The Theme of Suffering (Research Paper Sample)

Suffering in James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues and rockpile.
Throughout his stories “Sonny’s Blues and Rockpile”, the most prevalent theme is that of suffering. This theme perhaps was sourced from the early childhood of the narrator who came from a humble background and had a difficult childhood. The narrator lived at the time of the Renaissance of Harlem which mainly occurred in the 1920s. Being born as a gay black man from a poor background made him a target of both verbal and physical abuse and prejudice from his peers and the entire community. It made him a target of cynical actions and racism because he was simply black. In both stories, the characters are subjected to a significant extend of suffering and extreme pain , to themselves, families, friends or people they know. He also discusses how they handled the situation and redeemed both themselves and their communities. This despair is what defines people, the suffering is what makes them who they are . This includes racism, classism, persecution, sexism and daily hardships in life. This essay discusses how James Baldwin uses different characters in “Sonny’s Blues” and “Rockpile” to demonstrate the theme of Suffering and how they emerge victorious after enduring the difficulties.
In Sonny’s Blues, the main character, Sonny passionately argues that pain is part of human life. It is what defines and highlights people’s stories. It is what introduces their victory and therefore suffering is inescapable no matter how one’s story ends up. Suffering dominates this story and it is the most symbolic. This ranges from the murder of his uncle and daughter to drug use. Some did not affect the character directly but he used them to demonstrate and reveal the theme of suffering in the story.
The narrator reveals the suffering of Isabel and her mother due to his love for music. “Isabel finally confessed that it wasn’t like living with a person at all, it was like living with sound. And the sound didn’t make any sense to her, didn’t make any sense to any of them.” It is clear the sound of music had started to upset both Isabel and the other members of the family hence damaging the relationship that Sonny had with the family. This same music that he regarded highly was slowly becoming a source of torture to his family. This is the same music he tried to use to understand the darkness and suffering of his brother and he starts using this music that his brother used to love to calm his blues but ends up hurting his family by bringing back memories of his brother. However, he did not understand how mere music was hurting his family since a piano had been integral in his life from childhood. He did not seem to understand how it was causing pain and sorrow in his family and other members of the household. “ Isabel says she did her best to be calm but she broke down and she started crying after she just watched Sonny’s sad face. She could tell just by watching that there was something with him. And that what was happening was that they penetrated his soul”