SOURCE: "'Sonny's Blues': James Baldwin's Image of Black Community," in Negro American Literature Forum, Vol. 4, No. 2, July, 1970, pp. 56-68.

A respected American critic and educator, Reilly has published many book-length studies on such major African-American authors as Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison. In the following essay, considered one of the most influential treatments of "Sonny's Blues," he examines Baldwin's handling of the themes of individuality and community.

A critical commonplace holds that James Baldwin writes better essays than he does fiction or drama; nevertheless, his leading theme—the discovery of identity—is nowhere presented more successfully than in the short story "Sonny's Blues." Originally published in Partisan Review in 1957 and reprinted in the collection of stories Going to Meet the Man in 1965, "Sonny's Blues" not only states dramatically the motive for Baldwin's famous polemics in the cause of Black freedom, but it also provides an esthetic linking his...