An Analysis of James Arthur Baldwin’s 1957 Short Story "Sonny’s Blues “

James Baldwin, a former Pentecostal preacher, was an American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet and civil rights activist who rose to fame and prominence with the publication of his novel ‘The Fire Next Time’, which is about racial tensions in the United States of America and a hope for the future. He was born in Harlem, New York and thus had the opportunity to observe the poverty, problems and hopes of his people who had to somehow endure to build something. His story ‘Sonny’s Blues’ is in a way a reflection about his own life and the two paths that he could have chosen for himself. Like Sonny, the character depicted in his story, James Baldwin chooses to become a writer and an artist, but he describes the trauma and the hardship that artists endure and how friends and family make a difference. This essay presents an analysis of James Baldwin's 1957 story ‘Sonny’s Blues”.