1. The narrator comes up with a number of metaphors for the process of making music the way Sonny does (a kind involving improvisation) on pages 103-104. What metaphors can you spot?
2. In general, how would you describe the way this last part of the story is narrated compared to the earlier parts? Or does the last part seem like the earlier parts?
3. How would you interpret the narrator's buying Sonny a drink, and Sonny's response, at the end of the story? You don't need to pay too much attention to the footnote cited at the end, unless you want to.
4. Does the story end happily or unhappily or other? Explain.
5. Having gotten to the end of the story, what you now say that the author is suggesting about the relationship between being addicted to heroin and playing music?
6. Find a sentence you like, quote it, and explain why.
2. In general, how would you describe the way this last part of the story is narrated compared to the earlier parts? Or does the last part seem like the earlier parts?
3. How would you interpret the narrator's buying Sonny a drink, and Sonny's response, at the end of the story? You don't need to pay too much attention to the footnote cited at the end, unless you want to.
4. Does the story end happily or unhappily or other? Explain.
5. Having gotten to the end of the story, what you now say that the author is suggesting about the relationship between being addicted to heroin and playing music?
6. Find a sentence you like, quote it, and explain why.
13 comments:
Hey everyone,
I am answering question 6. The quote I found was- "Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen." (pg. 104)
I think this sentance is important because it shows how they feel about Sonny. It was right after Sonny began playing the blues and this was the response they had. I think this shows how much of an impact he had on the world surrounding him! Thanks!
Hey Guys
So, pertaining to question #4, I think the ending is very controversial and it's not possible to put a label on it. The power of music was the big factor in the end of the story. Sonny's playing forced the narrators life to flash before him and he began to think about his life and his family and his loved ones, etc. He began to think about his parents and this was all was happening within the 2-3 minutes Sonny was playing. Benjamin Zander, the director of several NEC concerts, is with music majors every monday and helps explain the meaning of music each Masterclass we have. He talks constantly about the power of music and how it can do things to people that no other outside force can. With the last page and a half of this story, I see exactly what Mr. Zander means by these statements. The beauty, sadness, longing and sorrow Sonny played with showed these emotions very litterally for the narrator and he felt the peace when the music was occuring. The ending, neither happy nor unhappy, is undeniably powerfully moving and touching. After having read this story, it makes me feel incredible about the gift I possess and how I can and will have the power to move people and take them to a mystical place where almost anything can be imagined and real. I hope this answers the question and I hope you all realize this story has been a good partner in the process of self-discovery in my own life and I want to thank Mr. Durning and this story for aiding me in that process. The ending had a huge impact on me and I will never forget it.
Thank you very much,
Mason
#6.
"All I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it."
This quote really struck me. I began to think of how true it is. For me, I sometimes cannot appreciate music because I don't understand it. This made me realize how much of a musician's soul is put into their music. It's so much feeling and emotion for them, while all I can hear is noise. Musicians can appreciate music so much more because they know the struggles of finding their voice in music.
Hey everyone,
I am answering question number 4 today. I think that the story ends very happily. The narrator finally decided to go to her brother's show and notices how much her brother really likes music and how he really has feelings for what he is doing. Sonny is having a blast on stage with his band and Creole and it seems as if there is no better way of ending the story. Both Sonny and his brother are happy and both realize how much music can affect a person. For Sonny, I think he just likes to play music its his way of just letting everything go and creating time for himself to just play and enjoy and not think about anything else. For the narrator I think she really realizes the powers of music and how it affects her. For her it made her think back on his past of all the deaths he has seen or heard of and I think he finally sees why his brother has a passion for music. The narrator really never knew why his brother was so interested in music, but now that he has seen him I think he has come to realize that his brother really just enjoys it! So in conclusion, I think the ending of the story is most definitely happy!
Adressing to question number six, my favorite sentence that I like in "Sonny Blues" is "We went to the only nightclub on a short, dark street, downtown. we squeezed through the narrow, chattering, jampacked bar to the enterance of the big room, where the bandstand was. And we stood there for a moment, for the lights were very dim in this room and we couldn't see." (Pg.102) I like this sentence beacuse I can see it. The description of the nightclub is written so well that I can picture it in my head. Reading this, makes me feel like am actually there. The author writes so well and very descriptive, that it makes the reader imagen what's happening and what the nightclub looks like.
"Everything had been burned out of it, and, at the same time, things usually hidden were being burned in, by the fire and fury of the battle which was occuring in him up there."
I find this quote interesting because I can imagine Sonny's upheaval battle with fire and wind swirling around him as he plays the piano.
6. Find a sentence you like, quote it, and explain why.
"'But there's no way not to suffer- is there, Sonny?'
'I believe not,' he said and smiled, 'but that's never stopped anyone from trying.'"
I like this quote because it is really quite true, and a wise thing to realize about life. It is so true that there is no way not to suffer. A huge part of life is suffering, and not one person goes through life without suffering in some way. It is interesting that the narrator is so perceptive and comes to such a true conclusion about humankind. Sonny has such a good point when he says that that hasn't caused anyone to stop trying to not suffer. Sonny knows that the hardships in life are extremely difficult but everybody is going to try and avoid suffering and try to escape from it. It seems that Sonny is determined to escape the difficulties in life that bring him down. The narrator, however, simply accepts that suffering is a part of life. I just think the quote is a true outlook on life that can't be forgotten. It is comforting that even when someone feels completely alone in their suffering, there is always somebody out there suffering too. That is what life is about. Trying to get through suffering and learning how to make sacrifices in order to get through them and defy them. Sonny seems to have more hope in dominating the pains in life than the narrator does. It may come from his being an artist that gives him this hope.
Good evening!!
My answer is for prompt #2. I definitely saw a change in the narration of the story during this last part. It seems a lot more inward, you might say. The narrator is reflecting on the music, and allowing himself to feel emotions that the music inspires. The first part was more about giving a history of what had happened-- very factual and to the point. Even the part at the beginning when the narrator describes his reaction to hearing the news about Sonny is laced with facts and back story. Because of that, it is hard for the reader to understand the narrator's emotions because they don't know enough about him yet. At the end though, we can really appreciate his insightful and relatively profound thoughts concerning his brother and the music. It is more satisfying than the previous parts, because the narrator becomes round, instead of flat. We can finally see inside him and understand him.
well hello,
"I had never before thought of how awful the relationship must be between the musician and his instrument." I find this quote rather interesting. First off, this is in no way true. Winston and Muhammad, my instruments, are absolutely great guys. I love spending time with them. A piano is not just a piano, a violin is not just a violin, any instrument is not just an instrument. Everyone human is suppose to have personality. It is mostly excepted to think that every animal have personality traits that make them different from one another. Further more, who is not to say that instruments dont have personalities. Sure they dont think, but in my personal experience a relationship from a player to an instrument must be good. In order to be a successful musician you must trust your instrument and really understand him or her. I am really starting to get to know Winston, my violin. Since he has been around since the mid 1830s he has obviously had a difficult time adjusting to me over the past six years. We are really starting to get along. My sympathy is with Sonny. He has many years to go before he can understand his piano, more importantly, himself. Anyways, that is why I like that quote, it makes me think about my own life.
hakuna matata,
answering question 6 I found the quote "And Creole let out the reins." I thought this was a very interesting sentence because it characterized the music/musicians very strongly and effectively. Not only did it personify the music but it also beastialized the musicians. I also enjoyed how it is so perfectly set between long sweeping sentences all of which are full of much more abstract-image based reasoning. Contrastingly this simple sentence is able to convey so much more than all their long winded explanations.
Hey guys,
I will be adressing question number 5.
".....he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did." Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix. All of these amazing artists have one thing in common. Although there music was sensational there background was rough and they all had major drug addictions. Some may say that their most prominent music was performed while they were on drugs. What is the relationship between drugs and music? In Sonny's Blues, sonny is addicted to heroine yet the heroine acts as a seductive outlet for his blues. He struggles to overcome his drug abuse because he feels that his blues will not become speak as well if he in not under the influence. In the end, Sonny knows that heroine will kill him. He performs a blues solo, Through his solo everyone in the audience can hear the pain and suffering he has gone through, and they know that he will not be free from this until the day he dies. Music allows him to express his deep emotions and open up. Music promises him freedom.
Hello,
I am answering prompt #4. I know it has been answered a few times but I have a slightly different opinion so I thought I would go ahead and share it.
I think the story "Sonny's Blues" ends neither happily or unhappily. I think the story ends with a mutual understanding between the narrator and his brother Sonny. I am not sure this understanding could be labeled as hopeful or even as resolved, but I think the main theme of the ending is that there is finally some acceptance between the narrator and Sonny, because through the music, the narrator begins to understand and is able to see a whole other side of Sonny.
Before, the narrator just knew of Sonny's drugs and his childhood before he did the drugs. Though Sonny explained to the narrator what jail was like, and what doing the drugs was like, Sonny's answer was so metaphor-filled and so deep and I feel like neither the reader nor the narrator could really fully understand Sonny's explanation. And so, I feel that when Sonny played the Blues at the bar, the music almost leaked into the narrator and suddenly there was this understanding between them. I think in this way the music was very powerful, because though Grace's death may have brought the two brothers together in a way, I think Sonny's music really truly united them as brothers once again. I think the passion and the deep, profound way Sonny played his music really brought about this connection.
Yet though this connection between two brothers might have been seen as a "happy ending" so to speak, I don't think the end of the story is really happy. Yes, the narrator finds out who Sonny really is, but still Sonny says, "it can come again." And the narrator understands this as well. And so, even though they reconnect on a whole other level, I think the consensus is that there is a mutual understanding the drugs might introduce themselves again into Sonny's life, and so I don't think that is a happy or a hopeful ending.
Sorry, that was a lot of stuff jammed into a few paragraphs. Thanks!
"And he was giving it back, as everything must be given back, so that, passing through death, it can live forever."
I like this sentence because it makes me think of things lasting forever. It confuses me a little bit, but I feel that it is an important sentence. It says that Sonny's music is not only for himself, and that nothing is really for oneself, but is part of a greater, everlasting thing that can survive forever, under any circumstances.
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