Analysis Of Where Are You Going And Sonny's Blues

The story is a first-person story that is narrated by Sonny ‘s brother who provides not only insight into their lives, but also the environment they lived in. The narrator addresses their storyline including the dark sides of his community although he does so with a lot of cautious. With the manner in which the narrator is narrating the story, it is clear that he has got some difficult time when he is expressing his ideas and emotions. The narrator writes after the death of her daughter where he is writing back to his brother.

His first reaction to the news is anger at Sonny, and at the state of Harlem where they both live. In his anger he decides to not write to his brother in jail, or to visit him at all. He remembers all of the events leading up to his brother’s arrest: their father’s death, the narrator going off to war for the navy, his return home to find that his brother had gotten kicked out of his wife’s house, his mother’s death and her wish for him to protect Sonny, his brother’s confession that he wanted to become a jazz piano player, and the birth and raising of his

The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" inspired by the Life magazine story about a serial killer named Charles Schmid. An older man who seduced and killed adolescent’s girls. What drove Oates to write the story was not due to the serial killer, but to the abnormal actions of the teenagers who helped and gave in to him.

By Baldwin shrewdly returning into the psyche of the storyteller's twenty two year old self, we perceive how emphatically his Mama's words transformed him. Her passing constrained him to need to need to manage Sonny in a more developed manner , and that minute diverted from the entire equalization of fellowship of Sonny and the narrator's relationship, changing over it into a more parent-child kind of relationship. With their element changed so definitely, even the storyteller doesn't know how to oversee it, noticing " “I sensed myself in the presence of something I didn’t really know how to handle, didn’t understand” (51). In attempting to make himself decisive, the storyteller tells Sonny the following stride in his life: that he will be staying at Isabel's. Initially miserable with this pre-settled on choice, “‘You decided it,’ he pointed out.

Reading the story with this view will close the open ended ending, as we can assume that Connie will be murdered. Oates makes details throughout the story that both Schmid and Arnold had done in their cynical

Sonny’s Blues is a short story written by Baldwin in 157. It is often included in anthologies of fiction in college literature seminars. At the age of 14, he became a member of a Pentecostal church in Harlem and started preaching at the same time.

Sonny's Blues is a first person narrative that tells the story of a relationship between the narrator and his younger brother Sonny. Set in the middle of Harlem the story takes place during the early 1950's. The story begins with the narrator learning about his brother getting arrested for the use and selling of heroin. This creates a flashback to major events in the childhood of the two brothers. The narrator remember his brother at the age of the boys in his algebra class, how Sonny’s face was bright and open, but back to reality the narrator wonders how his brother looks as a prisoner.

Joyce enjoys writing about the dangers of the world, such as, rape, and murder. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is about an insecure girl named Connie who ends up getting raped, and murdered by a “devil in disguise,” Arnold Friend. Oates uses many forms of symbolism in this short story, all associating with darkness, childhood, and religion. Joyce also uses characterization

In Sonny's Blues, many of the characters face multiple conflicts, both external and internal. One of the most central of these conflicts is the internal struggle of Sonny to cope with the stress of his own life, most notably through his use of heroin. Many other conflicts in the story, such as the narrator's frequent arguments with Sonny, revolve around Sonny's internal conflicts. An example revealing conflict within the story occurs when the narrator gets into a fight with his brother: ". . . we had a fight, a pretty awful fight, and I didn't see him for months. . . .

The narrator of Sonny’s Blues is unnamed, but readers can easily find out its Sonny’s brother. Sonny’s brother is a minor character within the story and he is a central first person narrator. He is telling a story mainly about his brother, so some readers might think he is rather a peripheral character than a central character. However, Sonny’s story is also the narrator’s story. The narrator’s life and emotions are influenced by Sonny’s problems,

Many of the characters in “Sonny’s Blues” face battles within themselves. The characters fight the battle of trying to keep the light shining inside and to not let the darkness inhabit them. “Images of light and darkness are used by Baldwin to illustrate his theme of man’s painful quest for an identity” (Murray

Sonny Blues Paul Pearshall once said “Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted”. In this story the conflict of responsibility takes place. A brother, who happens to be the narrator, blames his self for the events that takes place in his life, such as his brother sonny’s crack addiction. The Narrator feels responsible for his brother’s heroin addiction because he believed he shut his brother’s career goals down, felt as though he went against what his mother asked him to do, and because he chose not to believe that the way he treated his brother affected his brother life.

Before the narrator gets married his mother asks him to help Sonny “and don’t let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you gets with him” (Baldwin, 165). Yet time brings memories to a close and the narrator soon forgets his promise. On the subway he reads the paper to discover that Sonny was in jail but doesn’t immediately write him a letter. After the narrator’s daughter, Gracie, dies he writes a letter to Sonny. Sonny writes back and they continue to exchange letters until Sonny comes back to New York.

One will constantly face temporary conflict throughout life, but ultimately they can overcome through a will to on and pursue what makes oneself happy. Baldwin was able to create a picture in the reader's mind due to his personal relation to his characters, he was able to understand the harsh times for an African-American male. It also reflects on the care that siblings have for one another and how even though they have good intentions, they can't always help their loved one follow a positive

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” written by Joyce Carol Oates is a story about fifteen year old Connie who’s world is changed after an encounter with a stranger. Connie’s paradigm is transformed during and after this event. At the beginning of the story, Connie’s worldview is one of vanity, which in turn leads to control. She is only focused on how she looks and how those around her appear as well.