In the narrative, which is a story of the two brothers is a typical description of family where people tend to get on your nerves, have the ability to hurt you the most, love you and push you away at the very same time. These two brothers irrefutably love each other despite the fact that they do not understand each other’s choice of lifestyle. The narrator having a typical traditional family while Sonny adopting his music and friends as his family. Mainly, the narrator’s problem with this family is the fact that they tended to fuel his brother’s drug addiction problem.
It is important to note that the narrator takes it upon himself at the end of the story to go to the club where Sonny was performing and see for himself how he was fairing (Baldwin 29). This is a show of maturity in his end to the point that he finally accepts that Sonny cannot be without his music as it is a part of him. At the end, narrator orders a drink to be taken up to his brother as a gesture of his resentment. For the author, he sees a different image in his mind: “For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother’s head like the very cup of trembling” (239). The Bible reference in the book of Isaiah Isaiah 51: 17-23 represents the cup of trembling.
The essence of this is that God has extended an olive branch to his people who have gotten drunk without the use of wine. Indeed, this is a case of drug addiction, which is an act of forgiveness and salvation. It is important to note that God indeed did away with the temptation, which had originally brought about the existing anger, which can be seen as the narrator’s outlook as a symbol of sonny’s redemption.
- Baldwin, James. Sonny’s blues. Ernst Klett Sprachen, 2009.
