James Baldwin Critcal Analysis

“Sonny’s Blues,” a story about two black brothers that are struggling with themselves and the limitations put upon them by society, is a great example of this common theme. The story begins with the narrator, Sonny’s brother, telling us of how he read about his brother being arrested for drug use. Right in first paragraph the narrator depicts reading the newspaper article under the lights in a subway and stared at the article, at other people “and in my own face, trapped in the darkness which roared outside” (pg. 103). This is the first clue to Baldwin’s theme of oppression; Sonny’s brother is letting us know that he has not escaped Harlem and lifestyle that goes along with it. This “Light vs. Dark” example is common throughout the three Baldwin pieces. The story “Man Child” does not have any black characters in it, but Baldwin still manages to put in the “Light vs. Dark” example, when at the end of the story, when Jamie kills Eric, Baldwin states that the “terror and agony a

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