49 pages 1 hour read

James Baldwin

Sonny's Blues

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1957

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.

Symbols & Motifs

Darkness

One of the major recurring symbols in “Sonny’s Blues” is darkness. The narrator uses darkness to obliquely describe the struggles that he and other Black people live through, especially those owing to being born into a life of racism and poverty. The use of darkness as a metaphor illustrates how racism takes a psychological toll on its victims. The first mention of darkness comes toward the beginning of the story, as the narrator looks at his students:

All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness, and in which they now, vindictively, dreamed, at once more together than they were at any other time, and more alone (18).

When the narrator refers to darkness, he principally means the first sense described in this passage—“the darkness of their lives” (18). Though the narrator does not explicitly state what this darkness is, he implies that the darkness stems from the continual suffering caused by systemic racism in the United States. “Sonny’s Blues” was written in the first years of the civil rights movement, when Jim Crow laws and other forms of institutional racism kept most Black people caught in a life of poverty and hardship with little opportunity to escape.

Related Titles

By James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

Another Country

James Baldwin

Another Country

James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

A Talk to Teachers

James Baldwin

A Talk to Teachers

James Baldwin

Plot Summary

logo

Blues for Mister Charlie

James Baldwin

Blues for Mister Charlie

James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

Giovanni's Room

James Baldwin

Giovanni's Room

James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

Going To Meet The Man

James Baldwin

Going To Meet The Man

James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

I Am Not Your Negro

James Baldwin

I Am Not Your Negro

James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?

James Baldwin

If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?

James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

Nobody Knows My Name

James Baldwin

Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son

James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

No Name in the Street

James Baldwin

No Name in the Street

James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

Notes of a Native Son

James Baldwin

Notes of a Native Son

James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

Stranger in the Village

James Baldwin

Stranger in the Village

James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

The Amen Corner

James Baldwin

The Amen Corner

James Baldwin

Study Guide

logo

The Rockpile

James Baldwin

The Rockpile

James Baldwin