruction of houses and books, and even the smell of the kerosene that he churns out daily. He even feels pride and satisfaction in the jobs he carries out. His change, though, soon begins when he meets with a peculiar girl named Clarisse. Clarisse makes Montag actually think, an uncommon thing in this peculiar society. Her pure innocence brings out a different side of him; one that doesn’t involve thoughtless burnings. He then, as a result of her insight, begins to question himself and even the society he lives in. Another influence on Montag is the suicidal woman whose house he was about to burn. He ponders what in books can be important enough to die for. Her gruesome suicide pushes Montag over the edge and he forces himself to finally open a book. Montag continues his metamorphosis from a heartless book burner to a philosophical learner. Guy continues gaining information and forming his opinion about his odd society. Montag soon realizes that there is no return from his change when he is forced to burn his own house and murder Beatty. In a way he is burning his own past and all that goes with it. His subsequent fleeing of the seen also symbolizes the final step in his change. It is Montag literally leaving his past of senselessness and destruction. Guy Montag becomes a sensible, book loving educator. His metamorphosis is complete with memorizing books in a contribution to end the norm of his  society. He makes a tremendous change both mentally and physically. Because of his change, though it caused him great hardships, Guy Montag is a dynamic character.

The Internet And Its Effect On Society - 1614 Words

In today’s world, the internet is the leading source of information and the leading way of communication. Every year, technology improves, and so does society’s dependence on it. The use of the internet has made a huge impact in the society causing controversy. Social media can help people to communicate and to be in touch with their families and friends, but it can also disconnect people from reality. This can be seen in today s new generations, since children and adolescents tend to be more involved in their virtual life than in their actual life. The internet can be dangerous for unsupervised middle school students; for example, since they expose their information, and they have access to everything on the internet. Parents of middle school students should monitor their children’s use of smartphones, social media, and the internet. To begin, parents of middle school students should monitor their children’s use of smartphones. Cell Phones have consistently been the most convenient way of communication, since they allow individuals to call others wherever they want, but in today’s society the use of cellphones has drastically changed. Now, people rely on their smartphones for almost everything. Not only are they used to call others wherever is wanted, but people can also have access to the internet at all times. However, in middle school students, this cannot be found as a potential benefit. Adolescents are most likely to become addicted to their smartphones because of theShow MoreRelatedThe Internet And Its Effect On Society1553 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract This research paper is about the Internet. I choose to write a Qualitative essay because the Internet has a myriad of information to speak on. Moreover, using the Qualitative research method over the Quantitative research gave me a chance to become more knowledgeable in exactly what I was writing on. It also gave me a chance to understand and become more aware of the topic to write a great essay. Additionally, when I looked at the numerical data from the Quantitative research the informationRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society1540 Words   |  7 Pagesare living in a world where the Internet has become an integral part of our everyday life. Everything is at our fingertips through the Internet: school, work, business, personal, and so forth; that our society has made its usage almost mandatory. It has made everything easier and people today cannot even imagine how their lives would be without this genre of technologies. But, we cannot expect that something as useful as the Internet will not have adversely effects in people. However, in this technologicalRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society1590 Words   |  7 PagesPoint in case, the Internet is an aspect of the 21st century that had no place in previous generations, yet occupies a percentage of time nowadays. The Internet has many positive features, yet numerous, less known harmful effects on society, affecting different age groups and parts of the population in different ways. The Internet is predominantly a catalyst for communication; communication that would otherwise have been extremely difficult or impossible to initiate. The Internet helps people stayRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society Essay1200 Words   |  5 Pagesuniversal PC s net known as Internet . Internet is essential need of young time today; youth can get by without sustenance yet can t make due without web. Above all else, Internet gives access to a considerable measure of data. Some of them are exceptionally valuable in your employment different aides in your pastime. At first web was not so conspicuous but instead after advancement in adaptable development web has wound up crucial need of people in worldwide. Internet has extended correspondenceRead MoreEffects Of The Internet On Society1767 Words   |  8 PagesThe world wide web, otherwise called the internet, came about in the 1960s and was primarily used for researchers and academia. But since the 1990s, the internet has had that revolutionary effect on the culture and commerce in our society. This includes communication by email, instant messaging, and internet phone calls. In addition, there is also the world wide web with discussion forums, social networking sites, and online shopping sites, which people, despite their generational differences, utilizeRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society3739 Words   |  15 PagesThe Internet is a debatably the most important invention that mankind has ever accomplished. Having access to everyone at any given time is something of a dream back in the past and now that it is here there is no stopping the effects it has on society. Social media, GPS, email the list goes on and on what the Internet can do, it would be a shorter list to just tell what the Internet cannot do. Having this being said businesses have felt the effects of the ever growing technology of the World WideRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effects On Society Essay1834 Words   |  8 Pagesof this common, every-day scenario, is the internet. Winston Ross, a Senior Writer for Newsweek described the internet as the following, â€Å"It is available, affordable and accessible† (Ross 3). The internet is a positive technological advancement that has contributed immensely to socialization, education and work life. Though the internet is known for being addictive and distracting, the benefits of using it far outweigh any potential risks. The internet is used today across the world as a large socialRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society1852 Words   |  8 Pagesthousands more will â€Å"like† an Instagram photo†¦and that’s if they read very quickly (Marrouat). Today, many people use the Internet for everything. The internet has many benefits, anyone that has a computer with internet can find any information and can even add to it. That’s why the Internet is known as the collected knowledge of millions of people. The most popular tool of the Internet though, is its way for socialization. Socialization is referring to the way people communicate and how they do it. ThereRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society917 Words   |  4 PagesThe internet is a cyberspace of knowledge compacted to fit in to the palm of our hands. It has the power to connect us to people across the ocean, deliver food to our homes and even help us meet the love of our lives. However, this type of power co mes with a great responsibility of its own. Nowadays, the internet has become a way to target those who are gullible or those who have limited knowledge of it. The internet now has had an especially big impact when it comes to children and sexual predatorsRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society1371 Words   |  6 PagesThe introduction of the Internet to society resulted in the opportunity for people to produce, consume and share creative content. This culture of online production and consumption is bound to copyright and fair use laws. While these laws have the capacity to protect an individual’s ownership of intellectual property and creative content, they are not conducive to a vibrant culture of creativity. The Internet and its evolution of search engine engagement has cultivated an online community that can