Sarah Essay 16

English Class

Sarah Shourds

Hamilton Salsich

April 14 2009

Colorful Relationships:

An Essay on a Short Story and a Poem

Every relationship has its own color- may it be vibrant and full of love, or dark and full of hate; they all vary [Appositive]. The relationship between a brother and a sister isn’t always the most pleasant thing, and we all know how they work- you argue, you play, you cry, you laugh [Asyndeton]. Everyone knows what will happen if you take a sibling for granted, but we never seem to care until it happens to us. Sadly, this happened in both “The Little Brother Poem” by Naomi Shihab Nye and in the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin on two very different scales.

In this poem Ms. Nye uses a lot of figurative language to represent the connection between her and her brother. The first use of figurative language I noticed was when Ms. Nye was portraying [FAST] the differences between her and her brother, comparing him to “Wall Street,” and her to a “local fruit market”. This metaphor helps distinguish [FAST] their personalities and shows that Ms. Nye likes that they aren’t completely the same. She likes knowing that her brother can fill in the missing spots in her puzzle of a life. In the final stanza, Ms. Nye refers to their childhood, and what great memories she has to this day [Participle Phrase as a Closer]. She talks about how “[her brother] is on the edge of [his life] today,” and reminisces about their history together. In that sentence, Ms. Nye isn’t quite sure whether or not she and her brother would ever be reunited with their past, but she wishes she could go back to those days and be the sister she never was. Prior to this stanza, Ms. Nye talks about the night her brother had left her. How he had left with “some strange bruise,” and she was never quite sure when that bruise would heal. I think Ms. Nye regrets all of the harsh things she’s ever done to her brother, and if she could take it all back, she would. Ms. Nye uses figurative language to such an extent that it makes your mind think fairly hard, and when she does use it, she compares and contrasts herself against her brother.

“The Little Brother Poem” and “Sonny’s Blues” are very different and very similar and relate to the importance of family. In the short story “Sonny’s Blues,” the main character’s brother, Sonny, had gotten into all sorts of trouble. There was only one light at the end of the tunnel, and for Sonny, he could not see that light in the slightest bit. Sonny's brother had never really considered helping him and wrote him letters every so often. However, an unfortunate event interrupted him, and saw Sonny in a new perspective. Seeing his own “beautiful little girl” die gave him a “mortal wound” that will never heal and made him realize that he had been taking Sonny for granted. He realized that a wound that can’t heal can only get bigger, and that if he didn’t help Sonny, his wound would get worse. This “scene” is very similar to Ms. Nye’s poem. Ms. Nye refers to her apology several times throughout the poem, and how it is probably a “big order” for her brother, but that he hopefully can take it. She’s “dumping out a whole drawer at once,” and finally realizing that her brother needs her. In both stories, the relationship between the siblings is not perfect. In the short story, Sonny takes advantage of his brothers willingness to help and fulfills his lifelong dream as a musician. The simplest “nod[]” made his brother realize that he really has helped his brother come along. This wasn’t so obvious for Ms. Nye. She never says whether or not she and her brother were reunited, or if her apology was enough. Maybe the long silence will help clear things up for them. We all know that sibling relationships aren’t perfect, but for Sonny and Ms. Nye, things will hopefully clear up and they can continue living without reminiscing on their past.

Every relationship, no matter who it’s with or how long it’s lasted, takes its wrong turns [Periodic Sentence]. Some relationships may never be able to drive through these turns and make the best out of it, but the ability to do so is what saves us day in and day out. Some may think they don’t need a sibling, but you and your sibling are tied by blood, and working out your issues is the only way you’ll ever be able to function. Both Sonny’s brother and Ms. Nye learned this the hard way, and now are looking at their siblings in a whole new perspective- with love and admiration.