Essay

Kate Scott
MR. Salsich
22 September 2008
9th grade English
A Place in the World:
An Essay about an Assay By, Suzy B. Goldman

The essay by Suzy Bernstein Goldman is talking about how music plays a large part in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin. Music brings the brothers back together after a long time of not being close. Goldman believes that music and communication are the major themes in James Baldwin’s story, I disagree. I believe that having a place in the world is the main theme.

The essay by Suzy Bernstein Goldman is telling us about two themes, communication and music. The first theme that Goldman is telling us about is communication. I think the author of the essay says that this is a theme because the two brothers never really communicated until the narrator went to hear Sonny play the piano at a night club. That is when the narrator finally heard “Sonny Speak for himself” (Goldman 4) while playing the piano. The other theme found in Goldman’s essay is music. Music plays a big part in “Sonny’s Blues”. Music is one of the reasons why the brothers started to fight and drift apart, and it is also the reason why they come back together.

I agree with Goldman’s point in her essay, that music is a theme. After reading her essay I can see how music brought the two brothers together. But I disagree with her other theme, communication. I feel that there is a stronger theme in “Sonny’s Blues” that she did not mention. One theme that she did not mention is that everyone has a place in the world. Just because the narrator doesn’t approve of Sonny’s place, it still exists. At the end of the story the narrator can see it too. Sonny’s place is behind a piano.

While Suzy Bernstein Goldman points out two themes and summarizes them quite eloquently, I feel that there could be a third theme, that every one has a place. The author’s summary is just her understanding of the story and other readers may find new interpretations. One of the nice things about reading is that we can share our different thoughts about the reading and agree or disagree.
Kate Scott
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Work Sited

Suzy Bernstein Goldman. "Sonny's Blues: James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues": A Message in Music." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 19 September 2008. .