Sunday, September 14, 2014

Sonny's Music

We've had a few stories/poems this week that seem to deal with what it takes to truly view your fellow man as a person.  In Filling Station, the narrator at first sees a terrible, dirty gas station and then sees the love and care that's gone into it and realizes a loving family lives there just like hers. In Sonny's Blues our narrator never really understands his brother until he sees his reaction to the revival and then ultimately when he sees him play.  What it the spark that sets off this recognition in us to ultimately empathize with our fellow man?  What is the edge that we must cross or go over in order to see our struggling brothers or young children sitting at home as human beings just like we are?  The narrator has faced many of his own struggles in life, personal tragedies that have shaped his personality.  Why though are Sonny's tragedies not perceived until his brother sees him perform?

2 comments:

  1. People are in denial, Sonny's brother has signs. If he'd have just put the pieces together he'd have seen the truth much earlier on. But he didn't want to. People don't want to see the bad in those that they love. My husbands brother often goes down a tragic, self destructive course. He does it over and over again and yet everyone pretends as though things are right as rain. It's sad really, being that it's only my brother-in-law I don't have this deep attachment. And after we'd moved out of state I found my husband becoming less attached and beginning to see the situation more clearly. Sonny's brother doesn't see Sonny's tragedies because he doesn't want to. My husband did see his brothers tragedies until he was removed from it all, until he stepped away from it and was able to see the truth. And that he had no control over it. That's a hard pill to swallow. I don't blame Sonny's brother, who would chose to see that in the ones they love. You want to believe that they are happy, safe and healthy and accepting that that isn't the reality is too much for most people to handle.

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  2. Eleanor,
    "We've had a few stories/poems this week that seem to deal with what it takes to truly view your fellow man as a person." When I put these selections together, I didn't even notice this theme! Very interesting! Tell me more! Is there direct textual support from the readings that supports this connection?

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