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“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker

A scholar can never say that these two short stories are the only mundane waste of ink

since they have much reflection on education, identity, relationships, cultures, family and kinship

(Kennedy 34). Years pass but novels of theme, plays, which Alice Walker and James Baldwin

talked about, are still writing; films are still shooting, why? There are things we cannot forget,

and things, which we will always remember. These two stories, “Sonny’s Blues” by James

Baldwin and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker are unique narrations, ubiquitous and full of

talented characters.

In the two stories, the authors explore education, family especially siblings relationships,

demonstrating how brothers and sisters may feel both love and conflict towards each other. This

aspect of the sibling relationship and education brings about identity regarding parents, cultural

inclinations and ancestry. From the “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, the story opens with the

narrator, who reads about his brother named Sonny who was caught in the drug bust, particularly

heroine. However, he cannot forget his brother Sonny. The narrator and Sonny are brothers who

keep in contact, and after Sonny gets out of the cell, he goes to live with his brother and his

family. They eat family dinner together which then turns into a flashback about their gone
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parents. For instance, the Sonny’s letter, “Give my love to Isabel and the kids and I wish I could

be like mama and say the Lord’s will be done” (Baldwin 127).

Sonny in the “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin story is a talented and determined

young man, but the society has already ruined him due to prevalence and use of the drug by his

friends from his neighborhood. The fact that his brother was a lucky man, a trained teacher,

husband and a father seems to be an exception. When his brother leaves work, he meets an old

friend of Sonny who is also ruined by the drugs. From their conversation, sonny’s brother says

he has little hope that one day Sonny will ever manage to be whole again though he wants him to

be. The narrator and his brother lived in Harlem. Live in Harlem was no panic for much African

living there, but through various methods of survival, many were able to find life meaning and

fulfillment. The two brothers come closer together through tragedy and healing. Initially, the

older brother looks down on the lifestyle adopted by his brother, a jazz musician. Sonny's brother

experiences flashbacks which show us the motivations that spurred each brother to adopt their

particular course in life. The narrator is a school teacher with a child and a family. Sonny

dropped out of school to follow his love of jazz music.

Another story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker illustrates the importance of

understanding our daily activities in present life alongside the traditions and culture of our

people. Alice personifies the different sides of heritage and culture in the characters of Maggie,

Dee and her mother (the narrator). Dee can be seen to complex, materialistic and informed about

the modern way of life where culture and heritage are to be valued for their “trendy-ness” and

aesthetic appeal. Momma represents a way of life which values culture and heritage as well as its

personal significance (Tate 305). Dee in the story has allowed herself to be blinded to the values

and norms of her heritage. Where “her people” come from seems a personal insult which she
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refuses to agree. Dee hates everything that has conspired in the past to subjugate to the black

race. She tries to assume that this family aspect plays no part in her life by taking an African

name, rejecting the roots of her family and wearing an African dress. However, in doing so, she

also rejects every good thing, made for her by her people and family. She wants the quilt as

nothing more than an accessory; she says, “Maggie knows how to quit” (Tate 59). Her sister

wants the quilt because of the respect and goodies that come with it though it isn’t something to

be ashamed of provides her connection to her past and her grandmother. When Dee is told to

keep the quilts, Dee “grasp like a bee had stung her” and exclaimed, “Maggie can’t appreciate

these quilts!” (Walker 477).

While Maggie is not nearly as “sophisticated” as her sister, she is much more grounded

beyond the imaginations of her sister. Dee will never be “successful” since she has lost sight and

sense of who she is- which has come from her ancestors, fighting to survive so their descendants

would have a better life than they had. It can be clearly noted that this story contains conflict

between the two women where Dee struggles because of creating an identity for herself. The

point that she was named after her grandmother was a kind of tradition and she wanted to change

the name. Taking about her daughter, Maggie, momma states, “ have you ever seen a lame

animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to

someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to them? That is the way my Maggie walks” (Walker

471). The simile and rhetorical question presented by the mother draw the reader in and illustrate

in a new light of pity. Maggie is portrayed as a scarred, simple girl who is often walked on and

taken advantage of. The empathy felt towards Maggie contrasts greatly with a description of Dee

who is said to be done up with “A dress so loud it hurt my eyes…It (the air) is as black as night
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around the edges are two long pigtails that rope about like small lizards disappearing behind her

ears” (Walker 473).

Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” confronts the rivalry between two distant brothers; Sonny

and the narrator who are trying to find themselves in a dark reality. The story follows the older

brother as he struggles to identify himself with his ruined and troubled brother, Sonny. With their

parents gone, the elder brother tries to contain and control the actions of Sonny and notes about

his dream for jazz musician that “it seemed beneath him, somehow. I had never thought about it

before, had been forced to, but I suppose I had always put jazz musicians in a class with daddy”

(Baldwin 44). By taking on the mentality of and acting like the absent parents, sonny’s brother

deepens the divide between himself and Sonny.

The extent of the divide is shown by the diction of sonny’s rebuttal statement stressing he

is serious. The words in italics illustrate the intensity of this confrontation further by adding color

to the spoken words. The younger brother just wanted to be himself and to be happy; he didn’t

want his older brother telling him what to do or being condescending. The narrator finally

realized this years later as shown in the statement saying he realized with the mocking look by

his brother, that there stood between us, forever, beyond the power of time or forgiveness. The

finality of the older brother’s actions is clear for the diction of “forever”. The narrator had never

gotten reality to know his brother and as a result, he was removed from brother’s life.

The problem is that the narrator and his brother have been fighting for so long that they

can’t see that they can help each other rediscover their respective identities. The old brother

valued education and wants to reform his brother for better living. The narrator finally saw just

how little he understood about his brother, remarking when listening to him on the piano. Now
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instead of cautioning his brother for the heroine that used to flow in his blood vessels, the

narrator sees “royal blood” in his brother’s veins. This metaphor clearly depicted the true identity

of narrator’s brother and underlines the rift between the two brothers (Baldwin 45).This rift

caused Sonny to find a new family, which he did in his ragtag group members of the jazz music.

The narrator always doubted his brother’s career choice and as a result, there was a conflict

between them. However, Sonny realized that his fate had been decided, and he was made to be a

musician. The conflict forced the brothers apart as they clashed over difference ideas,

philosophies and opinions.

This story has a tremendous impact on learners because it shows the two brothers

reconcile despite the choices they had made in their life experiences. No two brothers could seem

more distinct on the surface than Sonny and the narrator. The narrator is a respectable teacher

and a family man. He is cautious and proud of his achievement in life. Sonny, in contrast,

passionate, and he is not afraid to take risks in life to follow dreams he desires. Sonny and the

narrator have lost their parents through accident, who we meet in flashbacks. To escape the

realities of their past, the two brothers choose different paths in life. The narrator escaped his

path through education, family, and respectability. On contrast, Sonny escaped his past by

immersing himself in a private world of introspection, drugs and his passion for music.

The absence of parents cannot change how they influence the lives of their children after

they are gone. However, people and the objects they have left behind have the power to change

the way the parents influence children. James Baldwin depicted an aspect of dynamic influence

in his story when the story told of the old brother about his uncle’s death changes the way the old

brother views his father (Baldwin 56).The whole story hinges on the aforementioned change in

the influence of the absent of the brothers father. The mother tells the older son of his uncle’s
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death because she hope that it will change the way he is influenced by the memory of his father

possibly atone for previous poor parenting. Upon learning of his uncle’s death, the narrator is

filled with the sense of duty to take care of his young brother no matter what, which is exactly

what the mother intended.

From “Everyday Use” story by Alice Walker, it clearly explains home as the place where

you can find your family and moral support. In this story, the idea of home can not only be

represented by abstract ideas, such as “home is where your heart is,” but can be found in

everyday objects around the compound and house, such as a quilt or even a churn top and dasher.

These objects represent the broad aspect of the home in a solid way, holding certain memories

that can bring up feelings of nostalgia, love and warmth in a different way (Tate 309). This solid

picture about the home is clearly shown in the Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use”: the quilt

holds so much meaning to the family because of the old fashioned way they were, and who they

were made by. Dee was always obsessed with material things which are, “Dee wanted nice

things. A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high Scholl; black pumps to

match a green suit she’s made from an old suit somebody gave me. She was determined to stare

down any disaster in her efforts” (Walker 472).

In contrast, in James Baldwin’s story the “Sonny’s Blues,” it’s seen that the idea of

family can be defined, not as a place where one resides, but as a place where a one feels a sense

of belonging and understanding (Baldwin 66). The relatives play a key role in shaping one’s life

through basic education and moral growth. The concept of a home and resident outside of the

typical definition is shown through Sonny finding his “family” in the nightclub, not with his

biological family. Throughout the “Sonny’s Blues” story, the narrator's brother struggles with
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heroin when he hasn’t found a place he feels he belongs, but he can fight his habit after he finds

a support system and haven he needed.

From the get-go, Dee comes home to Momma and Maggie and tells them that she

changed her Name to “Wangero,” even though her name had been to her because it had been

passed through many generations. This could be a sign of foreshadowing by the author, showing

how Dee lacks respect for the family heritage carried in her name. Right before Dee starts to take

things from home she says she never knew how lovely the benches were. She says she could feel

the rump prints. Momma points out how Dee never paid attention to the family value that was in

all the objects in the house until now. Those benches had most likely been around since she was

a child and she only realized the value they held from being homemade. Momma and Maggie,

however, use these objects every day, and they understand and appreciate the value and

memories they hold thus making them more meaningful to their life. This meaningfulness gave

Maggie and Momma a sense of home.

From the two stories “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin and “Everyday Use” by Alice

Walker, it is clear that everyone needs identity and education. Home plays a basic role in one’s

identification where the family members from the sole source of the basic education on moral

understanding and growth. The readers also have to learn the aspect of appreciating their culture

and heritage wherever they go around the world (Waxler 56). Dee’s ancestral culture was

washed away due to formal education and lifestyle. Momma and Maggie have a great sense of

family belonging, and they understand and appreciate every object in their compound. This story

should give an insight of how the conflicts in the family arise and how they can be solved among

the family members. The elders also have a responsibility of taking care of the young ones and

also showing the moral values like the sonny’s brother did. Communal identity is the way
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members of groups see themselves and family members. This identity can be positively or

negatively affected based on multiple things such as memories, stereotypes, and arts.

In conclusion, objects in the family help to create the cultural identity by fostering

community and carrying on memories and meaning from our forefathers. Using them at the right

time and for the right purpose and preserving them when they need to be preserved, are both

respectful usages of cultural objects. Home is something that can be very abstract but also

something that is very real and solid. Home gives one a sense of identity and belonging.

(Kennedy 86). The home is represented by the objects around the house that you hold value,

meaning, and heritage. For other people, home is a place where you find refuge and solace. The

influence of the poor parenting or death of parents changes the course of a character’s

development in a child. The static and dynamic control aspects do not only apply to fathers. Any

character can continue to influence others long after they are gone, and exposition of new

information can make that impact a very dynamic and fluid part of the story.
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Work cited

Baldwin, James. Sonny's blues. Ernst Klett Sprachen, 2009.

Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama,

10/e." (2007).

Tate, Claudia C. "" Everyday Use" by Alice Walker." African American Review 30.2 (2014):

308-310.

Walker, Alice. Everyday use. Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, 2004.

Waxler, Robert P., and Jean R. Trounstine, eds. Changing lives through literature. University of

Notre Dame Press, 2011.