A reaction to short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin

For those of you who are not familiar with the story Sonny's Blues, here is a link.

http://ja.scribd.com/doc/7086554/Sonnys-Blues-by-James-Baldwin

For more information on the author Baldwin, click here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin

This story was used in a workshop I attended today at ICU on how to teach literature in liberal arts. The special workshop was given by writer and professor Kathleen Hill, who I've introduced previously on my blog.

Kathleen has repeatedly stressed that literature, both in reading it and writing it, forces us to honestly look at what it means to be human, and what makes us "us." That is the value of including literature in liberal arts study, even in a foreign language. I think my students can learn a lot from reading stories and asking themselves what they feel about it, just as they can when they write about personal topics and share their thoughts and emotions with each other.

It was my first time to read this story, or any story by Baldwin, and I felt the impact of the writing grow on me as we discussed it.

The short story is about two brothers, with the older brother narrating the story and expressing his love and concern for his younger brother who ran away from home, joined the navy, and after returning pursues his dream to be a jazz musician, with some difficulty with drug abuse along the way.

To me, the most powerful theme in the story is the importance of "listening with an open heart" to those you love. When we love someone, brother/sister, parents, husband/wife, son/daughter, or anyone, it is easy to forget to listen. We know what is best for the other person, and because we love them so much and want them to be safe, we either do not, or can not, really wait for them to open up and tell us what is happening in their hearts. I know that from my own experience as a son, father, brother, husband.

I had a very valuable inner conversation, reading Sonny's Blues.