Most people relate the word theme with the word subject or topic, however, when it comes to fiction a theme is more than just a subject or topic. A theme is more than what happens in a story and seldom sum up to a life lesson. A theme or themes aren’t immediately made known or written in a topic sentence. On the contrary, a theme links all the elements of a story together and reveals something general and universal. For example, in “Sonny Blues” a simple message would be “drugs are bad for you” however, there is a more universal theme after linking all the story’s elements and their meanings (Delbanco and Cheuse 375). In my opinion “Sonny Blues” is about a black man’s struggle to be heard and free himself of the demon inflicting pain to his
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He served his country, got married, and now he is an algebra teacher. He tried to talk to Sonny about his career choice after their mother died. The narrator doesn’t feel that Sonny can make a living as a musician. He tells Sonny, “Be Serious”. Sonny later makes the wrong choice and becomes involve with drugs and crimes (Delbanco and Cheuse 240-247). Tackach, is the author of The Biblical Foundation of James Baldwin’s “Sonny Blues. His critical analysis of “Sonny Blues” is done in a religious perspective. The theme could simply be “Grace”. Tackach compared “Sonny Blues” to the parable of “Prodigal Son”. The parable is about two brothers. The older son stayed home with his father, on the straight and narrow path while the younger son chose riotous living on the broad road that leads to destruction. The narrator represents the older son and Sonny, of course, is the prodigal son (Tackach 112). It’s ironic that the narrator has a daughter named Grace. From a religious aspect, grace is the undeserved favor of God. It took Grace’s death for the narrator to show undeserved favor towards Sonny. Tackach states, “Like the parable of the Prodigal Son, “Sonny Blues” is a tale of sin and redemption. In both stories the lost son ultimately returns to the family fold and is saved
He served his country, got married, and now he is an algebra teacher. He tried to talk to Sonny about his career choice after their mother died. The narrator doesn’t feel that Sonny can make a living as a musician. He tells Sonny, “Be Serious”. Sonny later makes the wrong choice and becomes involve with drugs and crimes (Delbanco and Cheuse 240-247). Tackach, is the author of The Biblical Foundation of James Baldwin’s “Sonny Blues. His critical analysis of “Sonny Blues” is done in a religious perspective. The theme could simply be “Grace”. Tackach compared “Sonny Blues” to the parable of “Prodigal Son”. The parable is about two brothers. The older son stayed home with his father, on the straight and narrow path while the younger son chose riotous living on the broad road that leads to destruction. The narrator represents the older son and Sonny, of course, is the prodigal son (Tackach 112). It’s ironic that the narrator has a daughter named Grace. From a religious aspect, grace is the undeserved favor of God. It took Grace’s death for the narrator to show undeserved favor towards Sonny. Tackach states, “Like the parable of the Prodigal Son, “Sonny Blues” is a tale of sin and redemption. In both stories the lost son ultimately returns to the family fold and is saved