SOURCE: "James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': Childhood, Light, and Art," in CLA Journal, Vol. XXIX, No. 2, December, 1985, pp. 197-205.

In the following essay, Clark examines the ways in which Baldwin uses images of light and darkness in "Sonny's Blues."

"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin is a sensitive story about the reconciliation of two brothers, but it is much more than that. It is, in addition, an examination of the importance of the black heritage and of the central importance of music in that heritage. Finally, the story probes the central role that art must play in human existence. To examine all of these facets of human existence is a rather formidable undertaking in a short story, even in a longish short story such as this one. Baldwin not only undertakes this task, but he does it superbly. One of the central ways that Baldwin fuses all of these complex...