Reading Response #3

From what I got from reading “Sonny's Blues” is that the author is trying to that people can live any kind of life and find their own form of happiness. As you can see from the story, Sonny and his brother led very different life despite coming from the same home and background. Sonny's brother was able to make it out of that old life by getting through school, going to the army for some time and eventually becoming a school teacher, getting married and having kids. Sonny on the other hand was stuck in the old life, becoming addicted to heroin, running away from home, and doing things he would eventually regret later on in life. However, the author showed that Sonny finally found a place where he belonged even though his brother didn't believe that how wouldn't be able to the make a life out it, and by the end of the story you can tell that he felt wrong about believing that. That showed that the author did not support one characters way of life over the other. He instead showed that no matter what you go through in life, you can find that place that makes life worth living.

From the certain clues in the story you can find out that the story took place around the 1940s-70s, as Blue's was a popular music genre during that time as well as mention of a war. Not to the case of polio they had in the story which normally happened during this time period. The place where they grew up in was Harlem and during those days, and maybe even now it was a hard place to live in. From the story you hear that Sonny first tried Heroin when he was still young which made his life harder since he became addicted to it soon after. They also mention that not may people made it out from where they were raised, so that can be an indication of how hard must have been for everyone who lived there.