Symbolism in 'Sonny's Blues' and 'Stranger in the Village'

James Baldwin: African-American Experience

James Baldwin was an African-American novelist and activist in which his works the complex racial and class distinction in the world but most of his work focuses on the times of civil rights America where African-Americans were fighting for their civil rights and protections. In James Baldwin’s short story, Sonny’s Blues, Baldwin addresses the struggles and hardships that African-Americans faced living in communities filled with drugs and violence. Sonny from Harlem was arrested for drugs in the 1950s; the protagonist, Sonny’s brother, Sonny’s dark past, however, tells the reader how Sonny overcame those hardships through music. In Baldwin’s Stranger in the Village, Baldwin describes a small town he visited in Switzerland and also juxtaposes the different reactions and looks he faced in Europe compared to America. Both of Baldwin’s short stories both discuss the African-American experience and the plethora of challenges that African-Americans must overcome. James Baldwin creates the argument that the African-American experience is challenging as it is very hard for African-Americans to be recognized and successful.

'Sonny's Blues': Community Struggles

The motif of darkness in Sonny’s Blues is to demonstrate that African-Americans are not given the opportunity to arise from their poverty-riddled communities restricting their chances to be prosperous. The protagonist was teaching Algebra to his students when he made the revelation that his students will eventually end up like Sonny as “ all they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in . . . at once more together than they were at any other time, and more alone” (Baldwin 123). The darkness covering up the protagonist’s young students is closing as their future is becoming much dimmer due to each student observing and encountering drug, violence, and poverty. People living in Harlem and communities like Harlem are more likely to become an addict or be in prison instead of beating the barriers placed on them from birth. The motif of darkness appeared again when the protagonist was reminiscing about the last moment when his mother was alive, however “ For a moment nobody’s talking, but every face is darkening, like the sky outside . . . everyone is looking at something a child can’t see” (Baldwin 130). The darkness is taking away the blithe moment of the family. This reinforces the idea that African-Americans cannot be successful as they are always surrounded by darkness limiting their ability to be successful.

Darkness and Light: Baldwin's Symbolism

The motif of light in Sonny’s Blues is juxtaposed with the motif of darkness to demonstrate that there is still hope in everyone that lives in a community filled with drugs and poverty. The narrator discusses a moment with his family however for a moment everyone in the room was silent “and when light fills the room, the child is filled with darkness. He knows that every time this happens he’s moved just a little closer to that darkness outside” (Baldwin 131). The light offered the young narrator a chance to escape with knowledge and power however the child was too scared because he was accustomed to the darkness as he thinks that darkness is safe because he has been exposed to darkness for most of his life. Since the youth and people of Harlem are so accustomed to the darkness, the idea of light is foreign to them because of the challenges people of color face such as racial and economic limitations. They will not see their potential to shine and become something better in life rather than becoming an addict.