Short Story “Sonny’s Blues” from Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, edited by Kelly J. Mays, shorter 14th ed., W. W. Norton, 2022, pp 659-681.
Intersectionality Theory
900+ words
Use this opening paragraph:“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin takes place in Harlem, New York, during the 1950’s post World War II. The short story portrays the intense bond between the narrator and his little brother, Sonny, which is defined by their African American backgrounds and forced to face racism and prejudice. The narrator, with no name, voices his experience with brother, heroin addict Sonny, in a non-sequential structure. The personal identity markers revealed by the author throughout the story define the different lifestyles the brothers lived and view on life. One is a family man with a dead daughter, the other lives a dangerous, free life. Analyzing the novel from the point of view of intersectional theory, makes it possible for the readers to understand in detail how disadvantaged communities affect the characters.
Write body paragraphs by TPPQA formula for writing the body paragraphs and a reflective conclusion.
Inlcude these direct quotations.
(education):
“It might be said, perhaps, that I had escaped, after all, I was a school teacher” (Baldwin 656).
“Two days later I was married, and then I was gone” (Baldwin 669).
“Sonny, you haven’t even finished school” (Baldwin 671).
(age):
“The seven years’ difference in our ages lay between us like a chasm: I wondered if
these years would ever operate between us like a bridge. I was remembering, and it
made it hard to catch my breath, that I had been there when he was born; and I had
heard the first words he had ever spoken. When he started to walk, he walked from
our mother straight to me. I caught him just before he fell when he took the first
steps he ever took in this world” (Baldwin, 664).
(thinking style):
“I ain’t learning nothing in school,” he said. “Even when I go” (Baldwin 672).
“ when he was supposed to be at school, he went straight to that piano and stayed there until suppertime. And, after supper, he went back to that piano and stayed there until everybody went to bed. He was at the piano all day Saturday and all day Sunday” (Baldwin 672).
AVOID weak diction. like “it, is etc”
Study the grading rubric to understand the assessment goals.
