SOURCE: "Black Literature Revisited: 'Sonny's Blues'," in English Journal, Vol. 60, No. 1, January, 1971, pp. 36-7.

In the essay below, Ognibene examines the main themes in "Sonny's Blues."

Barbara Dodds Stanford (English Journal, March 1969) calls black literature "a godsend to the teacher who wants his class to deal with genuine communication problems…." Citing among others, two Baldwin classics: Notes of a Native Son and Go Tell It on the Mountain, she mentions that in such works "it is a relief to recognize our own struggle to find ourselves," and she further intimates that students can relate to "young people struggling to assert their own independence and identity…." A work which she fails to list, a story which is often lost among Baldwin's writings, is "Sonny's Blues." This work is particularly relevant, not only because it concerns itself with problems facing many in this era of disintegrating family bonds and uncertain...