1. PREDICT AND ANALYZE: Read the bio on Baldwin. If we think of writing as a kind of art that can be used to resist, what societal problem do you predict Baldwin wrote Sonny’s Blues to protest against?
Reading the bio of James Baldwin relays that he was an African American male who was living in a white society. The bio leads me to predict that Sonny’s Blues will be focusing on poverty and racial discrimination.
2. INTERPRET/REFLECT: Baldwin uses a metaphor of a ceiling on which boys bumped their heads. What is he trying to say? Have you experienced any repression similar to this, or can you think of a person or group of people who still are experiencing it?
Baldwin uses this metaphor to show readers the reality of black young men in that period of time. What he is trying to say is that society will not allow a black male be successful the that "white" society. In my opinion many African Americans are still being viewed different.
3. INFER: Why does the narrator act so angry and hostile to kid who comes to tell him about Sonny?
The narrator acts angry and hostile to the kid because he resembles the same qualities as Sonny. He would also influences Sonny in a negative way.
4. INFER: Why do you think Sonny gave up on going to India?
Sunny gave up on going to India because his lifestyle had changed when he surrounded himself in a bad environment. Sonny mentions, “This place is Indian enough for me” implying that he has bigger issues. Sonny’s father past away when he was 15 years old, which also could have influenced his decision.
5. SUMMARIZE AND ANALYZE: Paraphrase the story of the father’s brother’s death. What impact would that experience have on the way the parents raised Sonny and his brother? Why do you think the mom waited so long to tell her son about it?
The narrator’s father and uncle were out drinking, they were both feeling good because of the alcohol. They were walking down the road when the narrator’s uncle decided to run down the hill to urinate. Later he was approached by a car full of drunk white guys who wanted to scare him, but because the while males were intoxicated they ran him over. The incident impacted how the parents raised their kids because they had witnessed how the racist society killed and they would do anything they could to avoid it from happening to their kids. The mother waited so long tell her son about his uncle’s death because she didn’t want them to have hatred for white men.
6. EVALUATE: Considering Baldwin’s metaphor about the bumping your head on the ceiling of your life’s possibilities, what is particularly tragic about Sonny’s statement that believing that people ought to do what they want to do, that otherwise they shouldn’t even be alive?
What is tragic about Sonny’s statement is that if a person has a clear goal in mind and is perusing the necessary steps to accomplish that goal then they will be successful, and if a person doesn’t have a right mind set then they should not be alive.
7. EXTRAPOLATE: Now consider your answer to #6, and relate that answer to your reaction to the narrator’s fight with Sonny in which he tells Sonny he would be better off dead. How do you think the narrator feels about having said this? Do you think, in some way, the author of the story (Baldwin) agrees with what the narrator said to Sonny?
I think the narrator said this to Sonny because he wanted him to get better in life; he wanted Sonny to be someone. I think that Baldwin agrees with the narrator because he believes that if you do nothing with your life then you will never be someone, and if a person keeps doing drugs then they are wasting their life.
8. SYNTHESIZE: Both the narrator and Sonny are resisting the unfairness of their lives in some way. What is the difference in the way they refuse to "just take it"?
Sonny refuses to live his life in the way that it is, he tries hard to change his lifestyle; whereas the narrator refuses to give up on Sonny.
9. REFLECT: Music becomes a source of power in this story. Do you agree that music has power? Why/why not?
I strongly agree that music has power. In some situations music alone can describe a story. Music can also tell us what kind of characteristics one has. Music often sets the mood of the story or the situation.
10. EXTRAPOLATION: what do you think of the story’s last line? What does it mean? Is that an expression of hope, or of despair? Or both?
I think the last line states an expression of hope. The narrator is hoping that Sonny will stay on the right track and bypass his old way of living. The narrator feels accomplished because he had showed his brother the right path to follow in life.
11. EXTRAPOLATION: How does Baldwin show you that writing was a source of power for him?
Baldwin shows that writing was a source of power, because his text influenced African American males to change their lives around and be successful.