Towards the end of “Sonny’s Blues,” the music played by Sonny on the piano brings together the events and feelings of the story as both Sonny and his brother reflect on their lives and struggles. Sonny shows his emotions through his music while his brother truly understands Sonny as he hears the music for the first time. Sonny and his brother had argued when Sonny first told him that he wanted to be a jazz musician. Sonny’s brother questioned Sonny’s seriousness about the matter and began to think that it was just another phase that Sonny was going through. Then Sonny said that it was his dream and implied that it was one of the ways that he wanted to use to get out of Harlem. In general, the music symbolizes and tells a story of the struggles they have gone through and the obstacles that they have both overcome.

When Sonny and his brother first enter the nightclub, the atmosphere seems to change immediately and after Sonny’s brother was introduced to everyone, “it was clear that for them I was only Sonny’s brother. Here, I was in Sonny’s world. Or, rather: his kingdom” (par.231). This was the place where Sonny came to express himself

These things that have happened have actually brought the two brothers closer together as they have reflected on their own struggles in life and at the same time have come to understand how much the other brother has gone through. Sonny’s brother realizes that music wasn’t really Sonny’s dream. The music not only symbolizes Sonny’s escape from Harlem, but it is actually Sonny’s dream of escaping from the life he has lived. Even though it only comes for a few minutes at a time while he plays, when Sonny lets his fingers do the thinking and the music do the talking, it brings him happiness.

and these other musicians were a second family, only this was a family where he was understood and that they all understood him. After the musicians were all on stage and Creole began to lead them, Sonny’s brother says, “all I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it” and that the feelings people get when they do actually hear the music are usually only personal and private (par.234). “But the man who creates the music is hearing something else...What is evoked in him is...more terrible because it has no words, and triumphant, too, for that same reason. And his triumph, when he triumphs, is ours” (par. 234). This symbolizes how a musician, Sonny in this case, works so hard and tries to express himsel

Some topics in this essay:
Harlem Sonny, Sonny’s Sonny’s, Blues” Towards, Sonny Sonny, music symbolizes, symbolizes sonny, Understanding Music, life life, understanding music, tells story, moved song, sonny’s music, obstacles overcome, sonny’s dream, par 240,