Mr. Salsich
English 9
22 September 2008
An Essay About An Essay:
An Essay On Suzy Goldman’s Essay On “Sonny’s Blues”
Sonny’s Blues, by James Baldwin, is a touching story about two African American brothers living in Harlem, dealing with their own difficult lives, as well as trying to not let each other drown in the chaos of life. Unfortunately, Sonny, the younger brother, struggles to stay above water as he deals with his addiction with drugs, and eventually gets arrested. The unnamed older brother is left to get his brother out of his mess and while contemplating on how to save Sonny, he reflects back on memories of their brotherhood. Suzy Goldman gives a perfect summary in her essay, “James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues: A Message In Music” on the happenings of this short, but powerful tale.
Goldman’s essay is a well organized, sublimely written summary of the short story, Sonny’s Blues. The essay starts off explaining the narrator’s dismay when finding out that his very own brother was caught and imprisoned for doing drugs. She discusses how once the narrator discovers the terrible truths to his brother’s whereabouts, he finally admits to himself about how oblivious he was forcing himself to be, not wanting to admit to himself of Sonny’s habit. “Yet this rude discovery sounds the initial note in these two brothers’ growing closeness”, (Goldman 1) meaning that when Sonny was arrested, he and his brother could not be more distant from each other, but because of the catastrophe, the two are brought together to clean up the mess they’d made of their lives. Goldman continues to synopsize the story by going through the flash backs and the present tense of the story line. She is brought to the final scene in the book, of which she analyses. She dissects the simplicity of Sonny’s jazz band playing at a club, into a conversation between two people. She sees the music being played and they way each note speaks to another as the two themes of communication and music being brought together. Overall, every analogy, similei and piece of input Goldman adds into her summary of the story is deeply thought out, agreeable and in my opinion, true as could be.
In Goldman’s essay, she managed to both give an accurate summary of Sonny’s Blues, while subtly putting in her own opinions. When I first started to read the essay, I felt like I was reading the book, Sonny’s Blues, all over again, just with different wording. I was very confused as to why such a good writer like Goldman, would reword an entire short story, when the description of the article said that is was an essay of Ms. Goldman’s opinions. Every paragraph she wrote was just an abbreviated version of the book, which seemed very misleading as to what the purpose of Goldman’s essay. After realizing the main point of the essay was unclear, I read it again and picked up on smaller things I didn’t notice before. As Goldman was summarizing the story, she was also putting in her own opinions and ideas, making the story easier to understand. For example, “There is a greater brotherhood among people than mere kinship. Moreover, the narrator realizes that their music saves them[…]” says Goldman, as this quote gives reason to a portion of the story, one part that many readers may find confusing. In the end, I think Goldman’s interpretation of the essay could seem tedious and repetitive at first, but once read over carefully, it is much more helpful than confusing.
Sonny’s Blues is a timeless tale with classic morals that stay true through today. From valueing brotherhood to never giving up, James Baldwin teaches readers of these morals through the eyes of one brother reaching out to another. Author Suzy Goldman uses this story and these values to write her own telling of the short book, with her own opinions and inputs subtly, but powerfully, written in. Sonny’s Blues is a heartfelt story for all ages that can do nothing less than inspire and empower its readers.
Works Cited
Suzy Bernstein Goldman. "Sonny's Blues: James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues": A Message in Music." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 22 September 2008.
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